Being certain

I’ve come to the conclusion that in almost every case, certainty is misplaced, unhelpful and sometimes downright harmful.

We used to be certain that the earth is flat. Certain that lightning was because the gods were angry. Certain that Isaac Newton had it all figured out.

I hate to break it to you, but almost every-single-thing that you hold as immutable truth is either wrong, subject to change or something that you’ve misunderstood.

This sounds rather bleak, but it’s profoundly interesting.

Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough.

Richard P. Feynman

Curiosity is about the most wonderful thing that I can imagine.

You see a child, a cub, a juvenile exploring the world. They fail, they prod, they question, they break things… they learn. It’s mesmerising to watch.

You did this, and the sum total of all the failing, prodding, questioning (and much else) is what makes you who you are in this moment.

Tomorrow you will be slightly different, because of the failing, prodding and questioning which you carried out today.

The end of this process is called death, and unless you’re a stromatolite*, the end of your curiosity will happen soon enough.

Certainty is the opposite of curiosity.

Certainty is claiming to know that something is true… utterly true. That no matter the amount of prodding and questioning, it will be just the same today, tomorrow and all the days thereafter.

There may be a few things that are truly true, sprinkled throughout the universe, but the number is low, very low, and probably lower than you will allow for. These truths are likely in the realm of physics, chemistry and other sciences. They are not in the realm of humanity.

I cannot think of any product of the human mind which I can be certain of.

In the abstract:

• My country is the best and will last forever. No.
• My political system is the best that can occur. No.
• My way of life cannot be matched. No.
• My thoughts are better than your thoughts. No.
• etc.

Think of anything. It can prodded, questioned. In the future, it can change.

I realised that I’m implying that I’m certain of my uncertainty, but I hope that you get the point.

The year is 2025, and there’s so much certainty about, particularly in the realm of politics, but it’s bleeding out into so many other areas of life.

I’m wary of this certainty, because in so many ways, it’s enemy of curiosity. If we’re certainty of ‘a thing’, then we don’t need to think about it any more. We don’t need to prod it, question it, because we know that it cannot be amended or improved.

I want a world full of curiosity, full of wonder, full of interest in the ‘what if’.

There’s so much more than I want to say here, but on this day, I cannot seem to encapsulate and articulate it, so it’ll have to wait for another day. I’m certain that I’ll do a better job next time around.

* I’m curious to know which of you was curious enough about stromatolites that you clicked the link. Tell me in the comments below?