From Knowing to Knowledge
A major climacteric in the spiritual process is when there’s a crossover from knowing to knowledge. The transition can be traumatic and disorientating, with a sense of something once previously cherished being left behind. The focus of intelligence is now in what appears to be two places at once, with a dual perception of consciousness and sensory awareness no longer separated by any condition of mind.
The limit of the mind’s intelligence is understanding. When something is grasped, such as the way to work out a mathematical problem, the experience is retained as an interpretation of life at an intellectual level of mind. There’s no problem when there’s something to know in the worldly sense concerning the practicalities of living; this is necessary to function in the physical world. But when the mind applies the same intelligence to try to understand the inner mystery, the result is confusion and a distorted perception of the truth. The mind can only be attentive to one particular area of existence at any time. Its focus is exclusive and is unable to encompass the totality of life
It’s possible to know many things, but even the most erudite scholar can never know everything. In the enlightened state everything is known by knowing nothing, which is a seeming contradiction – but only to an unenlightened mind. The mind, when emptied of the need to know, is at peace in the effortless state. All effort arises from the fear of that which is sensed to be missing; this induces the emotional impulse to discover something of permanence in the world. But whatever is attained never lasts for long and fails to satisfy the self’s incessant cravings for experience. The world was created on this dynamic tension, which perpetuates the frenetic search of the human race to find meaning and purpose to life.
Someone who becomes proficient in their specialist field is usually able to demonstrate a greater expertise than most. When this becomes the main focus of the life, it’s possible for the individual to break through into the realm of pure knowledge, with insights and revelations of divine inspiration. Examples in modern times include that of Einstein, who touched upon areas of higher mind in his exploration into relativity, and artists such as Stravinsky and sculptor Henry Moore, who dazzled the world with their creative genius. But the limitation is that their enlightened vision applies only to a small portion of their living life’s experience. In the other areas of life even the genius is burdened by the absence of complete self-knowledge.
There’s little reality communicated in the world today, mostly due to the pathological resistance to truth within the global media network. Science and organised religion are deemed acceptable to be broadcast to the people since it imposes no threat to the unconscious way of life practised by the majority of the earth’s population. The truth of existence is kept as far away as possible from the populace as this would agitate the human psyche, not unlike a hurricane which leaves carnage in its wake. And should anyone endeavour to impart any knowledge of the invisible realm, it’s inevitably ridiculed or refuted unless it can be proved to the satisfaction of the knowing mind.
The mind is reliant on time and past. It continually needs to affirm what it knows by looking into the memory, either as the reasoning process based on acquired information or as speculative thinking. Experience happens in the external world, and can be repeated and described in conceptual terms. Any spiritual insight or realisation is unique and leaves no trace or impression on the memory. The timeless energy of spirit is assimilated within the body and purifies a degree of self, which then adjusts in frequency to a new octave of being. What is retained is pure knowledge, which is accessible at any time when the mind is stilled. This is the fundamental difference between knowing and knowledge; knowing takes time whereas knowledge is the immediacy of life and truth now.
The truth cannot be realised by any movement of the mind. All motion is ignorance as separation from the unity of indivisible life, the stationary realm of consciousness behind the appearance of the world, So far in human evolution, this rarest of knowledge of the truth of our existence has been imparted by relatively few individuals in what is known as God or Self-realisation. But is it necessary in these times to be a martyr or ascetic and denounce worldly possessions to unite with the full spiritual potential within the body? Or perhaps it’s sufficient to be an ordinary man or woman who just loves the mystery of life.