I don't know

Being able to say 'I don't know' can be a desirable position, for always 'knowing' the answer or assuming that you know the answer fixes you in a place in which you are no longer open to the possibilities of 'not knowing' and doubt. In 'not knowing', all potentials and possibilities are still in play for thought or action. At a time in which knowledge is paramount, to say 'I don't know' may sound feeble, tentative and yet to me those three words have so much power. It's not that you don't 'know' your own mind - you do. What you 'know' is that you have not yet settled on a solution, that you are still thinking things through and you might even decide after cognitive processes are exhausted that you still 'don't know', and that is alright! Might we consider giving ourselves the permission to be in the position of 'not knowing'? Must we fix everything down ~ a beautiful butterfly with it's wings pinned under specimen glass ~ there, we 'know' it now, it's spread out before us, it can be witnessed, dissected and analysed. What of free floating ideas that never become fixed, circulating and mutating in the space of the 'I don't know'? Is that what it is that we are afraid of, that these ideas have not been allocated to the space of 'knowing' where all is controlled and understood? We appear to demand quick solutions in which 'I know' statements replace big picture processes in which the notion of 'I don't know' might be more useful.