“One sometimes gets the impression that those intimidating words are there to keep us from understanding. That way, the scholars can appear Superior, and will not likely be suspected of Not Knowing Something.”

As any old Taoist walking out of the woods can tell you, simple-minded does not necessarily mean stupid.

If people were superior to animals, they’d take good care of them,” said Pooh.

The play-it-safe pessimists of the world never accomplish much of anything, because they don’t look clearly and objectively at situations, they don’t recognize or believe in their own abilities to overcome even the smallest amount of risk.

The Universe knows what it’s doing. So don’t develop a big ego, and don’t be afraid.

Under Confucianism, the use of precisely measured court music, prescribed steps, actions, and phrases all added up to an extremely complex system of rituals, each used for a particular purpose at a particular time.

Enjoy the simple, the natural and the plain. Along with that comes the ability to do things spontaneously and have them work.

From the Taoist point of view, the natural result of this harmonious way of living is happiness.

A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn’t really care, wisdom does.

A way of life that keeps saying ‘Around the next corner, above the next step,’ works against the natural order of things and makes it so difficult to be happy and good.

Life itself, when understood and utilized for what it is, is sweet.

Reality is what one makes it. And the more negative reality one nurtures and creates, the more of it one has.

The wise know their limitations; the foolish do not.

Without difficulties, life would be like a stream without rocks and curves – about as interesting as concrete. Without problems, there can be no personal growth, no group achievement, no progress of humanity. But what mattes about problems is what one does with them.

“Rabbit’s clever,” said Pooh thoughtfully. “Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit’s clever.” “And he has Brain.” “Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit has Brain.” There was a long silence. “I suppose,” said Pooh, “that that’s why he never understands anything.”

Knowledge and Experience do not necessarily speak the same language.

When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun.

If you give yourself this gift of not knowing and you follow it, a vast spaciousness and mysterious openness dawns within you.

Meditation is not a technique to master; it is the highest form of prayer, a naked act of love and effortless surrender into the silent abyss beyond all knowing

In true meditation the emphasis is on being awareness; not on being aware of objects, but on resting as primordial awareness itself. Primordial awareness is the source in which all objects arise and subside.

A few minutes ago, you knew who you were-you had a history and a personality-but from this place of not knowing, you question all of that.

As you rest into stillness more profoundly, awareness becomes free of the mind’s compulsive control, contractions, and identifications.

Awareness naturally returns to its non-state of absolute unmanifest potential, the silent abyss beyond all knowing.

Right now you can allow yourself to experience a very simple sense of not knowing – not knowing what or who you are, not knowing what this moment is, not knowing anything.

The door to God is the insecurity of not knowing anything. Bear the grace of that uncertainty and all wisdom will be yours.