(In honor of those about to undergo this Fall’s Contemplation Intensive. Go get it and good luck!) The story goes that someone challenged Ernest Hemingway to write a story in 10 words and Hemingway responded that he only needed 6. The famous story read: “Baby shoes for sale, never worn.” I’ll spoil what I think makes this sentence so special as a story but I encourage all to explore for themselves just how deeply Hemingway succeeded before you read further. Here’s what comes up for me: - It’s a newspaper ad - The baby either died or was never born - The family is so desperate for funds they face their heartbreak to list the shoes publicly I’m certainly extrapolating here and that within itself could prove a fruitful inquiry but… I want to pose a game for anyone interested. I challenge you to take this 6 word challenge on yourself but apply it to the domain of Not Knowing. Convey in just 6 words an insight you’ve had, the nature of this work, the experience of who you are or what you are, the state of not-knowing, frustrations coming up in contemplation, etc. Whatever comes up. This is just for fun so don’t worry about it being good or bad. :P Here’s my go: “Countless castles created for kings uncrowned.”

During the absolutely brilliant Absolute Consciousness Workshop (ACW), I discovered that the true nature of existence does not have an inherent 'Me' quality in it. 'I' is not the best or a higher form of existence, nor is it necessary for existence. Needless to say, it's not sacred. Before the workshop, I used to believe that some form of 'I' must be found in the Absolute for the idea of the activity of me to exist. That's how highly I held myself. The impersonal is doing the personal - not the other way around. Nature-wise, 'I am' is the same as every other form of existence. How humbling, and what a relief. Every object is my bro now!

I am contemplating the action of acceptance. I find that in order to change something l have to accept it as being so. Being late is something that l do, l have many reasons why it happens. When l am going to be late l somehow feel that l can manipulate time to avoid the eventual outcome of being late. It was in the process of doing this that l understood that there was nothing l could do to avoid the truth, that l will be late. This realization created a possibility for change, if l truly desired it.

I would love to hear the 5-10 most engaging, impactful, and true words that you associate with this work. Please share them in the comments! If you want to share more please do. Thanks in advance for your time! Brendan

Hello, Not Knowing community. This is my first proper post in here. I’m very curious to see what you think of my questions here. To start, I’ve realized that my perception of meditation is one of mostly belief. I grew up being told that meditation was a valuable way to spend one’s time, and that if one were to meditate with focus and discipline, insights beyond imagination could be found. I’ve heard meditation explained like this in many different ways, by many people throughout my entire life. A few years ago I started to take meditation more seriously, since around that time I decided I wanted to develop myself and change my life for the better. Since then I’ve meditated in phases, sometimes meditating for streaks of 100-200 days (30min a day). My current meditation practice is 30 minutes twice a day. So one hour, and I’ve been at this for two weeks now. Every time I get into a serious meditation phase I encounter the same experience. It’s rocky in the beginning, but the more consistent I am, the more peaceful the meditation is. I have had many peaceful meditations where I’ve let go of expectations. What I’m questioning now is: why am I meditating? I’m realizing that all this time I’ve believed that meditation was worthwhile. While I am meditating I feel that an am able to do so with openness and curiosity (sometimes) - I suspect that part of me is only meditating because I “know” that it is a good thing to do. I “know” that it can yield deep insights or other kinds of breakthroughs like access concentration or samadhi states. I still have not experienced these insights and states. I’m considering that, as I am and perceive right now, I might not be meditating with a committed interest in what’s true. I do think that’s what meditation should be about, discovering what’s true about the present moment and experience - but either my skewed intent or approach is holding me back from a true experience. This brings me to contemplation: The reality is, I prioritize contemplation less than I do meditation right now. Partly because I have grown up to place a high value on meditation, and not contemplation. While meditation is something I think about as “I should do this every day” contemplation is more like “I’ll get to it if I have time after I’ve meditated”.