Notes on Knowing

Education emphasizes knowledge. Students and teachers alike are judged by what they know. Following are some musings on knowing that provide a different perspective. I offer them as thought-starters.

We seek to control by knowing. We are limited by what we know. Knowledge locks us in to the past. We can only know what is or has been. Knowledge limits change, which limits life. To stay within the known is to remain in the past.

Knowledge brings clarity. We are unclear about that which we do not know. Growth involves change. This means having to venture into the unknown, which is unclear. Insight is clarity emerging from confusion. Questioning leads to certainty. Certainty eliminates questioning.

If you know what I am talking about, I am then simply reiterating what you already know. This reinforces stagnation. If what I share confuses you, then I have moved you into the unknown. It is from the realm of the unknown that growth emerges.

Our situation will remain the same if we continue to operate from the known. We will keep getting what we have always gotten. We may rearrange the furniture, even replace the furniture, yet we are still living in the same house. We must change houses if we are to live in a new place. By changing our minds, we change our lives.