♪ Intro Music ♪
Hello everyone ...
As people, we become addicted to 'knowing' ...
We're addicted to the acquiring of new knowledge.
In fact, biologically,
when you grasp a new concept,
your brain releases chemicals much like opium.
Knowledge-addiction gives the physical human
a strong evolutionary advantage.
We're guaranteed to progress if we're hard-wired to learn.
The human biological system,
being a reflection of the greater Universe
(which is, of course, geared towards expansion)
is essentially designed to maximize the rate
at which new, but understandable, information is acquired.
Once you've acquired a new bit of information
you just spend your time learning something else.
Without thinking about it
we pick out experiences that are new -
experiences which cause us to know more.
A biological addiction to know more
is Perfect Design because it endows the physical human
with a perpetuating, beneficial, learning behavior -
even if negative consequences are experienced along the way.
This is helpful in an environment of Contrast, such as this.
The desire for knowledge is not, in and of itself, negative.
But the quest for knowledge does have a shadow-side.
The shadow-side is that the Ego, the Separate-Self,
uses knowledge as a security blanket ...
as a shield ...
and as a sword.
The Ego uses knowledge to avoid things that it fears.
Things like insignificance ... and worthlessness ... and pain ...
Knowledge is worshipped by cultures the world-over.
And knowledgeable individuals are valued
and command respect amongst their society.
In society,
knowing more about something than somebody else does,
boosts their social status.
We become significant to others
when we know something more than they do.
We become significant when we are the venue
through which they can get their knowledge 'fix'.
It is easy to see then,
how the Ego could use knowledge to avoid
insignificance, personal insecurity, and worthlessness.
Knowledge also helps us prevent future calamity.
If we know that winter is coming,
it's easy for us to stock up food
and thus survive the winter.
Whereas, if we need to survive a winter
and we *aren't* aware that winter's coming
we may not stock up food,
and we may starve.
If we are a person who fears the future ...
who doesn't trust ourselves to create
a future that feels good to us,
then knowledge becomes the perfect tool for self-protection.
Knowledge is the worrier's best friend.
Knowledge can be used to keep the Ego
away from the rocky seas of uncertainty.
Because, cognitive closure makes us feel safe.
If we look at the Ego for what it is,
it is, in essence, an Identity.
And because all Identity is impermanent,
the Ego (or the Identity) has one prerogative,
and that's to survive.
This is beneficial to us in the physical dimension
because it means that part of the Ego's job
is to keep us
alive long enough to learn.
The Ego serves us by facilitating our expansion.
And if its goal is survival,
knowledge is more essential than even food or water.
After all,
knowledge is what allows us to find food and water
in the first place.
So all humans that are 'identified' with their Ego self
(with their Separate Identity)
are knowledge addicts.
We are set up to go after the goal of Realization,
or the goal of grasping a concept.
The problem with that
is that we start to see learning
as something that we have to get through -
the 'difficulty' before we get that End Goal.
In other words,
learning is something that we have to get through
in order to get to the mental carrot we're chasing.
So here's the punch-line:
You've heard it again and again -
"We fear the Unknown"
Well I'm here to tell you today that that's total crap ...
We don't fear the unknown at all.
If we fear the unknown,
then babies would be terrified of everything -
and they're not ...
So we're not really afraid of the unknown.
What is it that we're really afraid of?
We're afraid of what we project into the unknown.
We think we know what potential negative thing
the unknown *might* hold for us,
and we're running from the projection
of that potential pain.
We fear what we project into the unknown
based on our *previous* experiences.
When we're faced with the unknown
the mind goes to work projecting its already-acquired fears
into the unknown
to try to predict what lies in that 'unknown'.
It's those projections that we fear.
For example:
If we quit our job
that we've been working at for 10 years straight
to do something new,
we are venturing into the unknown.
But the mind doesn't fear the unknown of that experience -
what it fears is the potential fall from grace in our peer group,
the potential failure
of venturing outside of that comfort-zone.
So it's not the unknown in that experience that it fears,
it's what it thinks it knows
about that unknown experience.
If we learned not to project our fears into the unknown,
the unknown would no longer be scary.
The Ego is obsessed with the quest for truth and knowledge
because its convinced that knowledge and truth
will keep unwanted things from happening to It.
But the unknown holds a glaring truth -
and that is that the state of Learning
is a higher state than Knowing.
The open state of inquisition and questioning
leaves all doors open to possibility -
it is a state of Openness.
The state of Knowing closes doors to all further possibility.
So, Knowing is a state of closure.
There is no progression that can happen
after you're convinced that you know.
You can't know everything about everything.
Source doesn't even know everything about everything!
There would be no reason for life to exist
if Source knew everything already.
Source only knows what It knows up until this point.
You, being a microcosm, a fractal, of the larger Universe
only know what you know, up until this point.
Because the 'fear of the unknown' has so much to do with Worry,
you would benefit, if you're a worrier,
from understanding that Worry is a projection.
Now, worry can be decreased
if we start to think about worry
(the things we're worrying about)
in terms of Value.
Your worry will be greatly reduced
when you train your focus to see the value
that is contained in every single experience.
There's a Zen master which once wrote
"The barn is burnt down - now I can see the Moon"
That there, contains this kind of truth -
that even inherent in what we could call a tragedy
is value ...
If there is value in every experience,
even the ones which we would consider uncomfortable,
then we don't spend our life
running around trying to avoid certain experiences.
We don't spend our life
running around
trying to *escape* certain experiences.
That's super, super, liberating in and of itself.
That's a kind of freedom.
You're no longer living your life
to try to get away from something.
Bad experiences, or unwanted experiences,
are only what we call experiences
whose part in our growth and integration
we do not yet understand.
The minute we understand that all experiences enrich our life
because they all cause learning and growth,
no experience is seen as bad.
This is exactly how Source sees 'bad' experiences in our life.
They're not seen as bad.
They're seen as integral experiences
which allowed us to find Integration
and which allow us to find a state of peace.
All experiences are seen from Source perspective
as valuable.
It's important, of course, to understand that
all experiences we go through
are open to interpretation.
And that's really the pain and the beauty of our lives.
We can either
interpret something
(an experience we have)
in a way that causes us to feel pain
or we can interpret an experience
that allows us to see the inherent beauty
of that particular experience.
You cannot know everything, about everything ...
Source doesn't even know everything about everything.
It only knows what It knows up until this point.
So expecting yourself to know everything about everything
is cruelty,
and it's also the by-product of fear.
One thing can be absolutely certain
and that's that questions lead to answers ...
which lead to more questions ...
which lead to more answers ...
which lead to more questions ...
And this cycle goes on, potentially forever
because not even Source knows
if there is an end to this cycle
(where questions lead to answers which lead to questions).
You've all heard the saying:
"It's not about the destination, it's about the journey ..."
But what if I was here to tell you that
there is no destination?
Then it's really about *just* the journey.
Then, all life is based on
exploration ... expansion ... adventure ...
the progression of discovery ...
and learning.
So how do we come to love Learning
without our attachment to Knowing?
We face, and we release, our fears about Not Knowing.
For example:
I have chosen a career which is in the public eye
where my job is essentially
imparting information.
Now I might be afraid, that if I don't know everything,
that the very people who profess to value me now
might reject me and turn their back on me.
That might be the shadow aspect of why *I* fear not-knowing.
Or, I might be afraid of not-knowing
because if I don't know I could make a tragic mistake.
And if I make a tragic mistake,
I would feel bad about myself
and it would revive my childhood feelings of shame,
which were painful,
which I want to avoid.
We need to brave enough
to face and admit to what we're really afraid of.
Because the unknown has become like a scapegoat.
We need to admit to the *actual* fears
which we are projecting onto the unknown.
And only then, will we find liberation from those very fears.
Only then will we stop telling the story
that we fear the unknown.
Have a good week ...
♪ Outtro Music ♪
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