I find that TSK feels most valuable when it connects with concerns of daily life.
An interesting instance of this arose in connection with a potential novel I started last year but which—because I did “not know†how to proceed– has been dormant for several months. The recent exploration of “not knowing†as the source of knowing may have come to the rescue.
I found myself questioning the strategy of trying to create a fictional world while I, the author, stand outside of it.  It occurred to me that a better approach is to allow the unformed characters, who already live in the realm of the unknown, to be the ones who want to discover who they are and what they care about.
As a result, I seem to have returned to this abandoned manuscript with a feeling that something can emerge if I stand back and don’t interfere too much.
I wonder if “empathy†can also arise from this TSK perspective. Sensing that others are uncomfortable with the unknown realm and—like ourselves—tied into strategies of knowing that don’t work very well, an empathic recognition of our shared relationship to the unknown may arise naturally. Such empathy could have the added benefit of allowing us to relate to the unknown in a new healing way, on behalf of ourselves and of others.
Thanks, Eliana and Karen,
“Not knowing”:
Gently falling snow filling the sky, from which we can make snowmen and snow forts, and melt a pictureful for a glass of lemonaide.
As for the characters in my novel, I don’t seem to have suddenly determined who they are and what they’re going to do so much as continuing my earlier notes—organizing them, typing them in, editing them, expanding them–and this is giving me a better appreciation for the world I would like to help build for them.
I wonder if many aspects of daily life have that quality–of being ready for us to enter them anewm at any time. But if we worry about our ultimate destination, we may miss the opportunity to enjoy the next step and the next.
Michael
Yes, Michael, “TSK connecting with our daily concerns” is the main motivation for me to go on studying. And yes, knowing, that we all don`t know is so helpful in daily communication. I appreciate very much your approach to empathy.
Being aware that I myself don`t know, neither the one, I am in contact with, I am able to relax much more, no fighting is necessary, the empathy is arising by itself and this attitude itself is opening up to new possibilities – somehow magical and surprising.
Going on studying may help us to strengthen awareness even in emotional moments – it is not easy for me – to let knowledgeability arise.
I wonder what the characters in your essay are discovering!
Karin
Michael,
I enjoyed your approach of not-knowing and I agree that not-knowing can be the glue that connects us to ourselves and others.
The moment you realized that you were outside, it seems that everything began to accomodate.