The Difference Between Knowing and Identified Knowing

A reflection on how identification with certainty differs from the open, intuitive knowing that comes with trust, risk, and uncertainty.

There is an identification with knowing, and it is a knowing that is limited. "I know left is the right thing and right is not." There is this knowing, or in any sense, the knowing that "this is intuitive," the knowing that "this is loving." It is a form of rationalization, but it is mostly an identification. It is in service of a belief.

Intuitive knowing versus dogmatic certainty

One thing worth noting is that there can be a different kind of knowing, a knowing that comes with intuition. "I know it feels right," but it is less sure, less dogmatic. There is a feeling to it, and it is different from the first kind.

You can learn to recognize the difference more and more. One kind carries a certain trust and openness, but also a sense of "I don't know if this is the right thing." That uncertainty, that willingness to not know, is actually going to be closer to the truth. There is a sense of risk in it, a mysteriousness, an uncertainty. Compare that with "I know this is the right thing, and I know it's going to produce the right effect, and it's going to take me to the right place."

Practical knowing versus existential knowing

Obviously, if I am thinking about going to the café downstairs, I know how to get there, and I will be very assertive about it. If somebody tells me the way is out the window, I will say, "No, I am very sure that is not the best route." You can still go that way, but it is not the best way. That kind of practical knowing is not what I am talking about. I am talking about the questions that matter more.

Recognizing patterns of identification

With time, you will learn to know more of your own patterns of identification. You will be able to recognize, "Ah, this is just coming from that old pain." There is a knowing that insists "this is the right thing," but it is basically a conditioned pattern based on the past.

This is where the work of recognizing what we truly are and the work of living as a human being become the same thing. They are inseparable.