Video Summary:

There's a practice in my tradition of shamanism and spirituality that I refer to as “I am nothing. I know nothing.” It is a way to go beyond your preconceptions and intellectual knowledge about what's going to happen in the experience you are approaching.

You may have heard the expression, "Check your ego at the door." This practice prompts you to “check your preconceptions at the door.” When we bring our preconceptions into an experience, ceremony, or relationship, it greatly affects that experience and determines the reality of that experience.

If I bring my known reality into an experience, I'm going to perceive that experience based on what I believe I know about the experience. When the experience happens, I'm going to find a place for it in my known reality. I put the people and events of that experience in a box within my known reality.

When we say, “I am nothing, I know nothing," I am saying I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what this person is going to be like. I don't know what the spiritual truths are with regard to this experience. I'm going to leave what I think I know about spirit, relationships, and intimacy at the door.

However, if I know nothing and I'm leaving my preconceptions and preexisting knowledge at the door, how do I navigate through the experience? One approach is to commit to the things that come to me- to the new knowledge, wisdom, and intuition that unfolds in the context of the experience.

I’m saying that I'm letting go of everything I think I know about this and I'm going into it with a clean slate. Then I can have this innocent, pristine, and uninformed experience. I can experience it like a child, and allow the awe and wonder. And that's when the magic and really cool stuff happens.

But if I bring in my old knowledge, I'm going to experience the same thing over and over again, because I’m bringing that same reality into every experience. This is reinforced by saying, “Yep, that's the way life is.” I soon become attached to the way I experience life according to my reality.

Of course, it's scary to let go of that, but if we can just put it aside for a minute, we can experience something new.