Not Knowing

Inquiry invites basic knowledge to speak – for instance, in disclosing the limitations in our knowledge and experience. It investigates the possibility that knowingness can appear within what we do not know. Inquiry involves a not-knowing, but it also involves investigating what you do not know, which allows knowledge to emerge. In inquiry, there is an interplay between knowing and not-knowing, but the ground is not-knowing. This ground of not-knowing is what expresses the necessary openness. And as you investigate, this openness allows Being to disclose that truth of the situation. (Spacecruiser Inquiry, pg 100)

We need to remember that basic knowingness is the field of Being as it manifests in our soul. Inquiry is a dynamic stream that meanders according to its knowingness of what it does and doesn’t know as it follows through the field of the soul. This field, however, exists within a larger field of not-knowing – a boundless field of mystery and the ground of all of our experience, perception, and knowledge. (Spacecruiser Inquiry, pg 103)

Knowing, not-knowing

This possibility of not-knowing thoroughly permeates our experience all the time, in all possibilities and all situations. It is fundamental to our knowing capacity. In fact, our basic knowing capacity begins by not-knowing. How can you be knowing, if you don’t first not know? We tend to be scared of not-knowing; we are unable to see that it is the pervasive ground of our knowledge. Not-knowing, in some sense, is where we live all the time. Every piece of knowledge is situated in not-knowing. It is the space where all knowledge is. So we can say that basic knowingness is the field of not-knowing, which can manifest forms within itself that this knowingness recognizes. (Spacecruiser Inquiry, pg 98)

Understanding and ultimate truth

Well, when I say you can't know it, that doesn't mean you cannot be it. You can know it as not-knowing. See, we think of knowing only in terms of concepts. That's why I say you cannot know it, because you cannot conceptualize it. You can't know it in the sense that you cannot identify or name it. Your mind cannot look at it, but your mind knows it's there by the mere fact that when it approaches absolute reality, the mind disappears. When you experience absolute reality directly, your mind doesn't know what happened. In fact the mind is incapable of conceptualizing absolute reality at all, the mind can't even recall the experience. After you encounter absolute reality directly, after while your mind will ask, "What happened? I don't remember what happened!” And you won't end up with any conceptual knowledge. Why? Because absolute reality is the experience of unity. The moment the mind looks at absolute reality, it becomes that reality. The separation implicit in one thing looking at another dissolves. (Diamond Heart Book 3, pg 163)