Showing posts with label not knowing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label not knowing. Show all posts

Friday, 12 July 2013

Knowing as power, not knowing as empowerment

I've heard many times that knowledge is power. Power and empowerment is important to me - but there's times when power is abused and knowledge is misused.

When studying the social sciences, we are usually encouraged to lean into 'not knowing.' When I was first studying music therapy, it took me a little while to grasp the idea of 'not knowing' - but then I soon realised that it involved giving up power and control. Giving up power that I could read or control what might happen in the future and relieving the pressure that I should know everything.

What I discovered in the process was that there is a fine line to balance between not knowing and trusting what you do know. I also learned that not knowing could enable me to get to know a person beyond my own judgments and perspectives - and that not knowing meant I could allow myself to be grounded in the present...rather than caught in my past.

So here I am on the cusp of knowing and not knowing, where my intuition resides...and where connection is allowed. It's not always an easy place to be - as I'm only human...but I practice as much as I can because it is where things lift, move, change, evolve and happen.