What is "unknowing"?

[Xan]

I assume there is sincerity in this meeting, the sincerity to really look and to discover what life is. The fact that you are sincere means that you have already searched in many directions. The longing to search for life in many directions, to discover your true being, comes from an inner urge to find the truth, the inner urge to discover yourself.

If you really seriously search in all directions you become exhausted and, speaking psychologically, bankrupt. You feel completely helpless: you are in despair; you no longer know where to turn; all streets are dead ends; your thinking can no longer help.

This crisis is the most important moment in your life. You come into a state of complete not-knowing. You have no hope or expectations anymore. It is a rare occasion in which the thinking is confronted with its limitations, and because it is useless as such the thinking gives up, then you are open, open for nothing, only open for openness.

This openness is the threshold of your true nature. Remain there in not knowing and you will see what happens.


~ Jean Klein

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by Xan

I assume there is sincerity in this meeting, the sincerity to really look and to discover what life is. The fact that you are sincere means that you have already searched in many directions. The longing to search for life in many directions, to discover your true being, comes from an inner urge to find the truth, the inner urge to discover yourself.

If you really seriously search in all directions you become exhausted and, speaking psychologically, bankrupt. You feel completely helpless: you are in despair; you no longer know where to turn; all streets are dead ends; your thinking can no longer help.

This crisis is the most important moment in your life. You come into a state of complete not-knowing. You have no hope or expectations anymore. It is a rare occasion in which the thinking is confronted with its limitations, and because it is useless as such, the thinking gives up, then you are open, open for nothing, only open for openness.

This openness is the threshold of your true nature. Remain there in not knowing and you will see what happens.


~ Jean Klein

Very nice advice at the end and an exact detailed description of the path my life took.......lol

[Miss Hepburn]

So let us understand that reality transcends all of our notions about reality. Reality is neither Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Advaita Vedanta, nor Buddhist.
It is neither dualistic nor nondualistic, neither spiritual nor nonspiritual.
We should come to know that there is more reality and sacredness in a blade of grass than in all of our thoughts and ideas about reality.
When we perceive from an undivided consciousness, we will find the sacred in every expression of life.
We will find it in our teacup, in the fall breeze, in the brushing of our teeth, in each and every moment of living and dying.
Therefore we must leave the entire collection of conditioned thought behind and let ourselves be led by the inner thread of silence into the unknown, beyond where all paths end, to that place where we go innocently or not at all—not once but continually.

One must be willing to stand alone—in the unknown, with no reference to the known or the past or any of one’s conditioning.
One must stand where no one has stood before in complete nakedness, innocence, and humility.
One must stand in that dark light, in that groundless embrace, unwavering and true to the reality beyond all self—not just for a moment, but forever without end. For then that which is sacred, undivided, and whole is born within consciousness and begins to express itself.

© Adyashanti 2008


http://www.adyashanti.org/index.php?file=writings_inner&writingid

[Xan]

You come into a state of complete not-knowing. You have no hope or expectations anymore. It is a rare occasion in which the thinking is confronted with its limitations, and because it is useless as such the thinking gives up, then you are open, open for nothing, only open for openness. - Jean Klein

One must be willing to stand alone—in the unknown, with no reference to the known or the past or any of one’s conditioning.... in complete nakedness, innocence, and humility.... —not just for a moment, but forever without end. - Adyashanti


It takes courage.


Xan

[Miss Hepburn]

Such an inspiring thread filled with quotes and inspiration.


We should still the thinking mind so far as possible and adopt a
listening attitude...when we have an important question.
~Joel S. Goldsmith.

[loopylucid]

Random question which probably only serves to show the confusion this thread has bought to my mind (in a good way!) But unknowing feels very similar to being able to view things from as many angles as current perspective allows/dictates, teaches, preaches, presents or attempts to control etc, without attaching to any of them? Because it is hard too un-know! When your unknowing what you once thought you knew in a literal sense, and so if it is a case of oneness, all that you thought you once knew is still a path to what ultimately is, a bit like even tho we un-know, we might do so by perceiving all paths and realising they each reach the same goal, therby not focusing on any result, just our own journey, allowing it to flow unheeded, unrestrained and without need to catergorise, as we realise it wouldn't make any difference anyway?
Just some ramblings, disclaimer to them making any sense tho! hehehe!
Loopy

I believe there is this "beyond mind" source, and I believe I have experienced it.. but in my mind, I can't help but wonder if my "beyond mind" experiences were actually just a psychotic delusion produced by my mind...



So, While it may be true, that with a certain understanding/acceptance your mind dissolves into "being" and a unconditioned source(call it; awareness, consciousness, god, or whatever...) is found to be behind it.
How does this "beyond mind" refute/replace all the things our mind "knows"?

Does one "un-know" how to walk,talk...?

Or is one transformed from the "un-knowing" state to a mystical state of "all-knowing"?


I think, that mind and source(the relative and the absolute) go hand in hand together. And while I do think we should aim to go beyond the mind, at the same time, the mind is a powerful tool which we should also exercise and develop.