The Power of Unknowns

You might have seen several 2X2 matrices and the wisdom those tables provide. Let us add one more to the list—the 'known/ unknown' matrix. If you see the matrix below, the 4th quadrant is very simple. It's about those aspects of our life that we know, and we also know that we know them. E.g., I know my birthplace, and I am aware of that knowledge.

Quadrants '1' covers all the things I know I don't know. E.g., I know that I don't know the oxygen level on Mars. The third quadrant is about those surprises we get when we do things for the first time. These include things like swimming, cycling, singing, dancing etc. There is scope for growth and learning in these three quadrants, but it's incremental and marginal. It may give space for performing but not for transforming. The possibility of transformation is in the moments of uncertainty in quadrant two. The second quadrant is the don't know, don't know zone. Unfortunately, I can't give you an example from my life about which I don't know and don't even know that I don't know. That's where the blind spots are.?

A little distraction here. A small experiment for you know and experience a blind spot of a human eye. First, draw the boxes below on a paper with the '-' and '+' symbols, as shown below. (You can also use the same image below and move your screen if you can).

Then, close your right eye with your right hand. Let the open eye focus on the '+' sign. Now with your left hand, move the paper closer to your face. At a certain distance, the '-' sign will disappear. That's your blind spot. This distance may vary from person to person, but every human eye has a blind spot for sure.?

Similarly, we all have several blind spots in the various aspects of our lives, and they are all in the second quadrant of the 'don't know/don't know zone. Therefore, one must be in this zone of uncertainties and insecurities for new possibilities to show up. Then why are we so compelled to come out of this zone and return to the known zones? It's because of the fear of the unknown. Thanks to our hunter-gatherer past, we, as the human species, are designed to seek certainty and avoid discomfort. Thus it is not natural for us to seek freedom from the known and quit our comfort zones. But growth and learning happen outside the comfort zone. It happens amid uncertainties. Running away from instability and uncertainties is to kill the possibilities of transformation. It is not easy, but if we make deliberate efforts to stay in the unknowns and are willing to be in the second quadrant for a little more time, we create a space for transformation to show up.