I Don't Know

When I was in my 30s, just starting my career as a consultant, I was always worried about how much I didn't know.

Then a man came to spend his year's sabbatical amongst us. He was the first real bible scholar I knew up close and personal. A full professor at Boston University, he was one of the editors of "The Interpreter's Bible," a 12 volume expansion of the Book. He told us quite humbly at dinner one night that to be a bible scholar it was necessary to be fluent in at least three ancient languages. He was. His wife, an Egyptian, was a professor at Harvard.

He was an excellent teacher. He never tired of dumb questions and never made anyone feel small.

But what impressed me most about him was that he said this phrase a lot. "I don't know."

If a person asked him something like "Did Moses write the first five books of the Bible?" (A question, by the way, that in some circles, if you get the answer wrong you will be banished to hell) - he would give a long, thoughtful list of interesting theories - but in the end say "I don't know."

My time with him, instead of being intimidating, freed me up. We had something in common. There are lots of things I don't know either.

He freed me to embrace the mystery.