by Nick Lowry
Experiment: Read the following aloud
A bird in the
the hand
is worth two in
the bush
Almost everyone reads this as “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
Almost no one catches the second “the.” But this error is not because of some lack of intellegence, it is rather caused by the way our unconscious fliters out what it “already knows.” People who have never learned the phrase actually catch the double “the” error more often.
Knowing the phrase actual bends our perception, occludes whats actually in front of us.
Knowing and understanding are processes that can blind us to whats real. Getting stuck in our understanding –even if its a pretty good understanding– is still stuck.
And being stuck only goes so far. Then its time to get unstuck.
Not knowing (learning to maintain an open/indeterminate mental state) allows a broader preception and a more accurate apprehension of exactly what is moment to moment arising. It gives us the sharp awarness necessay to respond to the real state of whats happening.
We learn stuff– we know it — then we have to forget it (return to not knowing) so that we can completely realize the fully accurate embodiment of it.
Knowing only carries us to the gate. Relinquishing knowing allows us to pass through.