What Do I Know, What Do I Think I Know, And Why Do I Think I Know It

By Bob Fenstermaker with a few thoughts from The Law by Frederic Bastiat written in France in 1848

A friend once slapped me on the knee looked at me and said, “I figured it out, Bob, it’s your own damn conspiracy, isn’t it?” We both knew he was right, but the way that he put it made me take pause in my thinking long enough to question what my personal conspiracy really is. If I am conspiring, in what way and with whom? If in fact I am amid a self-conspiracy and I have somehow bought into this, then how do I separate what I know from what I only think I know?

What do I think I know? Sometimes I ask myself this and after these many years, I seem to be moving farther away from the answer. In my mind, when I attempt to peel away the layers of years, seeing how what I think I know has been shaped upon the remnants of prior forms, they too shaped by what I consider facts, conjecture, opinion and experiences, I can only shake my head bewilderingly.

Why do I think I know what I know? What could I possibly know that hasn’t been implanted, injected, directed, or subjected to my conscious or subconscious at some point in my life? More questions arise. What’s the difference between knowledge and belief? Where does wisdom factor in? What is common to us all and unique only to ourselves? There lies the rabbit hole. What do I think I know?

Until now, it seems the search for these answers have always been sequestered to the domain of philosophers, religious figures and inner seekers. For most of the rest of humanity, these questions are too abstract and have no relationship to everyday life. Asking the question “what do I think I know” is absurd. We know what we know because we know it, and that is all it takes to make it through this world and this life. That is until now. 

The old Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times,” encompasses all. We now live in times of so-called conspiracies, fake news and virtual images. It is becoming impossible to sort out the truth in any one thing. Everything is in question now and before long, all truths that have endured to this time will be in dispute. Look no farther than the Flat Earth Theory; a compelling case is made for its veracity via hours of Youtube videos and speakers providing what they say is definitive proof that the earth is flat. Everything is now in question and although this is helpful, it is only helpful if one possesses a discriminating mind, cognitively aware, discerning and questioning. We risk reaching a point when nothing will be accepted as fact or as the truth; doubt will pervade every thought becoming the norm by which we shape our individual reality. 

It’s as if we have entered into a new age of discovery. We have discovered that no source can be trusted, historical accounts believed; even things we see with our own eyes can be doubted. We know that technology exists that can create images in the sky and implant thoughts, feelings and pictures directly into our minds making even our direct, personal experiences suspect. Where do I find evidence of this? Our only avenue for information is piped to us through a handful of government/corporate channels. There have been patents on file for years describing technologies that can actually influence the human brain and are capable of provoking specific emotions, thought patterns and behaviors; to believe these technologies are not in use would be entirely naïve.

So where do we turn? Where do we go to find the truth? We go to the place where truth has always existed; we turn to ourselves. Alas, so easily said, seemingly so simple a task - just allow our inner voice to guide us to the truth because we believe there is some fundamental foundation of truth that is grounded in all of us. Perhaps that is so; however, when we reflect on these fundamentals do they hold up to our light of inspection? Is the truth we wish to recognize within ourselves hidden? Obscure even to ourselves? Or, might it be present and so obvious that we all overlook it in each and every moment being unaware that the Ultimate Truth is right before our eyes, but we may be too blind to see it. I suspect that if we believe we have to work to find the truth and need to labor in the removal of all things that stand between us and the Truth and with those efforts we somehow arrive at the Ultimate Truth, we will be humbled to find that the Truth has always been ever-present and easily within our grasp. Whether we think the Truth is buried deep within, covered over by our conceptions, perceptions, biases and cultural conditioning, or hidden in plain sight, the Truth remains hidden just the same.

Back to the question “what do I know?” Looked at in this way, I can certainly see that my way of seeing things is conditioned by my culture, education, race, country, experiences and my place in time. These things create the mental filters by which we make sense of our reality. Without these filters we would lack the necessary tools to be able to compare and judge, or to discern and discriminate. 

Now think for a moment, how it would be to live your life without use of these tools? Perhaps life without filters would be like a child bathing in the newness of everything. However, even as an infant, the conditioning has begun. It seems to be our very nature to rely on building layers of understanding based on our experiences; arguably, due to the inherent design of our brains to self-program. Nonetheless, being able, as an adult, to see the world through the eyes of a child is exceedingly difficult. In Zen they call this keeping a Beginner’s Mind. It’s a way of perceiving our reality in a way that pierces the illusion that prevents us from seeing, seeing the fundamental Ultimate Truth. Don’t seek reality, just end opinion and there you have it. Assuming it is possible to exist continually in this conscious state of Beginner’s Mind how does one operate in the world? To live in constant bliss where everything is perceived as a child perceives, to exist as a child, to be present in each moment as if it was the first and the last, would require much support from others to enable maintaining blissfulness forever. In Zen, this blissful state is referred to as Zen Flesh, but, in order to provide your own support  and not be dependent on others to do what is needed to maintain ourselves, Zen Bones are needed. Zen Bones is the internal structural support; the skeleton that gives us shape and keeps us grounded. Zen Flesh, with Zen Bones, allows the heart and brain to work together in a manner of checks and balances - logic working with intuition, Emotions balanced with introspection and so on, our brains and hearts conspiring together in concealed communication absorbing everything, judging nothing, adding each layer of experience, each minute detail obtained, as if decorating a wonderful tree of life, finding patterns amongst everything, connections that over time reveal a completely new understanding. 

Again, what do I know? I know, in truth that it really is my own conspiracy. Why do I think I know what I know? Because throughout my life I have conspired with myself covertly observing my life as it arises before me. My life has always been a total surveillance state, nothing happens without me knowing about it - I keep no secrets from myself. Where does wisdom factor in? Wisdom is being able to take a life time of experiences and information that hangs on your Tree of Knowledge, stepping back and recognizing that each piece holds a reflection of all the others. What is the difference between knowledge and belief? Knowledge is knowing where to hang the pieces on the tree: Belief comes from seeing the sum as much greater than the parts, the connections and patterns are so intricate and its workings so concise as to see a higher power of order taking place. 

What is common to us all and what is unique to ourselves? The fact that each of us is unique and separate is exactly what we all hold in common. All together we are all alone, alone we are all together. We each are sovereign individuals whether we recognize it or not. In common, each of us possesses a private connection to the source, the creator or creation. It does not matter what name it we give it; the very fact that we exist is proof.

These days, how clearly a person recognizes their self-sovereign individuality appears to be in direct proportion with how much television they watch and how much training and education they’ve had that required accepting things as hard facts and forming concrete opinions. Regardless whether that education or those experiences were gathered in a university or on the hard cruel streets, for most people little or no time has been allowed to stop and sit still for a moment and ask “why do I think I know what I know?” For so many, life is all bones and no flesh. Life is hard and we must endure and get through until the end; whenever that may be. A person could argue that our way of life by its intended design is set up to hinder everyone, everywhere from finding enough slack in their lives to be able to question anything let alone find the time for deep self-guided introspection. 

Over time, it has become clear to me that I am a co-conspirator in my own life. Not only am I conspiring with myself: I am conspiring with a Divine Order of things. Hanging on my Tree of Life is all the knowledge I’ve gained from without and from within. All the hard knocks, the sweet moments, the stirring memories, all that I was as a child and all that I am now, is beautifully decorating my Tree. My Tree is only one of many trees around me. Around me, I see a forest that holds a deep connection to my Tree; all our roots grounded in the same Earth. When I look at my glorious Tree, flowered with nearly crystalline forms, alive and vibrant, swirling with light, color and sound I am reminded of the need to have a Beginner’s Mind, to experience, as if for the first time, my personal divine connection. But then I ask, “who is it that is looking at the tree?” It is my fellow co-conspirator, my silent observer, my mental ally, who is constantly experiencing a personal connection with Divine Creation, even if the other part of my mind, the part that is always asking “who is looking,” has let it slip from my awareness? Words of Zen say, “You can’t find it by looking for it, but you have to look.” Always searching; never found, always reaching; never grasped, always healing; never healed, always looking, never seeing. 

So, what does this mean to each of us in these interesting times? What does it mean to recognize that each individual - each one of us, exists collectively in an age where our survival appears fragile, our way of life unsustainable, in an age where every aspect of our lives is so grossly over-politicized that we may have finally reached a point which now requires a completely new political order, a new, New World Order, based on the concept which allows each of us to fully realize our own self-sovereignty with a complete understanding of our divine individuality and to finally know what it means to accept responsibility for reclaiming our undeniable and self-evident birthrights.  

Now comes the time when we each must take personal responsibility to correct the course of our world, not through protest and demonstration; rather, through positive action derived by our understanding of each individual’s unique connection to the Creator. 

First we must ask why the idea of the self-sovereign individual is described today as the greatest threat to those who attempt to rule over all humanity. The self-sovereign individual, based upon complete self-reliance, is only a threat to those that, through power and position, believe they are above the common man. The role of the self-sovereign individual is to cherish liberty and freedom and to defend the Creator’s given birthrights that provide freedom to every person to make full use of their faculties, so long as they do no harm to others while doing so.

As free and self-sovereign individuals, we recognize the power of organically arising organizations consisting of other self-sovereign individuals coming together around the work we collectively agree and commit to do. 

The sovereign individual who disapproves of state education is not opposed to any education; who objects to a state religion is not against any, or all, religions or belief systems; who rejects state-sponsored environmental regulation does not lack the respect and understanding of the need to protect the environment and all other living creatures, whom rejects state-enforced equality is not against equality for all. 

Liberty of conscience, of education, of association, of the press, of travel, of labor and trade are the core ideals of the sovereign individual. 

The sovereign individual desires to replace within himself: morality from selfishness, honesty from honor, principles from customs, duties from manners, reason from the tyranny of fads and fashions, contempt of vices from contempt of poverty, pride from insolence, greatness of soul from vanity, love of glory from love of money, merit from intrigue, genius from wit, truth from falsehood and vision from television.  

Every individual has the right to use force for lawful self-defense of liberty, freedom and property. It is for this reason that the collective force –which is only the organized combination of the individual forces – may lawfully be used for the same purpose; and it cannot be used legitimately for any other purpose. Law is solely the organization of the individual right of self-defense which existed before law was formalized. In short, law is the defense against injustice.