The Limitless Wisdom of Not Knowing
Wednesday Night Satsang – 7/24/2019
A powerful Satsang and transmission showing where true wisdom really comes from. It’s not the mind. Thoughts can only obscure it. Yet it is always here and always available. The story of how I discovered this and began offering these Satsangs, and some tips on how you can access this unlimited wisdom too.
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Hi Peter, very interesting video, I’ve enjoyed watching this!
Could you perhaps give some advice about how to use the practice of Not Knowing in everyday life, in a very practical manner? For example, what would you do if you were looking for a new job or a new home or what about finding a solution for a seemingly “unsolvable” problem, etc. – how to get from “not knowing” to finding direction?
Thank you!
Hi Michaela.
Thank you for asking.
Let’s say you are going for a job interview. When your mind is full of knowing, you have many expectations, fears, and/or pride. None of this is ever what actually happens. Although if you are perceiving the situation through your mind, it may appear so. If you enter the interview room in a state of not knowing what will happen, you are entering in a state of reality. Your senses are heightened. You are more aware. You notice everything. You immediately respond in the most appropriate ways. You have no fears or doubts because these would take some prior knowing perhaps based on past experiences. You are simply fully present. You are relaxed and comfortable because you have no thoughts telling you not to be.
Not only do you feel good and “at the top of your game”, but the interviewer also feels good. He or she has rarely ever met anyone who is fully present and to be with someone who is fully present he or she begins to feel present too. The interviewer not only wants you for the job but simply wants to be in your presence as much as possible. It is a very good day for both of you.
Finding direction is another form of knowing. You want to go from not knowing to knowing because you do not yet trust not knowing. Knowing feels like control and you want some control. There is no control in not knowing. There is simply life. There is simply reality. In not knowing things simply unfold as they do. You get the job or you don’t get the job. You get the new home or you don’t get the new home. I know it may be hard to believe right now, but these things are not as important as simply being present for whatever is happening in the moment. We sacrifice our consciousness, our being, the essence of what we are and all of life is, for the imagine control in knowing. It is a very poor bargain. It leaves us trapped in the illusion of our mind’s conditioned thoughts.
When we are fully present to life as it is, the unsolvable problem no longer feels like a problem at all. It is simply what is happening in the moment. Without the stress, worry, frustration, and fear of our conditioned “knowing”, we simply respond in the most beneficial way possible in each moment. And we do this with everything that arises moment to moment effortlessly and spontaneously without knowing how we are doing it. It simply happens. In order to fully understand this, you must try this. Then observe the results. Take a chance. See what happens when you simply let go of all control, of all knowing, and simply be in the moment without expecting anything of it at all. Just pay attention.
It is a very new way for most of us to be in the world, but it is possible for everyone. Try it out in small ways. You’re going to meet someone on a blind date. Your mind is filled with expectations, imaginings (both positive and negative), hopes, insecurities, fears, etc. Why not try this time to let all of that go and just admit you don’t know. You have no idea what will happen. It’s a complete mystery. It’s an adventure. Meet the person in this way free of all expectations. Then observe what happens. If you do this, you will witness miracles happening right in front of you. The truth is all of life is a complete mystery and an absolute miracle in every single moment. When we rely on our knowing, we cannot see this, even if we believe it. In true not knowing, it is absolutely clear. Just try. Baby steps.
Eventually, you will trust enough to make an important speech to a thousand people and walk on the stage with not the slightest idea of what you are going to say or do. Eckhart Tolle does this every time he walks on stage. And it always works. I do this with every Satsang. You have to do it to understand it. You have to trust. You gain trust by doing it little by little and observing the results.
Yes, the mind craves control. But control doesn’t really exist. It is imaginary. Just as the person who seeks control is imaginary. Let go and see what else is here. This life is truly amazing, a continuous surprise, a continuous unfolding. Pay attention until you can see this. You will probably be afraid at first. But do it anyway. Allow the fear to be here as well if it is. Let everything be exactly as it is. Admit that you do not know what it is. You don’t. I don’t. Nobody does. That’s just a fantasy of the conditioned mind. It’s okay not to know. It’s wonderful not to know. Not knowing is reality. Not knowing is truth. Not knowing is freedom. Not knowing is your True Self.
Eventually, you will realize and directly experience that not knowing is the only direction you ever need. Not knowing is not a way to get to knowing. Not knowing is the ultimate in true knowing already. Try it and you will see.
Hi Peter, thank you for that thoughtful and very interesting reply!
I can see that there is a sort of intuitive knowledge which we have access to if we remain in the moment, if we don’t pretend that we know anything. This innate wisdom guides our actions and words and it unfolds spontaneously – have I understood that correctly?
However, I’m not quite sure how this applies to situations in which you need to make a decision, if you need to decide upon an option or *find* an option in the first place.
Let’s say you need a job (an income) but you have no idea what you should or could do. Or you need a new home but you don’t know where to move, what would be best for you. In situations like that, I struggle to find clear and definite guidance – how are you doing this?
I’ve watched quite a few of your videos and also listened to your Batgap interview. You advise to disregard/disbelieve thoughts because they are not true. In your videos and the interview you talk about listening to God or listening to the body instead.
I find it very hard to tell the difference, I admit: Mostly I’m not sure whether I’m receiving guidance from my thoughts (which are not to be trusted) or God/my body (which is reliable guidance). How to make sure I’m not falling for the not-so-reliable guidance of my thoughts again?
When you listen to inner guidance that is not of your thoughts, you will experience a profound peace, love, and even bliss. That is always the case when you are no longer distracted by thoughts. This is how you can tell. That feeling that accompanies the freedom from attachment to thought is how you know you are listening to true inner guidance. The more you do this, the more you will trust it because the results of following this guidance, although often a complete surprise to the mind which may doubt it, are so highly beneficial in ways your mind cannot even imagine.
When you trust this inner guidance, you will also not perceive anything a problem any longer. Problems are only of the mind. Life is simply happening. There is really no good or bad, right or wrong, except in the mind. Because of the peace, love, and bliss you feel, you will more likely experience what you had thought was a problem as an interesting opportunity. All fears, worries, and concerns will be gone, as they are also only of the mind.
I hope this helps.