What is unknown for you today?

Consider a world map created in the mid or late 1400s. It would be packed with wondrous detail, images of monsters and treasures on continents and islands, and commentary on the side.

One glitch with these wondrous maps: They were certain of themselves. They announced, We are familiar with what is. Nothing new to learn.

And so Columbus, when he sailed out, miscalculated by over 8000 miles the distance been Spain and East Asia.

A little-known author, Amerigo Vespucci, had the audacity to assert soon after that we didn’t know what the hell we were talking about. The lands that Columbus visited were unknown.

Sometime after 1507, empty-space maps made their debut, including a 1525 map that with a very short, narrow strip of American coast line. No assumptions. Emptiness.

Favoring observation over tradition. Leaning into not-knowing. The unknown as possibility. Daring to question our every assertion and belief.

The humbling awe of real discovery. Seeing something with beginner’s mind. Innovation accelerating. Because there are important things that we do not know. And cannot know until we enter not-knowing. What is that you are not knowing today?

credit: linda xliu | unsplash

---