i don't know

all this talking and thinking we do about spirituality must at some point recede into the background as the diversionary jabber that it ultimately is. it's very valuable up to a point, but no amount of it will ever add up to a direct encounter with the very intimate and immediate experience of truth - an experience which is available to one and all as a natural birthright regardless of spiritual or philosophical disposition.

mental definitions are cozy because regardless of their accuracy - and they always prove to be inaccurate sooner or later - they give us the feeling that we've got reality just where we want it. they provide us with the false sensation (at least at a very superficial level, and even then not all of the time) that we know what's going on and are in control. for this reason, we cling to definitions as if we were clinging to life itself.

but there's an immense freedom in saying "i truly do not know." while this may seem like a paralyzing statement to make, it in fact creates the space within which an alternate approach to experiencing life - one that doesn't involve pinning things down with the mind - can be forged. this recognition is the first prerequisite to true wisdom.