Day 130: My Experiment
Nov 23, 2018
Gentleness
A litany of phrases such as “I have to learn to be compassionate, forgive, be gentle, love myself, care for myself” bemoan our collective ignorance. The more we learn the more we accumulate assumptions about ourselves and life. Accumulation of rigid beliefs of the known become the stone walls surrounding intimacy, self-knowledge, and relating. We say: “If only I could learn more then I can dispel conflict”.
Socrates was declared the most intelligent man in the world as he knew nothing. Unlike most of us, who think we know something, Socrates wore no protective goggles to perceive the world. He remained with the clear mind of the child.
We pile on one belief after another further obfuscating reality. To see life as it is, our work is to unlearn what we have learned. Most often learning is a harsh task master. One simple way to unlearn what you have learned is to be “gentle” with yourself. Be gentle in word, gentle in thoughts, gentle in doing, gentle in not doing. Gentleness, like a river that creates the Grand Canyon, can erode the rigidity of accumulated knowledge birthing something devoid of conditioning. That which is without preconceptions is the adventure.