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 “To truly learn turn your back on what you know … leave it all behind. To truly know the world you must immerse yourself in what is not your knowledge.”

Tibetan thought

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Oh my. Immerse yourself in what is not your knowledge. That may be one of the most difficult things in the world to do.

Look. It is natural to gravitate to what is most comfortable — that which you know and that which is the easiest for you to do. It’s almost our default in a busy, complex, world.

I imagine many of us do this just as part of every day life and tell ourselves we are still learning as we bump into others who do something different and watch from afar.

But, at worst, its cocoon thinking. You aren’t learning shit <in other words, you are increasingly ignorant>.

But, at best, that is having one foot in what you know and maybe dipping a toe into what you don’t. That isn’t truly ‘learning.’

At some point in order to truly learn you must … well … leave it all behind.

And that is difficult. Really difficult.

I read a lot, listen a lot, challenge what I think I know and, yet, I know my learning is still limited. Honestly … I know I cheat. How? I use young people. I try and place the situation in their hands, step back and listen. And I don’t judge <or eliminate possibilities>. It is my way of ‘immersing in what is not your knowledge.’ In their inexperience <within my own experience> they share a world of experiences in which I have no knowledge.

All that said. I may think I do. But I don’t. It is a difficult thing for most of us to do … turn your back on what you know.

But I find it easier as long as I keep this other Tibetan thought in mind:

“Is being an investigator the opposite of being an artist? Maybe it is just that some mysteries require an artist not an investigator. That an artist has different ways to get to the truth.”

Tibetan thought

Ponder this.

The path to truth is not just one path. Sure. I may know one ‘truth.’ But in knowing that I know … well … one thing. And I am sure many people are fine with the knowledge of one truth. And I do not begrudge them of that. For one truth is, at its core, a truth. And I believe everyone needs some truth in their life.

Does knowing more than one truth <if there truly is such a thing> make someone better? Yikes. I don’t believe I could be a good judge of that. Because knowing multiple truths can be confusing … and in confusion someone just may not end up in a better place. I guess I would suggest that if multiple truths put you on more solid ground than go for it.

But the real point to this is that someone without YOUR knowledge is more likely to teach you something completely new than someone who shares your knowledge.

And, ultimately, if you are trying to understand the world, or simply solve a problem, to truly learn the answer … you may have to turn your back on everything you know.

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Written by Bruce