A story I wanted to share on the web-site LinkedIn

Years ago, I read a book by Steven D’Souza and Diana Renner, titled “Not knowing: The art of turning uncertainty into opportunity”.

If you want to know more about that book, you can check out its page on Goodreads.com (because the rest of this post is not going to talk much about that book) :

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18210266-not-knowing

After reading the book, I was inspired to write a blog-post, which, generally speaking, was about the impact that the book had on me.

So, fast-forward three years: Steven, who, as you recall, is co-author of the above-mentioned book, leaves a comment on my blog:

Thank you for sharing the impact of our book on you Pheng Heong. Your writing is honest and eloquent. Steven

And I probably have a fan-boy moment: who is Steven in the world, and I - who am I kidding - who am I in the world? that Steven is talking to this me?

But if I view Steven and I as fellow travellers into the unknown, maybe he and I are not that different from each other. Steven (and Diana, his co-author) may have more experience in life than me, but they highlight, in their book, that they do not want to be seen as experts about the unknown - if anything, they encourage one to explore the unknown for oneself. My role, then, is clear: if Steven and Diana are offering wisdom about such an adventure, so to speak, then I can be, and I am, happy to receive that wisdom. (despite the discomfort, and even dread, that encountering the unknown often engenders in me).

It may be that I have my individual, unique, experience of the unknown to undergo, but I am happy to have the wisdom that Steven and Diana have distilled, via their book, to bear in mind, all the while.

You can view my above-mentioned blog-post here:

http://phtan.github.io/blog/post/2016-05-06-not-knowing/

This post was originally intended for publication on the social-media web-site LinkedIn, but what I’ve prepared for that web-site was somehow lost. Now I type a new draft, and post it first on this current Internet-address, with plans to subsequently post, or syndicate, it (back) to LinkedIn.