White,
Gray,
And wonderment,
A story from George S.
Pransky's Life is a Metaphor,
Metaphors,
Stories,
And Musings for the Heart.
As human beings,
We are constantly seeking answers.
We are looking for solutions or help with decisions.
We are wanting to know our next steps in life.
When an answer comes to mind,
That is insight in action,
The person feels inspired and the path ahead looks clear,
Well-lit,
And full of well-being.
Knowing this,
You might think that not having an answer is a bad state to be in.
In fact,
When humans don't have a clue and are completely in the dark,
They can do well.
Their minds are free to enjoy the moment,
To sit back and smell the roses,
Until an answer eventually comes to mind.
They feel humble and off the hook temporarily.
So,
Human beings do great both when they are in the white light of insight or in the wonderment of the unknown.
It's the gray that is the bane of the human mind.
When we don't know and can't accept that we don't know,
We fill our heads with all our education and experience.
We analyze,
Obsess,
And get impatient for an answer.
The prolonged analysis leaves us with feelings of stress,
Or even distress,
As every thought and memory is brought to life in a feeling.
It takes longer for us to reach our answers because our busy minds aren't hospitable enough for insights.
Human beings stay out of the gray when they realize that the wonderment,
The unknown,
Is the gateway to a deeper,
More profound intelligence than the sum of anyone's education and experience.
This intelligence is the infinite intelligence behind life.
It's just a matter of time before an empty mind intuits the exact insight needed for the situation at hand.
In other words,
The unknown is really just the pre-known.
When I first read that,
I realized that I lived in that gray space for a lot of my adult life.
My mind used to run on fast forward,
Constantly scanning the horizon,
Trying to predict every possible scenario,
Every what-if,
Every imagined future,
And stay one step ahead to keep myself safe.
And if I had a decision to make,
Or had got myself in an awkward situation,
That thought and those words,
I don't know,
Would send me into a spin.
The future often seemed to be a scary place,
And somehow I thought I had to analyze and be prepared for every possible situation that might arise.
So I worried,
And I wore my worry badge proudly,
Thinking it made me a good,
Caring,
Responsible human.
And actually,
I was encouraged to do so.
If I was about to make a decision about something,
My dad would always ask me if I'd given it enough thought,
And I never thought I had.
So I would go back and wrestle with it a bit more,
Because I thought that's what brains are for.
I'd get stuck in what George calls the gray,
That place where you don't know,
And you can't stand that you don't know.
So you fill the gap with frantic thinking,
Analyzing,
Controlling,
Replaying old memories,
Consulting your imagination like it's an oracle.
It's totally exhausting.
And the more I thought,
The less I knew.
My mind was so noisy that there was simply no chance of receiving or hearing anything new.
I couldn't see that then.
Now I can.
And I love that last paragraph where George writes about wonderment is actually the most intelligent place we can be.
Because it's actually not that hard to get there.
You just have to see that the gray exists,
And of course notice that you're in it.
Then it's like magic.
It kind of melts away,
And you're left in a wonderful place where the light of insight has a chance to shine.
When I stopped wrestling with not knowing,
Ideas and possibilities started to show up.
Things I'd never thought of before.
I just needed to notice,
Oh,
Oh,
I'm in the gray again.
Without judgment too.
Actually,
When it happens now,
Because it does,
When I notice now,
More often than not,
I smile.
Because the unknown is such a beautiful place.
It's not a void to fear.
It's a place to wonder.
And the unknown,
Well,
Really it's just the pre-known.
