Care of Soul: Embrace Not Knowing

Care of Soul is more about living with the questions rather than having the answers. It’s more about being in the space of “not knowing” rather than the space of “knowing”. Our first instincts and inclinations are to try to think our way out of problems and conundrums, hoping to find security in the right answers and solutions! Jewel Lingo, a mindfulness teacher, writes about the enormous potential for life to unfold in the space of “not knowing”. Rather than avoid the uncertainty, she invites us to fully embrace it and learn to embrace its many gifts.

Applying this lesson to the current socio-political moment, Lingo reflects that “in a sense, our whole culture, our society [as we know it], is dissolving. We’re entering a chrysalis as a species. Structures we’ve come to rely on and identify with are breaking down. The pandemic has shifted all of our lives. We don’t know what our next space will be like.” Care of Soul is not about being right or knowing the solutions to our problems. It is also not about being afraid of uncertainty, even if it was brought about by suffering or misfortune. Care of Soul is more about seeing the uncertainty and surrendering to it. Embracing uncertainty is what gives birth to something new. Change does not automatically mean something bad is on deck for us. Care of Soul is about gently staying open to the hidden possibilities we may not see right now given our personal or cultural circumstances.

Emily Dickinson wrote, “I dwell in Possibility.” Even though she created beautiful and evocative poetry, Ms. Dickinson didn’t know where a particular poem would lead her. She didn’t know what the result would be, but to her, the very act of writing poetry was like “gathering Paradise”. Care of Soul is the same. It is an invitation to dwell in not knowing, to surrender to living in possibility. It is an invitation to embrace uncertainty as an opportunity to gather a hidden “Paradise”.

Be well,

Bill