Knowledge

        "What does one know if that person is considered knowledgeable? You have heard of those with the gift of memory who can recite and remember well beyond the normal range. You know, of course, the experts. Those who, in their field, can be considered as a source for information and learning. There are those who are well traveled and absorb the customs and ideas of many countries and are therefore quite learned in a variety of ways.

        Books can provide a source of much information and there are the poets who stir our souls and cause us to think. There are sources which are not used as they should be which can provide much learning. Nature is one of these. Those who are packed into cities and have little exposure to nature are missing out on a great teacher. Nature as a teacher is sometimes subtle, sometimes bold. To learn from nature, one must be willing to observe without judgement, to listen, to learn how to become a part of nature. Many seem to think that coming to a particular sacred spot or a well known beautiful area can give extra knowing... and it may. But nature teaches in small ways with a flower, an animal, the sky, even the breeze.

        Sometimes the most knowledgeable persons are the quietest. The knowing they have is kept inside. It is a knowing that is difficult to define. It is the knowing of the spirit, a sensing, a feeling, an awakening. We are all involved in daily decisions. Some small, some major ones that cause a turn in our life's road. We may consciously think and think as to what to do, how to do it, how to continue on. Seldom are we taught that there is an inner knowing, an inner guidance. This guidance is knowledgeable. Not knowing in the way of books, but all knowing in the way of the spirit. You have heard the phrase about the 'still small voice' and that is somewhat descriptive, but it is more than a 'voice'. It is a centering, a balance, an inner compass. It must be searched for and developed. As a singer trains the voice, the inner voice must have training to be heard. It is this voice that helps to develop the knowledgeable person.

        Quietness. It is so strange for most people to take a moment or two to be. Most become somewhat impatient or nervous because the body is so used to activity and the mind is so busy. It is only a first step, the quieting of the body and the spirit and the mind. There must be a 'space' created that allows for the 'knowing' inside to make itself known. It must be sensed first and then as the sensing grows, the spirit can be tuned to feel the knowing of the right action to be taken. The rightness of it seems so clear once the knowing has surfaced. It is as if someone says that something hasn't been noticed though it has been there all along.

        Wisdom comes from within. Wisdom and Knowledge are like parents to the individual. They are teachers, but to be taught, we must be good students."