There’s something incredibly valuable about not knowing. Imagine what would happen if politicians and world leaders on press conference would say “I don’t know” when asked how to deal with the world's problems?

It would be little scary, true. Now my life is not as important as your average UN conference, but I got the opportunity to practice my not knowing muscles these last weeks. I stood before a choice in my life to a. adopt a puppy from Rumania or b. not adopt a puppy from Rumania. I found it incredibly hard to make a decision, especially since there were some very strong opinions in my closest environment about the dog-dilemma.

I did a great amount of research and thought through all the scenarios that could happen when having a dog, but in the end, really, I didn’t know whether it would be the right decision or not, since I don’t know what my life’s going to look like the next say, 15 years. So I did what the only things is you can do in these situations: surrender and make space for some inspiration and hope for the best.

“All I know that it comes from an incredible heartfelt place” says actor Evan Handler in an interview when asked why he usually responds with ‘I don’t know’ to Big Questions. Now that, I thought, is the Big Thing when it comes to not knowing. Passionately, radically not knowing involves tremendous honesty and bravery to make it transformative. Without this honesty and integrity, not knowing can become not caring, which is the complete opposite of not knowing.

When I read the following fragment by writer Faith Adiele, I became more certain in uncertainty:

“Every time I act without knowing the outcome, with the risk of failure looming before me, I try to see that as a spiritual moment. Every time I transcend my limitations or touch something larger than myself: one step closer.”

The combination between honestly, passionately not knowing and doing something anyway, as real and heartfelt as you can is essential to Life. It’s like making a tribute to the mystery of life, every time you honestly don’t know and own that. We could even make t-shirts that say ‘I don’t know.’ Wouldn’t that be interesting? 

Have a lovely weekend,
Geertje

Ps: I decided to adopt the puppy :D