QuanBlog: Ignorance Winter 2021

I love how my soul’s voice conspires to give me something to write about...I had already begun this blog on Ignorance when I stopped to take my mother to an appointment at HearUSA. Cherry (my mother) has done a part of her Ph.d on Women in Jazz. Any conversation about music she has a perspective that she’s willing to share. Today, she was discussing with the Audiologist her purse was actually a bag from WWI (which her father was drafted). She begin to tell the story about the French National Anthem which led to which was the national instrument of France. The Audiologist quipped–’the French horn, of course.’ Then, he said, “I have to joke when I don’t know what I’m talking about”. Next, he googled it. There are a number of instruments that the French consider to be their ‘national’ instrument. I enjoy Our Raw Material for many reasons, but this one of placing these ‘coincidental’ events on my path definitely gives me joy. Joy, I suspect, would not be such an enormous foundation of my life had I chosen a more ego driven path as a practicing lawyer.

With as much education that I have–formal and informal, there are times I quip how stupid I feel. The more people presume you know, the more you think you cannot simply say ‘I don’t know’. Law school is a pinnacle of brainwashing found in all public schooling. You have to 'know' everything. It's called 'hiding the ball' where law professors deliberately ask increasingly obscure and extreme questions. There was no joy, certainly very little soul, only ego creating more ego. If it weren't for the esoteric and ego knowledge of the Wholeness found through tarot and Astrology, I might not have made it through law school. I found refuge in not knowing the law--being 'ignorant. However, it was ego driven performing a role of 'the rebel without a cause'. Now, ORM offers a platform of acceptance and strength in what you do NOT know.

About 12 years ago, a close friend game me an assignment to say ‘I don’t know’ whenever I didn’t fully know something. It was an exercise that I’ve continued to this day. However, Our Raw Material in its unifying soul/ego balance brilliance has helped immensely with this simple-not so simple task. Through Week Four of Ignorance, we ask the question of how much of all knowledge there is to know in the world, what percentage do you think you know? Typically, almost everyone gives a very small percentage. Although the big question guides our listening to our soul and/or ego voice, our egos can get easily ashamed when we don’t know something that we feel we should know (or shamed into creating with minds ways to deflect).

As we recognize that Ignorance, Conflict and Wholeness are connected through the Physical week in ORM, we can relax, realize and have rapport on those internal Conflicts which lead us to Wholeness. We begin to heal (make whole) the apparent rift between ego and soul. We sit in the doorway, as Tavish puts it–doorway as in portal between these dimensions of ego and soul. We feel the protectiveness of our souls. We feel our souls' acceptance and grace instead of our egos' abandonment and arrogance. How arrogant it is to believe that you’re supposed to know everything at all times? With the abundance of information at our fingertips, literally, we can easily get confused about what is wisdom? We want to ‘cover all our bases’ be that an allusion to baseball or musical notes, our egos can easily open us to feeling guilty when we don’t have all of the answers–immediately. This confusion of knowing versus not knowing needs time. We must pause and breathe–ask what does not knowing do for us in this moment?

Allowing Wholeness to guide us through our soul’s voice gives us a breather (no pun intended, or is it? I don't know). We seek ways to apply what we know or take risks in admitting what we don’t. When we admit our Ignorance, we soften. Through our vulnerability an authentic humility comes through us. Our eyes may water. Our breathing may deepen. Our physical bodies may relax. In an ideal world, our eyes, breath and bodies do leak, slow down and loosen, respectively. We send energy to all those involved that we’ve lessened our judgements of others-- including ourselves.

The mental pillar of severity, the ‘you should’ve known’ switches to one of mercy and compassion. Our insecurities are purged. No stones are thrown. Instead of searching for reasons why we don’t know (mental weeks of Food, Values & Ideals, Alignment with Intentions), we go into the barometer of physical bodies. Our physical bodies release stress and unwind the wounds caused by a world that wants us to know everything immediately. Our souls stand up for us! Our minds are released! We shift from intellect to soulful intelligence. That’s why the simple beauty of ORM has to be known and more importantly felt within our bodies.

The more we allow our minds to be fed on the soul foods of allowing, awaring, goodwill, joy, love and gratitude, the more our physical connections will grow and evolve in a way previously unimagined by our intellects lead only by ego. Once we allow our souls to lead we surrender the complexities of living. We flow and look for simplicity and connection everywhere. We recognize the synchronicities through which our souls speak! Not knowing when a ‘coincidence’ will occur is a major happening that underscores our egos seeing and accepting the mysteries of how our souls guide us to Wholeness.

Sigh, let's breathe and salute to what we don't know (without using Google)!