You have to acknowledge what you don’t know before you can realize what you do know.
Even if a question doesn’t have an answer, it can still serve a powerful purpose. It makes you think. Our brains cannot “turn off” thinking and sleep like a computer. A question can reframe how you see reality. Where you focus your attention.
Competence -> confusion -> clarity
That outcome of some clarity will inevitably lead to the beginning of the cycle again. It creates competence that converges into more confusion.
We need to get comfortable with all of these states in the process.
In my current pathfinding course, we set out on different mountains. Each mountain represents the interests we have. We start to build relationships on each of those mountains. My mountains are media, education, leadership development, and entrepreneurship. This simplicity of this made me feel competent.
As I started to list out who I’d want to learn from in these areas, confusion came in. My intuition was blocking the inspiration for some of the mountains. It made me question whether they were actually my priority. I am still awaiting clarity. I have faith that it will come. I believe that clarity comes from action, not thought.
The storm comes before the rainbow. In order to know what tastes sweet, we must know what salty is.
In order to compare what one feeling is, you must know what the other is. This is where polarity comes into play. It is more challenging to be in the middle of believing in parts of Republicans and parts of Liberals. It challenges you to always be questioning. The stark contrasts in beliefs make it simpler to understand. Nuance exists but it is washed away in order to create clarity.
It is counterintuitive that in order to have that one thing, you need to understand the other.