15. Catalogues of Knowing
Any viewpoint can be considered as a collection of known realities or a catalogue of ìknowingnessesî. Your first boy- or girl-friend had such a collection, which you found out about gradually, remember? And you certainly brought such a collection into the day when you finished waking up this morning. One reason we never seem to run out of things to laugh about is the endless tensions and collisions that can behad between these different methods and packages of knowing.
The sum total of experience being had at any point in time by one viewpoint is the sum total of "forces of knowing" composited in the individual catalog. If you want an example of forces of knowing, imagine or remember what it feels like to know you are inadequate to deal with a very important situation which is demanding your attention right now. Another example: recall what it feels like to realize you are completely on top of things.
Think back to a time you took a stressful exam, or passed a tough test, and what you were knowing at the different extremes of the experience.
Within any catalogue of knowing there may be contradictions - sets of knowledge that do not harmonize well, such as knowing you are extremely important but not knowing how, or knowing you are nothing but must be something, knowing you feel fear but must be brave, and so on. These fields of ìknowingî address all vectors and all dynamics of the spectrum of life. Example: knowing there is no ground fault in a circuit, but knowing it looks like there is one and knowing that you donít know where it is, at the same time that you know God is on your side in this matter, and knowing He should hurry up and clarify things for you. Compounds of knowing, some parts of which blend well, others of which conflict. Another easy example: knowing that high school history is about as dull as a living person can stand without weeping and also knowing you need to placate the professor for the sake of your diploma and domestic tranquility but knwoing that the only thing interesting within fifteen miles is Sally Wethersfield in the row ahead of you.