Somewhere in the Santa Catalina Mountains Continuing the Process of Becoming
I may not know where the trail leads,
which is what inspires me to take it.
Knowing and Not-Knowing
We are all concerned with our competence and the competence of others. Most people are interested in being more competent and surrounding themselves with competent people. The key to our level of competence is our level of knowledge.
In Zen practice, knowledge involves the interplay between knowing and not-knowing. It is important, however, not to conclude that not-knowing means you don’t know. Not-knowing means not being limited to what you know.
Maybe things are this way, but maybe they are not. (Philosophically, it can be important to help people realize what they do not know, is a necessary part of knowledge. But such a paradoxical thought, from a learning and teaching point of view, is confronted with the inarticulate expertise of not knowing that you know is a dead end. Thus, we are left with the only position for developing competence being that of knowing what you know.)
Accessing information can help us in cultivating our interplay between knowing and not-knowing. As an information seeker and frequent Internet search person, I know we can find information on all things thinkable. Today we have access to more information than ever before, but not all information is reliable.
In an earlier blog entry, I shared some thoughts on “Teaching in the Age of Google.” If you have a question; want to know how to do something; want to learn how something works; research a topic, well, just “Google It!” But, how do we determine who are the reliable authorities?
kenne
Caliche Globemallow — Image by kenne
Painted Lady — Zen Art by kenne
Computer Art by kenne
Granddaughter Katelyn’s Zen Moment (March 15, 2011) — Image by kenne
