Of our many needs, one of the most compelling may be the need for answers.
Why did this happen?
What does that person think of me?
What should I do?
This need to know is so primal we might not even notice it, but it can drive us crazy. Know what it’s like to be stuck in your head, or to feel like you can’t turn off your brain? Chances are good that the need to know was at the bottom of it, stuck there like a rock in your shoe.
It’s good to be able to think, of course. Sometimes planning is necessary, sometimes problems need to be solved, and it can be fun to try to figure things out, like solving a riddle.
But probably nobody needs to reminded how miserable it is to feel trapped in our thoughts.
The Don’t Know technique is one way to get free. It involves working through that deep need to know, the grain of sand stuck in the mind that makes it work so hard for answers that aren’t coming.
When we can identify how the need for answers shows up internally, causing mental image, mental talk, and emotional body sensations (generally agitation and tension), the need can weaken.
The process can be unpleasant at times, and scary because the mind may worry we’re taking away it’s right to think—How can I keep you safe if I’m not allowed to think?
But thinking that’s driven by an unconscious need to know, now, is only wise by accident, if even that.
When we’re able to rest in the state of not-knowing, however, without trying to force an answer, then a kind of intuitive wisdom can present to us more and more often.
Insight just happens—it is delivered to us.
The Don’t Know technique teaches us to wait patiently.
Give it a try if you like.
