False Certainty

Posted by Paul Reynolds on Apr 12, 2022 in Blog, Western Insight | Comments Off on False Certainty

It is easier to see problems in someone other than oneself.  We all know people who knock on our door with bibles.  They’re very certain. They are living in their certainties, but if we look outside our own worldviews, and look at beliefs distant from ours, it can begin to open our minds. The wise person starts asking, “How does this problem apply to me?” Where do I have a similar belief that I am not aware of or that I am stuck in?

I had a wise teacher who said that “not knowing” is one of the highest states of awareness.  We need is to free ourselves from the limitations of knowledge. This doesn’t mean getting rid of knowledge—knowledge is extremely necessary of course, but rather, we should not be stuck in the known. We need to be to be open to the unknown. The unknown can be terrifying, but if we don’t stay open to the unknown, our terror is still there—it’s just hidden.  The demons of fear and certainty stand guard at the door of self-knowledge.

Certainty may be what we want, but relativity is what we’ve got!  The unknown is the source of joy and adventure.  Do you want to know how the movie ends?  Or “who did it?”  We are told and conditioned, in some philosophies, to believe that we can get to a place of all-knowing.  By acknowledging that there’s no such thing, that knowledge always has limits, we gain freedom. Then we are living with perception and insight in the moment.

—Ganga White

Posted by | Paul Reynolds

“Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen. Not any religion or cultural system…..” - Rumi

For over 30 years Paul Reynolds has collected and shared inspiration from a wide variety of sources. Embracing the philosophy that at the core of all these expressions is the reminder that we are loved and supported every moment. This unending stream of inspiration, imagination and wisdom is posted via his weekly ‘Living the Question Blog’, which has become ‘home’ for those discoveries. If you would like to receive the readings and share them with those you feel will benefit, please fill out the ‘Subscribe’ form to the right and Paul’s selections will come to your email every Friday.