What are you pretending not to know?

The inquiry in this post’s title was posed in a personal-growth training I participated in in the 1980s and 1990s. Each time I have revisited this question over the last quarter century, it has sounded a bit different to me.
Always, though, it has been a powerful invitation to consciousness. While it is certainly true that what we don’t know outweighs what we do know by a vast amount, it is also true that we know a lot. We know a lot about ourselves, the world around us, the people in our lives.
Yet, many of us, at some time or another, and perhaps often, tuck away that which we know just out of sight.
We do this for a variety of reasons, both unconscious and conscious. Perhaps we find what we know too painful to face. Perhaps what we know, if we faced it, would lay a responsibility at our feet that we do not want to accept. Perhaps what we know and will not admit would invite us to step into our full potential as humans.
What is particularly interesting may be the fact that we have chosen to hide this truth. We can learn much by noticing what truths we have selected to hide. It may just be that what we have hidden are the most important truths in our lives.
So, a powerful practice might be to inquire, in meditation, journaling, or conversation with a teacher, into the question, “what am I pretending not to know?” You may just find a trail of breadcrumbs to a glorious opening into your next level of expansion and peace.