What’s Possible?

What’s Possible?

Spiritual teachers sometimes speak of the “I don’t know” mind. Sometimes they also speak of the “empty mind.” The I-don’t-know mind doesn’t refer to a condition where one has no interest in arriving at the Truth of the nature of our existence. Whereas one might respond to the classical question “Who am I?” with the initial acknowledgement “I don’t know,” this I-don’t-know is not meant to imply “and I have no inclination to find out” Or, “I don’t believe that it’s possible for anyone to know.” The I-don’t-know mind, that’s suggested, is an open mind, a mind which is without preconceptions as to what might be discovered in the inquiry pertaining to “who am I?” In this sense, it is related to what is spoken of as an “empty mind,” a mind which is open to the discovery of a truth which cannot be conceptualized. Suzuki Roshi called this a “beginner’s” mind; noting that, for a beginner in any endeavor, the possibilities are endless, but for the “expert” the possibilities are closed to a limited number. An empty mind is both the beginning point and the ending point of the spiritual inquiry. The I-don’t-know mind can be misinterpreted to be simply the end, the close of the spiritual discussion.