(Quotes are capsules of information, reinforcement, or enlightenment.)


“The mind that is not baffled is not employed.”

Wendell Berry


Coaching Point: The full text is, “It may be that when we no longer know…which way to go we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”

Full disclosure (not a surprise for many of you to know about me) as a Coach I spend much of my day in wonderment. Wanderment. Open to not knowing. The ancient wisdom is – He who thinks he knows, does not know and he who knows he does not know, knows.

That text bothered me for years. (Dual majored in Mechanical Engineering and Finance, employed as a gear-head nerd computer programmer you think I might have been a tad linear with a powerful need to understand?)

But as I woke up to discovering a tiny bit of how the Universe works it dawned on me that I would never understand it. It was that particular Knowing which freed me from trying to. To just be with it.

Of course for decades, and counting, I’ve had the great good fortune to have clients who have shown me pieces of wisdom through their lenses. I’ve paid attention.

But this S3MC is not about me. It is about each of us being willing to be baffled rather than bothered by unknowing. Engaged in the next question rather than feeling like an outsider who is ‘missing’ some knowledge.

It really is okay – no, it is delightful – to not know.

Are you comfortable having a baffled mind?


Copyright 2024 Steve Straus. All rights reserved.