The Knowing That Knows the Difference
El Conocer Que Conoce la Diferencia
A student reflects on how obstacles dissolve through trust, and the teacher explores what it means to marinate in a deeper knowing that is prior to intellectual certainty.
The Knowing That Knows the Difference
A student reflects on how obstacles dissolve through trust, and the teacher explores what it means to marinate in a deeper knowing that is prior to intellectual certainty.
These so-called obstacles disappear in this trusting. And it's so tricky, because I can't fake it.
Yes, and a lot of the friction around this falls away on its own once something deeper is seen. You might not even know you did it. When you're sharing, it's clear to me that you have touched this reality. That's why you can say, "This feels more real than that." Then it's just a matter of trusting that and marinating in it, giving time for the process.
Let yourself marinate in that reality, in that truth. Let your life be lived from that. Then there's trust. And then it can be clarified even more, as more of reality is seen directly. But again, you just need to look at what is real, have that open, curious questioning, and let the real reveal itself.
So that one thing again: be open.
Openness as inquiry
Be open to it, have the open curiosity, and let the real reveal itself. You don't get it by chasing, grasping, analyzing, forcing, or pushing. It's that openness, which by definition means dropping what you think is real and making room. There's a Zen saying: "Empty the cup so that it can be filled."
That openness is the inquiry itself. The definition of inquiry is: "I don't know what I am, so what am I?" If you already know what you are, you're not inquiring. It literally is just that openness. Begin from an assumption, or a trusting openness, that you don't really know. Part of why I'm here is to inspire and suggest that there is more to be known. And trust that it is not a futile intellectual or philosophical exploration. You could say it is philosophical, but it's real. It has a real impact.
When you say "there's more to be known," it's such a unique kind of knowing. I think I can see in words what you mean. It's a deeper being. It touches being, or it's beyond experience. I don't know.
We could get really technical about the word "knowing," what kind of knowing it is. But the fact that you bring that up is because you know. You know there's a difference.
I do. I absolutely do. And what I notice in my life, by contrast, is that the more I'm in that place of "I know, I'm certain," the more painful it is.
The beauty of what is true
It's painful and it's false. This world has been created in such a way that, beautifully, truth also is beautiful and loving. Could it have been made differently? For sure. It could have been that what is true is just infinite pain. But that's simply not the case. What is true is liberating, peaceful, loving, beautiful, and real.
Contemplating what recognizes the difference
Notice how you know that difference. Then contemplate: what knows that difference? That contemplation will take you deeper into that knowing, and outside of the other knowing, the thought, the intellectual kind. You know the difference. So now you can contemplate what recognizes it. Where is that knowing coming from?
This will bring you to a more subtle inquiry. You taste the difference between what is real and what is not, between mental, intellectual knowing and something else. It's a kind of intuition, a kind of felt sense. That is more of the true "I," the being.
So contemplate that. Let yourself marinate in it. Let your day and your life be lived from that, and trust it. When I name things and say "the total seeing of true nature," "the partial," "the growing," none of that is important. What's important is your experience, and the refining of that knowing, and living from there.
At some point you might call me and say, "Actually, I realize now that what I experienced was this," and then the words I once used suddenly make sense. Things can come later. In hindsight, you may be able to put words to it, words that are more true and accurate. But the words are not important.
Very helpful.