We have to learn what we can, but remain mindful that our knowledge not close the circle, closing out the void, so that we forget that what we do not know remains boundless, without limit or bottom, and that what we know may have to share the quality of being known with what denies it. What is seen with one eye has no depth.
(Ursula Le Guin, Always Coming Home, Grafton Books: London, 1985, p. 29)
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One of the first lessons about living is the one that consists of knowing how not to know, which does not mean not knowing, but knowing how not to know, knowing how to avoid getting closed in by knowledge, knowing more and less than what one knows, knowing how not to understand, while never being on the side of ignorance. It is not a question of not having understood anything, but of not letting oneself get locked into comprehension. Each time we come to know something, in reality it is a step. Then we have to strike out for the un-known, to make our way along in the dark, with an “apple in our hand” like a candle.
(Hélène Cixous, ‘The Author in Truth’, in “Coming to Writing” and Other Essays, Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1991, p. 161)
I'm currently re-reading The Cloud of Unknowing (I studied it in college as part of Medieval English Mysticism), so this is a very timely post, Therese, thank you :) x
ReplyDeleteSynchronicity! You're welcome, Claire. x
Deletemystery is a beautiful thing...to leave space in ones known territories for ones unknown...it keeps one humble and open. a spacious mind is less arrogant, i believe. ours souls want to exist in a dual state of knowing/being known and unformed possibility. in some very real sense, a fully-mapped world is less satisfying, less attractive, than one with yet undiscovered places. our souls feel larger in mystery.
ReplyDeleteYes. It is a challenge though, to maintain that openness and sense of unknown possibility.
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