The Three Types of Knowing
In the journey of self-inquiry and non-dual experience, we encounter three distinct types of knowing. At first glance, they may appear as stages or perspectives, but more deeply, they are expressions of the very nature of reality itself—what we might call loving beingness. This beingness is not passive or abstract; it radiates through three inseparable qualities: love, understanding (wisdom), and beauty. Each type of knowing arises as an expression of one of these essential qualities.
Not Knowing — The Quality of Beauty
The realm of the cognising mind, often referred to as “not knowing,” is not a flaw or failure of intelligence. It’s the mind’s recognition of its own limits, its inability to grasp the infinite through concepts or logic. This recognition brings forth humility, curiosity, and openness—a kind of sacred awe in the face of mystery.
This not knowing is the mind’s surrender to the beauty of what is. Beauty draws us beyond the intellect, inviting us into wonder. It cannot be defined, only felt. In this state, the mind pauses and marvels, and in doing so, it unknowingly bows to the greater intelligence from which all things arise.
The only mistake occurs when thought subtly claims authority, suggesting that the mind itself is the source of the deeper forms of knowing. This mis-identification creates the momentary illusion that the mind’s dualistic process—its splitting of reality into subject and object—is what is ultimately true. But this is just another appearance within the vastness it cannot comprehend.
Knowing — The Quality of Understanding (Wisdom)
Beyond the thinking mind lies knowing—not as information or belief, but as pure awareness. This is the direct, silent recognition of being. It is clarity without content, the gentle illumination that allows all experiences to arise and pass.
This form of knowing reflects the quality of understanding, or wisdom. It is not accumulated knowledge but the light by which all things are seen as they are. It does not judge or divide. It simply sees. This is the still, clear eye of consciousness, effortlessly knowing without grasping, effortlessly holding without clinging.
No Knowing — The Quality of Love
At the deepest level, beyond the mind and even beyond awareness as an object, lies what we might call no knowing. Here, even the duality of knower and known collapses. There is no subject observing an object. There is only being—pure, undivided, all-encompassing.
This is not absence. It is love itself—the unifying force that embraces all appearances, all distinctions, and all forms. It is intimate, immediate, and whole. In no knowing, we are not separate from life; we are life, lived directly. This is loving beingness in its fullest expression—unbound, unconditioned, and absolutely present.
All Three as One
What initially appear to be three forms of knowing are in fact one reality. The mind’s not knowing reveals the beauty of reality. Awareness’s knowing reveals the wisdom of clarity. And being’s no knowing reveals the love at the heart of it all—experiencing the truth that both not knowing and knowing are temporary, illusory appearances within this love. A love that is beyond knowing, beyond concept, beyond form. It does not need to know—it simply is.
Love
Freyja