“Reality is Always Freshly Born” by Bernard Phillips

The more successful a technique, the more it is guaranteed to produce certain results.

But reality can never be known in advance.

Creativity is not a matter of just applying know how in order to achieve ends that have been figured out in advance.

Indeed, we may say that if you know what to do in any situation, it’s the wrong thing.

Living truth has to be created in the act of living and even the means have to be created in the act of giving ourselves to the task.

 If you know what to say, it’s a lie.

If you know how to teach, you’re a propagandist.

If you know how to compose a verse, you’re not a poet.

If you know how to get along with your husband or wife, you’re not really married, you’re simply applying psychology.

(If you know how to heal your client, you’re not a real therapist)

Reality is not gained by know how.

Reality is always freshly born.

Whenever a relationship or action is real, it is being created and re-created from moment to moment.

The real question is not what to do, but

How can I give myself more completely to the situation, to the task, to the person at hand?

As one learns how to give oneself more and more unreservedly, one is led step by step and

Discovers what to do

(source: as quoted by John Welwood at an Omega Retreat)