On ignorance

The word ‘ignorance’ comes from the Latin for not knowing. We think we’re wise when we know, stupid when we don’t. But the reverse is true. True knowing is spontaneous, not stored up.  

Back to the poets

The world is temporal, meaning time-bound and finite. It came from nothing and is now in the process of returning to nothing. To paraphrase the timeless Stephen Hawking, ‘Why bother?’ Spare a thought for cosmologists! Still looking for a cause. Still not finding one.

Binary mind

When I like/dislike the world, I split myself like a fish gutted. After all, I am the world. We see how riven, roiled and tribalized we are while simultaneously not seeing that it’s a projection of binary mind, of like/dislike until the curtain falls.

Flow

If we don’t know what’s going to happen, and if we’re comfortable with not knowing, then we’re a channel for Life rather than an obstruction. To find our comfort in not knowing is to embody trust in its highest degree.

The Cloud of Unknowing

Our comfort zone is what we know. What we know is the past, a carefully curated twig-and-feather arrangement. What we don’t know—and insulate ourselves against—is magnum mysterium. This is the state of not knowing anything at all.