If you want knowledge, you must take part in the practice of changing reality. If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. —Mao Tse-tung—
Our language is poor in words that convey emotional meaning. To know, with intellect, is not the same as knowing with all our being. We can “know” in our heads that the universe is infinite, but until we experience that knowledge in our hearts, our spirits, in the pits of our stomachs—we can’t really know it.
Full knowledge means change. Experience of the infinite changes us; once we have experienced awe, we are not the same. We can understand oppression or injustice, but until we experience it in our bones and breath, the knowledge is not truly available to us.
The knowledge that changes is the knowledge we seek. And sometimes we must change in order to obtain it. If we find ourselves living in a way that contradicts what we know, we change our lives.
We are continually changing as we grow. Our spiritual progress is a record of small changes that bring us closer to the truth our spirit recognizes.
I will not fear change; I will trust that it brings the knowledge I need.