You “know” lots of things. With the ubiquitous presence of the internet, you can instantly find the answer to any question you’d ever have.

You can research the Ignatian way of prayer.

You can discover the method of centering prayer.

You can find theological commentaries and reactions to every possible subject and instance under the sun.

But this is not the only type of “knowing”, and it is surely not the type of knowing that your soul desperately needs.

What you need most is the Biblical/Jewish way of “knowing”, which is really “knowing-by-experience.” Knowing-by-experience is when you set aside the things you know ABOUT God and fully embrace the PRESENCE of God (or, even more accurately, allow and recognize the fact that God fully embraces YOU).

This is the type of knowing that truly changes you.

It’s the difference between how I might describe my wife and children versus what it feels like to hug them, to be with them in moments of unscripted love.

Wikipedia cannot take you there (though you should donate some money to wikipedia.org).

The path to experience it is through surrender, through quietness, through silence.

The path is through shutting off your tendency to evaluate and comment on the things of God, and just embracing the deep mystery BEYOND the theology.

(NOTE: Yes, you DO need to know things about God: this is not an invitation to make up whatever you’d like to about the great Mystery. This is simply a reminder that there is MORE to the spiritual life than facts, doctrine, and dogma.)