Know To Be

How fascinating it is to begin the journey, over and over, of embodying wisdom that was once imprisoned to the mind.

How often do we learn of awe-inspiring feats done by a human being, heart-massaging stories of love and heroic acts, inspiring tales that stir our very soul?  How often do we think about it, smile, but suddenly get swept away in the current of our lives?

There is a difference between knowing and being.

It is one that I have not acknowledged until recently.

We can know that we want our lives a certain way.  We can hear the stories mentioned above and know they are possible.  We can know that we are capable of extraordinary things (once we gain the confidence to believe it).  We can forget...and know again.  

I think that many of us have reached this point.  We are innudated with information - we are literally overflowing with it.  Sure, we are often overflowing with information that may not be beneficial to self-awareness (like how many sheep our friend needs on their virtual farm on Facebook).  But for most who have even a remote interest in self-awareness or acceptance, we have received the messages.  We are knowledgeable.

A problem arises when we discover that we are not just what we know.  We may know how to meditate, but we do not practice meditation regularly.  We may know that eating healthy and regular exercise harmonizes our body but we do neither.  

We try to fix this discrepancy the way we got to where we are - by gathering more knowledge.  We take more classes, read more books, fervently search through online site after site believing that maybe we will find the magic combination of knowledge that will transform us into that person we long to be.

The familiar quote comes to mind: Do what you've always done and you'll get what you've already got.

I return again to the space of which I often speak.  Knowledge is form.  It is distinction, labels, valuable road maps to help us navigate this fascinating world.

Being requires space.  Being is the stuff, the practice in between all of that knowledge.  We build our castle after castle of wisdom, but we must leave space in which to live in and around its walls.  

Embodiment - coming home to live in the knowledge we have aquired and the wisdom which has always been there.

Perhaps we can attempt this together - if only for a day or so.  Today, try to learn nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Zilch.  Do not consciously take one more iota of information into your brain.

Just experience. Observe. Touch. Smell. Taste.  Hear your thoughts clamoring to do more, acknowledge them, and release them to return to the (possibly uncomfortable) space.  You already have the wisdom you need to navigate your life - just listen and trust in yourself.

Namaste.