Knowledge is Dynamic
How embodied curiosity can help us access knowledge in new ways
“I got up too late… I should have been down here making coffee thirty minutes ago,” I recently said to my partner as she was downstairs quietly preparing for her day at 7:45 am. She had just returned the day before from a five-day trip to her hometown for a reunion, and while I stayed home with our kids and kept things going here. She responded with her usual keen insight: “Consider the fact that you are just coming off of the last five days of an entirely different routine that probably has you a little more tired than usual. Your body is feeling that, I’d guess.”
I stopped what I was doing as recognition swept over me. She was right. Why was I slow to hear what my body was telling me?
I’m a "head person" who processes everything from the top down; I start with my thoughts. So having an awareness of what’s going on in my body requires a lot more intention, but once that awareness comes, it always completes the circle of self-knowledge for me in any given situation. That knowledge entailed more than the simple fact that I had a routine I wanted to stick to.
When we think of “knowledge,” we are usually inclined to only consider facts and figures that have been memorized (and eventually forgotten), but there is an entire branch of philosophy dedicated to understanding what knowledge actually is, and any serious definition includes much more than raw facts.
If knowledge is not just information, then what is it?
Knowledge is dynamic and always evolving because it is a conglomeration of skills gained and sharpened, sensations felt and noticed, theories tested through experience, and awareness gleaned through those experiences as they teach us through various trials and errors.
When I was scolding myself for not getting up 30 minutes earlier, I was only listening to the static, “memorized” routine I had imposed on myself (gladly, mind you) in a simple effort to live better and making my mornings count. My motives were good!
But I wasn’t paying attention to the clear messaging my body was sending:
I need rest.
Once I heard that, my “knowledge” of myself was more complete and I could allow for taking pleasure in the extra sleep I had enjoyed. Why? Because it would give me the energy to move forward into what I want for each day, which was the whole purpose of getting up earlier on normal days.
What happens when we listen intently to the body?
Listening intently to our bodies provides a wealth of knowledge about the state of our mental and physical well-being, and leads to a more complete long-term understanding of ourselves.
Consider where you notice what you are feeling. Is it just a series of thoughts? Is that "pit in your stomach" just in your head?
Being aware of feelings is not so much “getting out of your head“ as it is expanding your awareness from only what’s in your head to what’s also in the rest of your body.
Paying attention to the body enlightens us to what we are actually feeling, bringing that awareness from the subconscious to a more direct awareness. Then, instead of villanizing our feelings by resisting them and shaming ourselves for having them, we can seek to understand why they are sending such signals to our nerve endings.
This practice is a mind-body encounter, and to engage it requires an ever-developing sense of curiosity and humility. When we pay attention in this way, we become more engaged with our lives and our very being. Our neurons are firing, we are more interested in what's possible, and we start to push back on the doom and gloom that can come from living as a disembodied mind.
I am personally practicing this right now in my own life, and can share that this has been my experience as I've sought to open my day-to-day awareness outward from my inner dialogue to the wide scope of bodily sensation, with its unique wisdom. It feels like the world is opening up, and my very active mind is on board with this new sense of possibility.
Bookmarks
Thoughts and quotes from what I’ve been reading this week
There is a long-standing philosophy of Buddhist meditation called mindfulness, but I have recently enjoyed learning about Ellen Langer's work on this topic from a Western psychology perspective. In an interview with Steve Levitt on the podcast, People I (Mostly) Admire, she shared the ways we can open up to a more mindful approach:
Respect uncertainty and recognize that no one is omniscient.
"Nobody knows. So then everything is there to be found out. And that will necessarily make you mindful."Notice new things.
"Notice three new things about the person you may be living with; three different ways of doing whatever you’re doing. Look for multiple answers to any question that you’re asked and so on."When learning something, learn conditionally.
"Rather than 'is,' you should learn 'could be,' 'would be,' 'possibly,' 'it would seem that,' or 'might be.' And when you know that it could be, you’re open to possibilities that otherwise won’t occur to you.”
Read the transcript of this fascinating interview (or you can listen to it as a podcast episode!).