“Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know. One often obtains a clue to a person’s nature by discovering the reasons for his or her imperviousness to certain impressions”
~Eric Hoffer~
In day to day life most of us have been in a situation where we suspect something to be true; however we say to ourselves that we really don’t want to know. Parents sometimes say this to themselves as their teenage children begin to engage in experimental and adult behavior. A parent may have a strong suspicion of behavior that their child is participating in, however it is easier to turn a blind eye and say that they would rather not know the truth so that they can still hold their child on a pedestal and so that they can sleep at night. Our governments engage in behavior and make decisions that we really don’t want to know about. We know the government is making decisions that they say is in the best interest of our country, however if we knew all that they knew, we often believe as does the government that we would not be able to handle all of the truth.
The reason that we usually don’t want to know something is because “knowing” would change our life in some way; knowing may force us to awaken from our comfortable slumber; knowing may shake the very foundation that we have built our life on; knowing may force us to take action that we would simply rather not take; knowing may make us uncomfortable; knowing may force us into really examining our beliefs; knowing may somehow negate who we are, what we represent, make us in some way feel like fools or failures; knowing may change the way we view and react to other people in our life, etc.
There are numerous reasons why we choose to not know what we don’t want to know. Choosing to not want to know is a choice fueled by fear. We fear having to face the truth and rather than face the truth we choose to stick our head in the proverbial sand in order to preserve the status quo. Of course we know that when we stick our head in the sand that our ass is still very prominently exposed and the truth which we choose to not want to know most likely will kick us right in the hind quarters to which we will then act surprised because we never saw it coming.
I met with a friend over the weekend and he said something very interesting to me. He said “Mark, I have known you for about 5 years, however in that time you have never met me. The reason you have never met me is because I have never been my self since you met me. I have been living a lie, a lie which has made me miserable and unappreciative of life”. My friend went on to tell me about the toxic situation that he has been living in for a number of years and how that even though he suspected that his situation was toxic for many years he chose to know to what extent, he chose not to recognize red flags, he chose not to know that he was slowly killing his authentic self. Now my friend has awakened to that which he chose not to know and with that knowledge is making changes and plans to make changes which will remove him from this toxic situation that he finds himself in.
What is remarkable yet very common is that even as he was telling me all of that which he now chooses to know, at times during our conversation he still questioned if making the changes were worth going through what he viewed as being uncomfortable, what he viewed as potential hardships. I acknowledged what he was feeling and the struggle that he was going through as he made his decision to extricate himself from a toxic situation. I said the following to him, “If you awoke one day to discover that every morning you were drinking a cup of poison, and that every evening you were drinking another cup of poison and that this poison was killing you, ever so slowly, yet it was surely making you ill and it was killing you, how long would you continue to drink the poison?” Of course he answered “That is pretty easy, I would stop drinking the poison immediately”. I didn’t need to say anymore for he understood that he has been doing just that, he had been poisoning his authentic self for years to the point that he wasn’t even sure who his true self was anymore. What he did know without any doubt was that who he is today and who he has been since I knew him was a false self and that he was now ready to regain his authentic self.
My friend did what many of us do; he chose to not know what he did not want to know. As we evolve we must be willing to be open to all possibilities and to do this we must open ourselves up to that which we choose to not want to know. We must choose to put our fears aside, live from spirit and know that there is nothing to fear in knowing, there is nothing to fear in discovering that what we believed all of our life may not be true or that there may be many truths rather than one truth. We must be willing to empty ourselves to make room for that which we have pushed aside. We must be the eternal student who is willing to say what I know today may change tomorrow however that knowing does not change my authentic self; rather knowing enhances and allows me to be my authentic self.
Consider today what you dismiss purely because of what source it comes from. You may be surprised to find that you don’t pay attention to certain teachers and lessons simply because you have a pre-conceived notion about the source. Challenge yourself, purposefully engage a source that in the past you have dismissed because of what you did not want to know. Ask yourself in what aspects of your life do you have you head stuck in the sand? What do you choose not to know?
“Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know. One often obtains a clue to a person’s nature by discovering the reasons for his or her imperviousness to certain impressions”
~Eric Hoffer~
In day to day life most of us have been in a situation where we suspect something to be true; however we say to ourselves that we really don’t want to know. Parents sometimes say this to themselves as their teenage children begin to engage in experimental and adult behavior. A parent may have a strong suspicion of behavior that their child is participating in, however it is easier to turn a blind eye and say that they would rather not know the truth so that they can still hold their child on a pedestal and so that they can sleep at night. Our governments engage in behavior and make decisions that we really don’t want to know about. We know the government is making decisions that they say is in the best interest of our country, however if we knew all that they knew, we often believe as does the government that we would not be able to handle all of the truth.
The reason that we usually don’t want to know something is because “knowing” would change our life in some way; knowing may force us to awaken from our comfortable slumber; knowing may shake the very foundation that we have built our life on; knowing may force us to take action that we would simply rather not take; knowing may make us uncomfortable; knowing may force us into really examining our beliefs; knowing may somehow negate who we are, what we represent, make us in some way feel like fools or failures; knowing may change the way we view and react to other people in our life, etc.
There are numerous reasons why we choose to not know what we don’t want to know. Choosing to not want to know is a choice fueled by fear. We fear having to face the truth and rather than face the truth we choose to stick our head in the proverbial sand in order to preserve the status quo. Of course we know that when we stick our head in the sand that our ass is still very prominently exposed and the truth which we choose to not want to know most likely will kick us right in the hind quarters to which we will then act surprised because we never saw it coming.
I met with a friend over the weekend and he said something very interesting to me. He said “Mark, I have known you for about 5 years, however in that time you have never met me. The reason you have never met me is because I have never been my self since you met me. I have been living a lie, a lie which has made me miserable and unappreciative of life”. My friend went on to tell me about the toxic situation that he has been living in for a number of years and how that even though he suspected that his situation was toxic for many years he chose to know to what extent, he chose not to recognize red flags, he chose not to know that he was slowly killing his authentic self. Now my friend has awakened to that which he chose not to know and with that knowledge is making changes and plans to make changes which will remove him from this toxic situation that he finds himself in.
What is remarkable yet very common is that even as he was telling me all of that which he now chooses to know, at times during our conversation he still questioned if making the changes were worth going through what he viewed as being uncomfortable, what he viewed as potential hardships. I acknowledged what he was feeling and the struggle that he was going through as he made his decision to extricate himself from a toxic situation. I said the following to him, “If you awoke one day to discover that every morning you were drinking a cup of poison, and that every evening you were drinking another cup of poison and that this poison was killing you, ever so slowly, yet it was surely making you ill and it was killing you, how long would you continue to drink the poison?” Of course he answered “That is pretty easy, I would stop drinking the poison immediately”. I didn’t need to say anymore for he understood that he has been doing just that, he had been poisoning his authentic self for years to the point that he wasn’t even sure who his true self was anymore. What he did know without any doubt was that who he is today and who he has been since I knew him was a false self and that he was now ready to regain his authentic self.
My friend did what many of us do; he chose to not know what he did not want to know. As we evolve we must be willing to be open to all possibilities and to do this we must open ourselves up to that which we choose to not want to know. We must choose to put our fears aside, live from spirit and know that there is nothing to fear in knowing, there is nothing to fear in discovering that what we believed all of our life may not be true or that there may be many truths rather than one truth. We must be willing to empty ourselves to make room for that which we have pushed aside. We must be the eternal student who is willing to say what I know today may change tomorrow however that knowing does not change my authentic self; rather knowing enhances and allows me to be my authentic self.
Consider today what you dismiss purely because of what source it comes from. You may be surprised to find that you don’t pay attention to certain teachers and lessons simply because you have a pre-conceived notion about the source. Challenge yourself, purposefully engage a source that in the past you have dismissed because of what you did not want to know. Ask yourself in what aspects of your life do you have you head stuck in the sand? What do you choose not to know?