09_08_2020

Exploring Other Ways of Knowing

                I feel like my life definitely has a landline to the creative forces that fuel serendipitous connections.  Here’s how prompt the messaging works sometimes.  I have an incredibly good friend of many years who is exploring a whole range of what I describe as Eastern alternatives to healing and wellness.  Within the last several years, she has become certified in Reiki techniques, taken multiple classes on breathing and energy work.  She is currently enrolled in a two-year program to become certified as a shamanic practitioner.  She has been taking courses in the different kinds of yoga practices and finds the kundalini approach to be particularly meaningful for her.

In a recent conversation as she was exploring future career options, I asked her if she listed all of the different areas that she has been studying and exploring, could she then come up with a phrase that encompassed them all.

Her answer was immediate.  She said she had been aware from the time that she was quite young that “there were multiple ways of knowing.”  I loved the phrase because I feel like it captures some of my own work at the moment.

I don’t know exactly when it began to dawn on me that there were in fact different ways of looking at issues.  Listening to my  feelings, especially what my heart might be telling me, leads me to different ways of understanding situations than just relying on my reasoning.

Many years ago, I was introduced to the Myers-Briggs Personality Types Index and I was surprised at one of my results.  Because I had been a math major in college, and people always described me as very logical, I expected that I would come out as a “T” for Thinking.  The opposite type showed as one of my lead suits.  Instead of a “T” I was typed as an “F” which represents Feeling.

I have the ability to connect with others on a Feeling level, and others  describe me as having a lot of empathy.  Without much guidance back then on how to balance the insights I gained through my reasoning abilities versus my ability to feel, I often felt like I was caught between a rock and a hard place as I worked my way to decisions.

I also scored highly on the “N” or Intuitive aspect as measured by the Myers-Briggs.  I hadn’t ever labelled my intuition as another way of knowing until I began spending more time exploring mindfulness and meditation as part of my spiritual practice.  I find that the more I delve into deepening my ways of knowing, the more I learn about how much more there is to learn.

Recently I have been reading The Way of the Bodhisattva in preparation for a weekend retreat that I am participating in this month.  A lengthy introduction to the book provides an overview of the teachings and lessons to be learned in this poetic masterpiece.  I have tried in the past reading it on my own, but I find that I get lost in the language.  I am more accustomed to making sense of prose, but I need guidance in understanding a poem of this length.  I am excited to have the opportunity to learn more about the Buddhist teachings.

Another serendipitous entry into this process of discovery and open-mindedness came my way via the meditation for August 23 in Sarah Ban Breathnach’s book, Simple Abundance: 365 Days to a Balanced and Joyful Life.  The reflection titled, “The Golden Storehouse of the Subconscious Mind,” points out that “The conscious mind is where reason resides, and the subconscious mind, or deeper mind, is where our emotions and creativity dwell.”

The author invites at the end of the day’s food for thought to invite in other ways of knowing when we feel stuck.  “When you are creating and you find yourself stuck, let go and turn it over to the Deeper Wisdom dwelling beyond your reasoning.  When you are perplexed, you need to ask the subconscious to take over, preferably at night.”

“Tell your subconscious mind to awaken you with the answer you are seeking.  By the third morning – three is a very mystical number – the answers should start to reveal themselves.

Circling back to the Introduction in preparation for the upcoming retreat, the Preface provides some powerful insights on how our egos mislabel or misread some of our experiences, especially in situations which cause us to become angry.   Here again there are noticeably clear messages about being open to different ways of knowing.

Sample illustrations reveal how our egos are quick to re-enforce our feelings of being hurt or abused; their role is to protect us from harm, and sometimes they operate on steroids so we need to find ways to quiet them and listen to other messages.   Engaging in a disciplined meditative practice is a common recommendation for quieting the ramblings of the mind.   “A mental stillness supervenes, and conceptual elaboration is annihilated, making possible an insight that lies beyond thought construction.”

I can attest to how much meditating has helped me hear other voices of insight.  I can tell when an insight that brings peace and resolution has landed in my body.  I quiet down, look at the proposed solution, and can tell from my peaceful welcoming of it as the best solution available to me at the time.  It is interesting how I describe this process to others.  I describe it “as getting out of my own way.”

As I gain a deeper understanding of the dangers of overreliance on our egos and rational minds, I wish I had learned something about other ways of knowing when I was younger.  I do not know why coming to a deeper understanding seems more synonymous with aging.  Maybe we have to reach a certain point in life where we are comfortable in accepting who we are before we are able to look more closely at who we are.

I share my insights with you in hopes that they may bring you some of the same peace that they are bringing me.  At least when I realize I am still learning, I am comforted in knowing that I am still evolving, hopefully becoming the woman I am capable of being.