Me? I'm loving Unthought Known, which also happens to be a concept I came across recently + haven't been about to put out of mind. I've worked hard to uncover a few of my own unthought knowns in the past few years, and now - a beautiful song!
What then is the “unthought known”? Christopher Bollas first coined this provocative phrase in 1987 (Bollas, 1987). Basically it refers to what we “know” but for a variety of reasons may not be able to think about, have “forgotten”, “act out”, or have an “intuitive sense for” but cannot yet put into words. In psychoanalytic terms, it refers to the boundary between the “unconscious” and the “conscious” mind, i.e. the “preconscious mind.” In systems-centered terms, it refers to the boundary between what we know apprehensively, without words, and what we know, or will allow ourselves to know, comprehensively with words.
When we turn our mindful attention to our bodies we begin to uncover knowledge and experience that has been buried for many years. When we make old, fixated patterns of tension conscious we begin to dissolve blockages in the flow of energy and information at multiple levels of our bodies and mind. As this energy and information begins to flow, we begin to decode the non-verbal information in our present here and now environment as well as release energy and information that we may have compartmentalized at some point in our past. Historically, it may have been important to wall off this knowledge because to have allowed ourselves to truly know our experience at the time would have been disruptive and perhaps even dangerous.
Another source of uncovering the unthought known is to explore the repetitive roles that we act out in our interpersonal relationships and the corresponding redundant roles that we induce in others. When we release the energy and information that is held in these roles, we travel a long way towards the goal of liberating ourselves from unconscious fixations and patterns. Once we have done this we are free to choose the roles that are adaptive for the situation that we are in at the moment and release the roles that are maladaptive.
Perhaps the deepest level of the unthought known is the heart of the teachings of mindfulness meditation. The heart of these teachings, which we know already but have forgotten, is that fundamentally we are awareness itself, already liberated from our fixations, fears and redundancies, without essential content, beyond subject and object, everything and nothing, and that whatever we are in life we also are not. This is the “non-dual” consciousness at the heart of so many mystical and meditative traditions (Wilber, 2003). In other words, the deepest level of the unthought known and the edge of the unknown, are the same thing.
All the thoughts,... You never see,... You’re always thinking,...
Brain is wired,... Brain is deep,... Oh are you sinking?,...
Feel the path of every day,... Which road you taking?,...
Breathing hard,... & Making hay,... Yeh this is living,...
Look for love & evidence,... That you’re worth keeping,...
Swallowed whole in negatives,... It's so sad & sickening,...
Feel the air up above,... A pool of blue sky,...
Fill the air up with love,... Black w/starlight,...
Feel the sky blanket you,... w/gems & rhinestones,...
See the path cut by the moon,... For you to walk on,...
For you to walk on,...
Nothing left,... Nothing left,...
Nothing there,... Nothing left,...
See the path cut by the moon,... For you to walk on,...
See the waves on distant shores,... Awaiting your arrival,...
Dream the dreams of other men,... You’ll be no one's rival,...
Dream the dreams of others then,... You will be no one's rival,...
You will be no one's rival,...
A distant time,... A distant space,... That’s where we’re living —..
A distant time,... A distant place,... So what you giving?,...
What you giving?
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