Don't Know Mind

Resting in "not knowing" is about embracing the uncertainty and openness of life. In a world where we're often pressured to have all the answers, this practice invites us to release that need for certainty.

Transcript

Resting in don't know mind or not knowing is about embracing the uncertainty and the openness of life. We are often in a situation where we're pressured to have all the answers, To have the perfect plan and strategy, But this practice of not knowing invites us to release that need for certainty. Alan Watts called this the wisdom of insecurity. Being okay with life's uncertainty and inevitable change. He says, When you swim, You don't grab hold of the water because if you do, You will sink and drown. Instead, You relax and float. There's of course a certain amount of effort that we need to take in life. You don't just sit around doing nothing and twiddling your thumbs, But once we put in that initial effort, Once the ball is rolling, Once we're actually in the water, We need to allow for a sort of trust or faith in the process to unfold, Letting go of worrying about the past or future, Letting go of outcomes, And as cliche as it sounds, Finding happiness and contentment in the steps of the journey. So, I'd like to invite you into this meditation now on don't know mind. So wherever you are, Settling in and finding a comfortable posture on your chair or cushion, Allowing a couple of nice and deep breaths, Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, Letting your shoulders be relaxed and just making an intention to be with the body and the heart and the mind for these next few minutes, Letting your exhale move out a little bit slower, Prolonging the out-breath and letting the mind calm itself, Activating the parasympathetic nervous system, Feeling the chest rising and falling, Feeling your back straight, Supported perhaps against the chair, Your feet supported against the chair, Really arriving into the body and feeling the weight, The heaviness, The pressure, The touch points of the chair and the feet. As you continue to breathe and just breathing naturally, There's nowhere you need to go, Nothing you need to do, No one you need to be and whatever emotions, Emotional quality or feeling you might have right now, Just tuning into that, Whether it's maybe some boredom or frustration, Maybe anxiety, Doubt, Confusion, Grasping for something, Just notice that whatever it is and seeing if you can just allow that to be there without adding any extra comment or judgment, Simply noticing, Shining the light of your attention and awareness onto this part of your experience, Softening anywhere else in the body that might want to soften, The belly, The legs, The face and staying with a feeling of the breath, Noticing in particular your chest, The left side and the right side of your chest, Rising and falling in unison and your breath breathing itself naturally. Now realizing for a moment that you're probably caught up in some thought or you're noticing, You're now noticing, You're thinking in whatever storyline and recognize that you didn't choose to have the story, You didn't choose to have this thought in this particular moment, The thought just happened and you have no idea what thoughts are going to come next. Thoughts are just coming and going, Appearing and disappearing, Coming into your awareness and then floating away all on their own. The parts of your experience keep changing, Feeling some comfort or discomfort in your body one moment and then being pulled in by some thought and then a sound and then some emotion that makes itself apparent and all these things are changing without any deliberate effort. You don't know what's going to come next, So you can let go of trying to hold on to these parts of your experience and let go of trying to become anything. Just like riding the surface of the waves, You're living on the surface of now, Letting go of the past, Letting go of the future, Even letting go of the present, Just resting in what is, Staying with the breath and lastly realizing that you have a limited number of breaths, Limited number of time and you really have no idea how long that is, Neither does anyone else. The future is a total mystery and the only guarantee is that there is no guarantee. The bad news is you're falling. The good news is there's no ground. Resting in this great mystery. Not knowing is the most intimate kind of knowing. It means we can meet each moment fresh and new without the burden of our preconceived notions and biases and lastly, Letting go of any attention, Any focus, Any effort. Just letting yourself rest in this not knowing and noticing the quality of presence that might have arisen and if there is some openness and spaciousness, Quietness or calm, Then know that you can, Of course, Take this with you into the rest of your day.

Reviews

Amazing! The metaphor about grasping at Water. I’m gonna remember that one in the last lines about falling? Just yes. I’ve used Insight Timer daily for years and don’t often respond, but you made me think, you opened something. Thank you.