I’m in absolute agreement that people see It all the time. As she says, the simplicity of it seems so innate that we take for granted that which is a great seeing. I honestly believe that most everyone have had moments of transfixed seeing; the beauty of the sky speaking to you, the calming tranquility of the sea’s presence, a baby’s innocence melting your heart, morning bird song preparing you for the day. We know in those moments something revelatory is occurring even though we can’t say exactly what is occurring.

The invitation this text extends to me is the importance and exploration of “wow” moments. This exploration does not mean grasping for such moments or even an expectation that they occur, but instead an invitation to cultivate a slow and steady stance towards receptivity. What does it mean to be in nature and be open? I’m I attuned to the weather, season, or plant life near me? Why am I rushing by what is around me on my way to something else believing that something else is what holds the key to some imagined future happening? The Dalai Lama said “ rushing is a form of violence.” I agree, if you pay attention to rushing you will feel the energetic signature of violence, the pushing, the overbearing, the dismissing. 

I honestly believe that everyone has encountered this simple definition of knowing and two examples spring to mind. The first example is the experience of the sunset. You were not expecting it, but there you are, rapt, and for a few moments you are one with the sunset. You have dropped your stories, your worries, and you are just there. This “thereness” is what Roberts means by knowing. You are not sure what you are knowing, except to say it is lovely. The other example that comes to mind is witnessing a birth. There is something extraordinary about new life and all the innocence and vulnerability it bears on you. Again, for a few moments you are moved beyond words, and there really is no expression of what you are experiencing, except to say that your heart is full beyond measure.

These paragraphs feel like a wild ride indeed and her experience of people either getting it, this idea of a knowing beyond our intellect, or not getting it is a true statement. For some people, Roberts’ words may seem no more than an unsolvable riddle and for others, who may be interested in such riddles, the obtuseness of a knowing that knows is difficult to apprehend. Frankly, in sitting with these words I am wondering what I could write or add to what she has already said that would make any sense at all.

So what am I understanding her to be saying? There are a couple of things that come to mind. First, we can not insist, grasp, or intellectualize our way to this This. The second is implied, but given there are many mystics, masters, and teachers who write about revelatory things from a place of certainty than there must be a path we can traverse in order to come in contact with such “knowing.” Such a path seems to open us to both a new way of “knowing” and the “knowing” itself; the This. There are, of course, many paths and practices, but as Jim Finley says, “once you find your path, practice it.”  A.H. Almaas would say “worship it.”