Rod Rees to Piet Hut

Piet,

"We can find knowing in the middle of not-knowing."

Yes. And even stronger, ALL knowing arises out of not-knowing. Your one-liner works very well: "looking for knowing in not-knowing." Let me talk about this in terms of consciousness for a bit. Consciousness is the unfolding edge between knowing and not-knowing. Or better yet, between the already-known and the not-yet-known.

So we usually walk about in a comfortable state of awareness of what we already know. Then, sometimes, something shakes us out of that state and we're plopped into the POSSIBILITY of edging deeper into what we don't already know.

Sometimes it's just a simple recognition of a new bit of information. But sometimes it's a profound SHOCK of awareness of a whole new realm of knowing.

You've already described some of those episodes for yourself.

Now, a point that's VERY important to my way of thinking is that ALL consciousness is of this nature. Even the most trivial, mundane event of awareness entails a subtle degree of unfolding the edge. Every step you take across your bedroom is a step that includes some of the already-known and some of the not-yet-known. In that case it's mostly of the already-known, but the simple act of moving your foot from here to there entails a subtle edging-into the unknown.

Here is known, there is unknown. Now is known, then is unknown. And where we are going is ALWAYS a leaning-into some aspect of the not-yet-known. Always.

Which is why I say that "consciousness is the unfolding edge between the already-known & the not-yet-known."

Your movie metaphor works well for me. Or, better, the cinematographer who chose to illuminate part of the scene and leave other parts dark or shadowy. What gets illuminated can be a choice, a conscious choice of mindfulness.

Rod