Unknowing

Kind of a funny English word, isn't it - unknowing? Does this mean to unlearn or to forget what we know? Perhaps it means that there is much still that we do not know? In the 14th Century, an unknown (!) monk wrote a classic spiritual treatise called "The Cloud of Unknowing". In it he posits that the spiritual journey is towards a state of mind that allows that though we might get quite close to knowing G-d, we will never reach that point of understanding; there will always be a "cloud" between us and G-d. Since we can not "know" G-d, we must become at peace with our "unknowing" and continue to strive to be as open as possible to whatever G-d has in mind for us. Unknowing isn't popular these days - and I'm sure it wasn't in the centuries past. Humans always want to know the reason behind the things that occur. Why does the weather do like it does? Why do people make the choices they do? How do you make marshmallows? The list of things to be known is endless - as is our pursuit of answers. In my professional space, it is tantamount to malpractice for me not to know something (or at least to not be able to find an answer). Not knowing is simply not tolerated. Science continues to discover things and those discoveries continue to push back the frontier of what is known and what is unknown. Some humans believe that one day we will know everything that can be known...but what will we do then? William Booth once said, "Consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century (that was the 20th) will be religion without the Holy Ghost (Spirit), Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell." What he was saying is that in our certainty that we humans are the end all and be all, we will leave behind the mystery and faith in something larger than ourselves. We have seen his prophecy come to pass and in order to get away from continuing this path, we must become humble again (or maybe for the first time). This week, consider what it is that you don't know about G-d and your relationship with G-d. Consider that the ability to not know can be quite freeing and allow you to just "be" in the presence of the Creator without needing to "do" anything. Free your mind and heart and allow G-d to do what G-d is wanting to do in your life. It will be transformative! Peace for the journey, Dan