"Knowledge is a rumor until it lives in the body"

Earlier this week I was watching "The OA" and out of nowhere the lead character just drops this statement. Amazing!

There's so many ways this rings true for me. One that sticks out at this moment is the difference between explaining something and experiencing it.

There's so much information in this world about healing, awareness, energy and loving yourself. So it's so easy to become a collector of grand platitudes and clever explanations. I've been a collector throughout my life. And of course, the quote in the image is the latest toy in my collection.

But I think as we collect these snippets that point to experiences, it's important to stay connected to just that - the experience. When we heal and support others to heal themselves, there is a part of the work that will always remain a mystery. This is what I lovingly call "my favorite part." You could study the brain, the planet, the universe for countless lifetimes and you would still be fighting an uphill battle against something that cannot be fully grasped. You would still be unable to explain the whole of what is.

So what I'm suggesting is that when we share our clever explanations, we say them knowing that we've only captured a fraction of what's truly happening. A grain of sand at a beach so to speak. And we certainly haven't mastered what we're talking about just because we explained it succinctly.

I feel the whole world is asking for less telling and more authentic feeling. Don't tell me to love myself. Speak to me in a way that I feel the love you have for yourself. Show me that it's possible. That means something.

When I understand something in my body, it feels deeper than the information that 'makes sense' or seems 'logical' to my mind. When I connect with something and I feel expansion, joy, peace or stillness in my body, I know I've touched something that's true in me. It's more nuanced than words, and it's a very different level of knowing than memorization.

So for me, I don't hold onto written or verbal explanations too tightly. I'm not saying there's no place for explanations. But I think it's worth noting that although explanations serve a purpose, they are very limited.