Good morning everyone! It’s a new day and we’re going to be starting our new series that will bring us mindfully through Friday. For the past week (or so), we discussed a near and dear topic to me which is the bridge between east and west by way of Christianity and Buddhism. Since we got into some pretty heavy theology, we’re going to transition into a similar idea but with some lighthearted epistemological (see BWI) play. For the rest of the week, our mini-series will be The Art of Not-Knowing. This is a great segue (see BWI) from yesterday’s edition, as we’ll be expanding on that Socratic Paradox in our main course! It’s like when you order a side as your main course, and the wait is like “what?” and you’re like, “I know what I’m doing.” So let’s dive in!

Today, for our main course, we’ll bite on the concept of “knowing” things. Rather than seeing this through the theological lens, which we’ve kind of covered sparsely (see BWI) this past week, we’ll be dipping into Socrates and Lao Tzu to see how practical logic and some abstract ideas approach this topic. On the side, we’ll munch on Plato’s Paradox of Inquiry. To top it all off, we’ll take a more psychological approach by taking a passage from a book I bought for $14.99 at Barnes & Noble this passed weekend.

Have a seat at our table, Thought Breakfast is served!

We spend our lives trying desperately to know things. We actively yearn to name, define, and master the world in front of us. But the more knowledge we seem to accumulate as we grow, the more we realize how much knowledge actually escapes us. Socrates and Lao Tzu have the same understanding; the world (reality) doesn’t fit neatly into the human psyche. We don’t, and will probably never, achieve total mastery over physical reality. Therefore, true mastery begins in mystery.

To re-quote yesterday’s Socratic Paradox, “I know that I know nothing.” Additionally, Lao Tzu says in the Tao Te Ching, “Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know.”

These are both paradoxical lines of thought, and yet they work. True knowledge, as described by these two thinkers, is rooted in curiosity, silence, and majesty or awe. Our ego craves certainty, but our true wisdom thrives from wonder.

This leads what we know as knowledge into a whole other category that we’ve gone over previously, which is awareness. Knowledge is more like the concrete facts that we learn about the world. Those names and descriptions that help us to better identify and participate in the world. But awareness is the bridge. Awareness is when you see and experience the relativity between all the subjects of knowledge. Knowledge can only take you so far. But once you stop pretending to know, you finally start to see.

Lao Tzu inspired the Buddhist idea of shoshin, or “beginner’s mind.” Which is about approaching every moment, lesson, or happening without preconception. As if we’re babies experiencing the world for the first time. The more we think we understand reality, the less we’re perceiving. The more we think we know, the less we’re willing to learn.

Socrates lived by this principle, and it was so powerful that it shook Athens and they put him to death for it. The Oracle at Delphi proclaimed Socrates the wisest man in Athens. To be the wisest man in Athens at that time probably meant you were one of the wisest people alive. He was puzzled at this, though. He looked to the people who would be expected to receive this honor: the poets, craftsmen, politicians, scientists, and so on. All of these people thought they knew so much, but could not explain to anyone what they claimed to know. Their knowledge was nothing but an illusion, a mask they wore for their own pride.

Socrates’ humility at this fact became his sole purpose and gave meaning to the Socratic method. Wisdom does not mean you have all the answers, it means knowing which questions to ask and which illusory (see BWI) certainties are outright false.

“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” - Plato, Theaetetus

Now Socrates didn’t teach by giving answers, he taught by asking questions that dismantled the beliefs of his students. Consider today’s political climate, if you were to ask someone a line of questions about what they think until they’re contradicting themselves, they get mad. In some cases, they get violent. This was the populations reaction to Socrates at the time.

Each conversation of Socrates’ was more of a gentle “unlearning.” He shows us that wisdom is not the possession of knowledge, but rather the continuous pursuit.

Take this as motivation to always be curious. Rather than imposing your beliefs, show people that most of theirs are just a veil they’re hiding behind.

“How will you search for that which you do not know? For if you know it, you need not search; and if you do not, you would not recognize it if you found it.” - Plato, Meno

We can’t seek what we don’t know, but somehow we do.

How can we seek what we can’t define? Socrates answers this question with a loose concept that’s closer to recollection. Learning is not discovering new things, but recalling something that your soul has already known. In this sense, wisdom doesn’t become information, but recognition.

The truth is always present, waiting quietly behind a curtain of curiosity. Our questions are like keys to a box that we haven’t found.

“Perhaps the mind’s highest act is not to grasp truth, but to make room for it.”

We’ve basically read the entirety of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Going Home in our book nook the passed couple weeks, so today we’re shifting gears. Today, we’ll be looking at Dr. Joseph Murphy’s The Power of Your Subconscious Mind.

Murphy says in Chapter 4, “Never try to compel the subconscious mind to accept your idea by exercising willpower. Such attempts are doomed to failure. The subconscious mind will accept only those thoughts that are calmly and clearly stated.”

So even from a psychological standpoint, your conscious mind can’t simply force truth into existence. No matter how strong your deliberation, or articulate your conviction (see BWI for all that), your subconscious knows the difference between what’s true and what your conscious mind wants to be true.

You simply must relax into your understanding. Clear thoughts create a neural pathway into your understanding. Like I borrowed from Alan Watts, but still always say, you can’t bite your own teeth. Grasping at concepts wont get you there.

Let’s look at a simple example. You’re taught how to make scrambled eggs for the first time. Your mother told you how, and you listened fully and have confidence that you can follow the steps she gave you. You make your first attempt the next day. You fail. You’ve painted your kitchen with egg yolk and narrowly avoided burning your house down. Your mother’s face is tomato red. What you thought you knew, you catastrophically didn’t. Your mother cleans the kitchen, and then cooks the egg in front of you. You repeat the process under her supervision, and you succeed. Now you have the confidence to make eggs and you won’t starve. That’s the first part, letting go of grasping and allowing experience to educate your subconscious.

There does come a second part, though. What happens next? Now you’ve mastered the scrambled egg. You might think yours is the best and there’s no other way anyone should make eggs. You come to find out people are out here frying, poaching, and boiling these things. You have to let go of the notion that your scrambled eggs are the only way to do this. Then, you have to repeat the process of observing, practicing, and executing until you’ve mastered all these different types of eggs.

Almost every learned thing requires this kind of patience, understanding, and calm approach. When you thought you knew everything, you almost burned the house down. When you, in your humility, surrendered and let the world be your master rather than trying to be master of the world, it worked out. You let your understanding come through you, not from you, which is exactly what Socrates was trying to express.

Thus we can see, our epistemological limits are mapped out by Socratic logic, Taoist detachment, AND modern psychology.

Thats a lot to take in for today. Munch on it, know your limits, clear your mind, let the truth emerge, and have a great day today.

PS - If you’ve been wondering what I mean by the BWI, I added a new section to the newsletter! I’m kind of experimenting with a little glossary of terms used at the end of each edition, so let me know what you think!

I’ve come to realize my vernacular can be hard to digest sometimes. Any large abnormal words or ideas will go down here from now on so you don’t have to google what “epistemological” means.

Epistemology - The theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope.

Segue - To move without interruption from one concept to another.

Sparsely - In a thinly, dispersed manner; in small numbers.

Illusory - Based on illusion; not real.

Deliberation - Long and careful consideration or discussion.

Articulate - Having or showing the ability to speak fluently and coherently.

Conviction - A firmly held belief or opinion.

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Remember to stay mindful, smell the flowers, and take it easy.

Chef Ricky - Thought Breakfast

P.S.

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