“I don’t know, bruh!”

My daughters say “I don’t know” often. It’s their way of asking for help, and they remain eager to learn. I love that. Over time, most of us say it less as it begins to feel like a weakness.

I read Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha in my early teens. Siddhartha, the main character, arrives in a city with no money and no title. Asked what he can offer, he says, “I can think. I can wait. I can fast.” He openly admits he knows no trade, yet shows he carries something more powerful: the will, and a way of finding out.

I don’t know if my daughters will ever read Siddhartha. So this is where we practice not knowing, together: think it through, ask the real question, build it or go learn it, then share what we realize.

Exploring your own unknowns, or curious about mine? Let’s talk: Varun Kerof.