THE ANSWER #4

“Why don’t I know anything? Why do I feel like I don’t know?”

Love this question. Taking the first part— if you were studying with the Buddhist teacher they would smile and congratulate you for realizing that you don't know anything. For the Buddhist that would be what is called the “Don't know mind,” the mind that is free of attachment.

The descriptive words that are used in the Holy Spirit's Interpretation of New Testament refer to this as being an “Empty shell.” Both concepts, the “empty shell” and the “don't know mind” are descriptions of a being who is not attached and is also not holding onto an intellectual description or definition of things.

We are not denying the inquisitiveness of the intellect, but what we are pointing to is that the “knowing” that we speak of is often beyond words and deeper than thought. For instance, you can know someone loves you and this knowing goes beyond words and beyond intellectual understanding. In fact, if you try to get someone to prove their love for you, you actually might destroy the love in the process.

If we are having problems with this, the book encourages us to start with things that are already within our knowing. For instance, knowing that you are loved by a particular person, and to allow your awareness of that knowing to become more and more clear to you. Another simple example which strikes me as a especially poignant in this fall season is being aware of the beauty of nature. Or saying to ourselves “I am aware of how beautiful this is.” If we were to push that knowing a little bit further you would have to come to realize that is from a place of beauty within you that is able to see the beauty outside of you. The same would be true with love and many other spiritual qualities.

Another way of applying this principle in a similar way to other areas of our lives is what I call “working with with what is already working.” Instead of trying to eliminate or correct all of those things in your life that might not be working the way you think they should is to focus on the spiritual practices and good things in your life that are already working. If you do that, you will begin to find that the negative things, those bother some troublesome thoughts, would began to gently die of attrition because you're not paying any attention to them. You are no longer feeding them with the energy of attention.

We have already explored that second part of the question “why do I feel like I don't know.” And again here we have a tremendously important spiritual learning— that how you feel has nothing to do with how deeply you know. When your feelings of joy or accomplishment are  aligned with you're knowing, your deeper knowing, that is a marvelous experience, but the feelings are simply artifacts, not the truth. To use the example above you can know that you are loved no matter how you might feel.

“Where is my soul mate? I can’t seem to find him or her.”

Another great question. But the guides get to the heart of the matter of what this question usually means for people and it has much more to do with an internal experience rather than needing someone on the outside. A more honest way of asking this question would be “What do I need to experience myself as being complete or whole?” As we all know, if I am looking for wholeness to be in another person for me, then I am seeking something that can never really be found.

We are not denying the positive power of relationship, but we are saying that if you were seeking someone to make you feel whole it will not happen. You need to begin to discover that wholeness within yourself.