The Power of Not Knowing!!! ?

There is a great power in not knowing. 

There is a classic martial arts story about a student asking for tea. The master began to pour the tea into the students cup until it began to overflow… when your cup is already full any new knowledge will simply not fit. 

So as the student you either need to focus on keeping it empty or find a bigger cup!

Now 

translating this analogy into a practical aspect. The cup is your mind. The tea is all the vast possible thoughts, concepts, practices, beliefs, skills, knowledge, "facts", goals, memories… etc.

When we claim to already know as in the classic "I Know!" response. Our cup (the receiving tool) is already completely satisfied (full)  and so we don't truly listen. Instead of gaining a fragment of valuable thought, we either strengthen our sense of "knowing" through repetition or we impatiently wait for the other to finish speaking in order to further expand on the topic. 

Part of the "unknowing" process is to be humble in your approach to learning! Even when you "know" the answer, you also keep one foot inside the door of possibility. Just in case a "better" thing to "know" appears. This humbleness can be found and cultivated if you focus on your primary goal versus being right. When you make it a point to say you would like the best of the best, then you are declaring a stance of humble Genius! ( By the way often as you go through this process your "primary goal" will fluctuate) 

You are brilliant and you have many things to teach to those around you.

Begin with not knowing!

Practical Life Practice :  

The realm of not knowing also defeats one of the biggest sources of conflict on this planet… Assumption. 

Observe how you assume "claim to know" who various "strangers" are and what they are about. 

Then if you remember… Experiment with not knowing them. Let go of all guesses, hypothesis, conclusion and simply ask them :)