You Don't Even Know

Bald Buddhist Chick Not knowing is a blessing.

Wondering is a state of great potential -- it's the stage where everything begins. Nothing new escapes the initial form of a question.

Launching the right question is more important to our philosophical experience than staking down the right answer.

My daddy used to always tell me "A lot of people are going to be disappointed when they die..." Without ever alluding to which people would be "right."

The contemplation of that used to make me anxious -- to believe or not to believe? Which way will I end up getting screwed?

It's not like you can conceivably take both journeys; it's sort of a one-or-the-other prospect, with no hope of knowing if you got it right until it's "too late."

It's not that I'm afraid of "going to hell" if I'm wrong -- fortunately, even the Believer within me doesn't buy that concept any more than the Scientist.

Take another look at that word know -- it's not synonymous with faith or belief, although a lot of people like to confuse the concepts and speak about them as if they are the same thing.

They are not.

Hear this -- You don't know the Spiritual. You don't know the Mysteries as if they are facts. You can't.

Anyone -- I don't care how psychic they are, how awakened, how enlightened, how conscious -- if they tell you they know, they're deceiving others, themselves, or both.

So, I try to be content with feeling instead of knowing. Feelings are always valid, no matter how subjective or different from another's they may be.

I continue to aspire to use the expression "I feel" as a substitute for "I know" wherever possible. Sure, sometimes I do wish there was at least the promise of a potential to know...

But I don't know. I have to find a way to be content with possibly never knowing.

In the meantime, I go on romancing the Mystery and living to wonder.

Slade's signature image credit Eddi van W. via Creative Commons on Flickr