Thursday Thoughts...

"The problem with certainty is that it is static; it can do little but endlessly reassert itself. Uncertainty, by contrast, is full of unknowns, possibilities, and risks"

Stephen Batchelor

I read quotes like this and think to myself, I really am a middle of the road kind of gal!  I am soooo uncomfortable with extremes. Sooo uncomfortable with certainty.

I am quite fearful of people who are absolutely certain. Who KNOW. Who hold the truth. Who will not be open to considering another view.  Certainty can be so limiting.

I like that his quotes suggests that certainty is not very helpful; it is static, limiting and possibly even boring.

Uncertainty at the opposite end of the spectrum also scares the pants of me - being without any hint of knowing, being utterly unclear and simply left to try and solve everything as new information appears, to be forced to take risks based on assumptions. That too is fear-inducing to me.

The way he frames these two sentences suggested to me that Certainty is bad; and that Uncertainty with its risks and possibilities and unknowns is far more desirable.

I like the middle. I like some certainty - for example I'm confident that climate change is real and it is happening now.  I am uncertain of some things to do with it and am open to learning more.  I like not knowing how everything works out as I think it makes life interesting. I like exploring and occasionally taking a step into the big unknown. I like asking what if?

But I really don't like living with chaos, not having information to hand to help me make sense of the world.