The difference between believing and knowing.
Is there a difference?

 

What in fact do we really know?

Lets start with the basics of what we know.
We know we exist.
We know we think.
We know we feel.
We know we have a body.
These things we definitely know because they are part of us.
For example: When you are hungry, you know you are hungry! You can't explain what hunger feels like,
you just know you must eat. It is intuition (inner knowledge). No one can come along and convince you that you are not hungry,
when in fact you are! You will laugh in their face! After all how would they know if you are hungry or not? They are not you!
You know you are hungry because the sensation of hunger is inside of you, or part of your feelings.

What if I was to ask you how many blood cells you have running though your veins at any given moment?

Or how many strands of hair you have on you left arm? You might reply " That is impossible to know!"
But is it?
How about cutting your arm with a sharp blade and commanding your body to not bleed and for the wound to heal extremely rapidly in 5 min's.
(Note: I am not suggesting you attempt this, it is merely a hypothetical scenario to consider.)
I mean, it's your body. Is it not reasonable for you to be aware of what's going on in your own body after all?
You have been living with this body for many years now, havent you?
Why would you not be well acquainted with the biological features of your body
considering you have had all this time to get to know your physical self?
Perhaps you do not really know much about your own body after all?
Lets get real here! You have been living with your body 24 hours a day 7 days a week for years on end.
You do not know what exactly is going on inside your body. You cannot control certain bodily functions,
like the healing of wounds, bleeding, muscle spasms, pain, endurance, etc.
So in effect you really don't know your body that well at all.
And your body is part of you!!!!
If you don't know what's going on inside your body and cannot control it, and this thing is attached to you 24/7,
how in the world can you expect to know anything outside your body, when you barely even know yourself?
Think about it!
Yes you belief many things about the world outside you, but what do you really know?
Do you know what other people are thinking when you are walking down a busy street?
No you don't. Why don't you know? You don't know, because you are not them.
If you were them, then you would know.
You have to BE something to know it. Just because you ARE something doesn't mean you know it though.
For example you know you exist, but you don't know what you are.
Although you are in the process of discovering more about what you are.
In other words, in order to accurately know a thing, anything, including yourself,
you must understand the energy/life force that enables it to exist.
So If we have to be something to know it, or understand the energy/life force that enables it to exist and we barely know ourselves,
then what does that say about what we know about the outside world? Practically nothing.
You may start getting confused here.

What if I placed a drinking glass in front of you with some clear liquid inside it and
asked you to tell me what that liquid was without touching or smelling it?
Could you 100% be sure of what that liquid was? Could you know what it is? Of course not!
You could not, because It is outside you. You are not it. You can only observe it, and make visual judgments or associations about it.
You could say it looks like water, and moves like water, could even be vodka or white rum,
maybe rubbing alcohol? What you are doing is judging the object against a database of things in your mind,
of what you have been told or shown and therefore associate those qualities with.
Even if I told you it was water and allowed you to taste it, and you confirmed it was indeed water, would you be able to tell me what water is?
How many molecules of water does the glass contain? What are the capabilities of water?
Where does it come from? Is water alive? Does water have intelligence or memory?, etc
What is this stuff?
You couldn't possibly know what water really is!
You couldn't know because you are not the water. And you don't understand what makes the water exist in the first place

Even scientist with all their fancy chemical tests and measuring devices don't know what water is.
That is why they are doing the tests in the first place! To try and find out what it is!
But they will never find out, because they have to BE the water in order to know what it is!
Or understand what makes water be the water.
As of now they can only measure,
calculate, observe, test, touch, taste, listen to water, but that's it!

We think we know things, but we are merely using association of shapes, colors, sounds, tastes,
how something feels when we touch it, and movements to connect the object or events to what we believe it is.
What we believe it is, is what we have been taught it is. It didn't come naturally, like knowing does.

We operate in this world on associations and symbolism
For example: When you see blue and red flashing lights on street vehicle you automatically think of police or some authority.
When you see blood you think of pain or hurt, etc

Look all around you, I bet you notice all sorts of colorful trinkets that have names for them that,
you have memorized over the years. You don't know what they are.
But you know what you can use them for! Some trinkets can be used to open other trinkets (cans and can openers),
other funny shaped hard shiny silver things can be used to tighten a smaller odd shaped hard shiny
things onto even another hard shiny silver thing. (A wrench, used to tighten a nut on a bolt)

All these things around us! We sure as hell don't know what they are. But darn it,
we definitely know how to use these things to our benefit, and sometimes to our detriment.
Colorful trinkets, that, we have given names and characteristics to. That's all they are.

So what have we been made aware of or realized thus far?
We exist.
We think.
We feel.
We have a body.
We live in the middle of our head.
We don't know how old we are.
We don't own anything.
We don't know anything outside ourselves.
We barely know ourselves.
We belief all sort of things about the world around us,
although these things we believe are only opinions taught to us by others.
We as a society have named objects, events or otherwise and given them characteristics in order for
us all to relate to each other when talking about a particular subject.
Basically belief is sort of a (language), allowing you to communicate with others of the same belief(language).

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