Don’t know
There is a Zen practice of realizing what we don’t know, understanding that the open space of “don’t know” allows us to be receptive to discovery. What we don’t know is a more powerful place than what we do know, especially in the impermanence of life.
Here is a quote from Nobel winning Poet, Wistawa Szymborska, from her 1996 acceptance speech in Stockholm.
“This is why I value that little phrase ‘I don’t know’ so highly. It’s small but it flies on mighty wings. It expands our lives to include spaces within us as well as the outer expanses in which our tiny Planet hangs suspended … Poets, if they’re genuine, must also keep repeating, ‘I don’t know’.”
November 26th, 2007 15:19
I get bored with the things I know and count on “I don’t know” to bring in the mystery and the learning. One reason I tend to get bored at parties is that most people are talking about things they already know. I love a good powerful question that causes me to open to something new.
Thanks for the thoughts!
November 26th, 2007 15:51
Thanks Holly. It’s interesting that later on in Thanksgiving dinner last week, I asked the grandkids to come up with questions for their grandparents about their life growing up and prior. It was obviously a new challenge for them ranging from 6 to early 20’s. We need to do a better job of preparing this generation for curiosity, for a myriad of reasons.
November 26th, 2007 17:13
There is so much that we don’t know.
The scientist in me takes wide-eyed amazement in learning about what I don’t know– more than would cover infinite lifetimes. The spiritualist in me takes tremendous solace in the unknown.
The teacher in me revels in the fact that we don’t know…and teaches it whenever possible. The learner in me resonates with the curiosity of my teachers that delight in the unknown.
The human in me spends hours in stillness looking at the mysteries of my existence and my connectedness to everything around that existence.
..and I smile.