We don't know what we don't know

"We don’t know what we don’t know.” The foundations that each of us support and base our life on are simply the beliefs and the conclusions that we've arrived up on, based on the rest of the information that we've had presented to us up until now.

So if we are not challenging and re-evaluating or reassessing our personal beliefs in comparison to new information then we're never going to grow or develop or mature as balanced adults. And this is fundamentally the essence of personal growth.

The imaginary story below deals with the concept of the unknown and also stimulates lateral thinking. [The story is an adaptation from ‘Your Sacred Self’ by Dr. Wayne Dyer, originally from ‘Our Greatest Gift’ by Henri J. M. Nouwen.]

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

“Don't be ridiculous” said the first. “Look around you. This is all there is. Why must you always be thinking about something beyond this reality? Accept your lot in life.”

The second said, “I don’t know, but there may be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”

The first replied, “All you've ever known is darkness. You've never seen light. How can you even contemplate such an idea? Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? That is absurd. The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”

The second insisted, “Well I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.”

The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover, if there is life, then why has no one ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”

“Now don't get mad, but I have something else to say,” said the second, “I also believe that there is a Mother and she will take care of us.”

The first replied “That’s laughable. You've never seen a Mother. Why can't you accept that this is all there is? You are here alone with me. This is your reality. Now grab hold of that cord. Trust me, there is no Mother.”

The second said, “I think She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are part of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist.”

Said the first: “Well I don’t see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn’t exist.”

To which the second replied, “Please listen without rejecting my idea. Somehow I think that those constant pressures we both feel, those movements that make us so uncomfortable sometimes, that continual repositioning as we keep growing, is getting us ready for a place of glowing light. Be patient, we will experience it very soon. Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and listen, you can perceive Her presence, and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.”