“I don’t know” is not at odds with “I know.” In fact, one could not be true without the other. However, when we declare our unknowing, we are consciously opening ourselves up to receive all parts of ourselves that we have yet to understand in this life.
Imagine life through the perspective that a spider holds. A spider may live in the same room as you or me and hold a perspective so different from our own that you may not recognize their world and ours as even being shared. Imagine now the perspective that your neighbor holds and know that his or her world may look equally foreign to you who holds a specific base of knowledge and experiences. What is it then that we have in common with both the spider and our neighbor? The answer is the ability to receive, interpret and express emotion.
Emotion is the fabric of the Universe. Often called, “energy,” it is the material that “feels” and that we, as receptive and interpretive beings, feel. Emotion may be routed through one creature’s system completely differently than it moves through another’s and yet, both are living as feeling beings.
When we declare, “I don’t know,” we honor the myriad of experiences that are not our own in this body, with this perspective, in this life. We recognize, simultaneously, that there is value in separation and in wholeness and that both values equate to the same. When we state “I don’t know,” we are also stating what we do know. We state that there is value in time and the unfolding of our stories. We accept where we are in the moment and know that it is both impossible and unreasonable for us to expect to have more understanding than we currently hold. We know that it is within the wholeness of our being to come to understand anything and everything that our curiosity leads us to. We release the pressure to have more awareness than we have and in doing so, our awareness is expanded. We affirm that our lives are guided by emotion itself rather than the will of the individual and in this understanding of guidance we release the need to understand anything more.
The affirmation, “I don’t know,” is a declaration of trust. Trust in our worthiness to receive beauty, abundance and understanding. Trust in the timing and directions of our lives. Trust in the bigger picture that we are all a part of. When we are in the thickness of the dark and the throws of the drama we can state to ourselves, “I don’t know,” and feel the security that comes in trusting that we are fully equipped with the tools to navigate our lives regardless of whether we fully understand them. The greatest of these tools is compassion.
In extending compassion to the spider, to our neighbor and to ourselves, we are stating simply and again, “I don’t know” and furthermore, “I don’t have to.” We don’t have to understand anything to offer compassion and it will always heal, direct us toward the highest good of all, re-center, validate and clear our emotions and put us in a balanced position of service from which we can take both direction and action that is guided by everything beyond our knowing.
I invite you in the month of December and in any that follow to affirm “I don’t know,” and in doing so, to open yourself up to all of the parts of you that you’ve yet to meet or have forgotten. I hope that this affirmation brings you the relaxation that you need to trust and enjoy this life and to offer compassion to yourself and all with whom you share this world.
