We have and will always live in uncertain times. Uncertainty is uncomfortable and scary. It is common to turn away from it, to distract oneself with other things and situations that you feel that you can control. To look uncertainty in the eye is to stare into the abyss, to know that you couldn’t know, and to understand that you may never understand.
Existence itself is a mystery that has caused a great deal of unrest for many smart men and women throughout time. When we ask, ‘Why?’, we are trying to relieve ourselves of the uncertainty of not knowing. To rest in knowing that you do not know is to rest amongst everyone else, with everyone else, on this wild ride we call life. Let go of the need for certainty, relax into the uncertainty, and feel everything that you could be. You’re a human being and it’s okay to cry.
Throughout time, it has always been uncertainty that has united people in the journey towards a common goal. In times long ago, humans banded together with the common goal of survival, against the threats of an uncertain food supply, dangers of the night, and hostile others. Today, this ancestrally useful system of thinking unites groups of people against foreigners, political opposition, rival gangs, and anyone who might disagree with you, as if they threaten your very existence. This way of thinking flows both ways, the persecutors often feel as persecuted by the persecuted as those who feel they are being persecuted by the persecutors. The blame game points fingers at people in all camps. Both sides feel persecuted, both sides persecute. It’s a war of ideas without communication.
The creation of an enemy in ones mind produces a feeling of certainty that one has some control over a threat to their existence. There is ground to stand on when one feels that they can fight or struggle against an enemy to create a better tomorrow for themselves and their families. This intention is founded in basic-goodness, to protect and serve the ones you love, but it is often misdirected. The brain takes shortcuts to save time and energy, because we have families to feed, money to earn, and places to go and it is easier to point the finger at another person than it is to point it at death, an airborne virus, climate change, systems, or ideas.
We do what we do to give us certainty in an existence that is fundamentally uncertain. We often attempt to give ourselves certainty by telling stories and solving problems to give ourselves an explanation for our experiences. This can give us some certainty, but we need to acknowledge that some of the stories we tell ourselves are fictions. These fictitious stories can be dangerous and result in actions that only strengthen our fear of other people and their fear of us. People don’t run our world, ideas do. Choosing your ideas wisely can bring people together and tackle problems without creating enemies.
People want to believe that they are fundamentally good or bad (whatever gives them the most certainty) and it is uncertainty that drives them to whatever actions they take. To blame a person for the ideas that they hold is unfair, as products of our environments living in this continual uncertainty, it is no surprise that people will seek to find certainty any way they can, and the stories we are told by those we trust are the best way to find that certainty. Just because a person has had a harmful or unwholesome idea does not mean they will always have it. People learn and change all the time.
Without all the relevant information at hand and time to think for yourself, you must trust the newspaper you read, the websites you visit, and the friends on your Facebook timelines when it comes to many of the social and political issues of the day. You must decide for yourself if these sources can be truly trustworthy all the time. Trust in one another in interpersonal relationships is built on a foundation of certainty in each others motives and goodwill, which have hopefully been made clear where each party has been able to demonstrate them. When receiving information from organisations, businesses, governments and people in their roles as politicians, news anchors, or journalists it is important to consider what motives are driving the propagation of the stories being told. Do they have all the information and is that motivation separate from attention grabbing or financial gain? Alternatively, are they just as clueless as you and I, clutching at certainty in an uncertain world?
As things get weirder and weirder with advancements in technology that make us question whether or not we are in a simulation, if we can trust the video of Barack Obama calling Donald Trump a “complete and utter dipshit”, or if our computers are listening to us just so they can show us targeted ads on Facebook, we must find ways to be comfortable with increasing uncertainty and to seek truth from reputable sources.
Here’s a few ideas that I find certainty in, in my personal, day-to-day experience:
- Up is up and down is down, gravity isn’t going anywhere anytime soon
- I am alive
- Something is happening
- Things are mostly unpredictable and I can’t know everything
- What I do affects others and my environment
- I’m scared sometimes and so is everybody else
- I will (hopefully grow old and) die
- It feels better to be kind than to be indifferent or hateful
This leaves a lot to be uncertain about, and on occasion the rising tide of fear of the unknown will leave me scrambling, feeling like I must do something. I must write a long blog post detailing my thoughts or prepare myself for the worst case scenario. Other times, the uncertainty I feel about the world we are moving in to has paralysed me in fear and I have become detached, pushing people away and becoming reclusive and irritable. On occasions of even greater frequency, I will turn away from the uncertainty to get lost on my phone, lost in nature, or lost in my own mind with varying consequences.
It is only through consciously turning towards uncertainty that I have began to feel more comfortable to rest in it, talk about it, and think properly about what problems are worth paying attention to. The suffering that manifests itself as frustration, resistance and aversion, and grasping at and pull to sources of distraction, in the hopes of avoiding this feeling of uncertainty, is a problem worth looking at. Opening up to uncertainty can help strengthen relationships, build new connections, and create opportunities. To feel comfortable in uncertainty gives us the best possible chance at making choices that are founded in calm, balance, and consideration of all the information available, to help solve the problems in our world.
Waiting in the background to rear their ugly heads again once this devastating pandemic passes, are the existential threats of Climate Breakdown, Wealth Inequality, and Artificial Intelligence amongst many more.
Thankfully, in the times of the greatest uncertainty appear the greatest opportunities for change. The stories we have been told of endless economic growth, fuelled by narratives of strength in individualism, and competition with one another for resources being healthy for the economy have become outdated. This crisis has shown us our interconnection, mortality, and ability to change in times of uncertainty. It has brought the clarity to see how we were living and the unnecessary resource consumption that is fuelling a broken system and destroying our only home. To return to how things were, is to return to a world where the climate will continue to warm, surveillance is increased, freedom is diminished, and wealth inequalities continue to become greater and greater. The government in the UK has repeatedly lied to us all. Some of us have believed those lies because to believe the most powerful people in our society are untrustworthy liars is a devastating reality that brings great uncertainty, followed by anger, and despair. Now is as good a time as any to hold all the sorrow and anger brought on by the uncertainty that is our shared future to bring about change. We do not have to return the world to how it was.
This particular moment, here and now, we find ourselves faced with a pandemic that is taking lives all over the world and leading us to make choices based in a heightened awareness of our shared mortality, interconnection, and uncertainty about the future, to help us make better choices for ourselves and each other moment to moment. A stability in this awareness can be trained and has been done by many men and women throughout time, through contemplative practice. Taking time to rest, reflect, and feel the emotions that arise from our present moment situations and mental storylines, gives us the opportunity to find new perspectives and a position to act and create from. Be curious about how you think and what you think, these are your storylines. Don’t judge yourself for how you think and what you think, your ideas are not you. Be conscious of your actions, feel your feet on the ground and your hands on your phone/desk/laptop/legs. Amazingly, you can begin again in this very moment, and decide to be someone closer to who you wish to be. Drop everything, the weight of who you are or were is too heavy to carry all the time, especially when we’re climbing mountains. Taking time to check in with ourselves helps us consider what is most important to us, how our actions will affect others and our environment, and helps us to ask the right questions at the right times. Perhaps the most uncertain question we need to ask is, who are we? What will this generation of human beings be remembered for?
Getting Comfortable With Uncertainty
Whilst we play this game called time, the future is never entirely predictable and uncertainty is part of the fun. ‘What is going to happen next week?’ is a question that cannot be answered with certainty, and whilst you have the option you can always end your life before getting to experience the answer. I’ve contemplated suicide and sadly many others have too, with some choosing not to wait and see if things might get better, or entertaining the thought that next week might be different to the last however many. When we turn towards the door of uncertainty and through that door into the space beyond, we know nothing. If one was to step through that door, everything could go right or everything could go wrong, it could also be neither and instead something in between. In having the courage to step through that door we accept and hold all possibilities. From nothing arises everything we have ever known or could know. From nothing; blank canvases, white sheet paper, and empty space; is the opportunity for great art, transcendent music, and a new home. Humans solve problems of expression, injustice, and suffering of all kinds by being willing to look uncertainty in the eye, and step through that uncertain doorway, to create and build themselves into a new future.
We are all on this spinning space rock of perpetual uncertainty together and we are all going to die at some point so we might as well make it easier for each other in the meantime.
Now is as good a time as any to stand up for what you believe in but know that creating enemies at the same time is not necessary. We are all mislead and make mistakes. It is my belief that forgiveness, education, and encouragement of personal responsibility are what will lead to lasting change over time. It is only in the presence of a willingness to forgive that we allow those who have made mistakes to admit them, and change. Accountability begins with ourselves and can then be expanded to our friends, family, communities and governments. Mistakes will be made by all of us along the way. Looking back on the large protests staged by Extinction Rebellion in October of 2019, we can see clearly where politicians, police, and protesters have all made mistakes, caught up in their roles, emotions, goals, and ultimately the stories they tell themselves.
The story I have chosen to propagate is one of forgiveness, understanding, and community, that allows us to learn from our pasts and build a sustainable, fair, and just future.
It is as follows:
human beings are essentially cooperative, but an ideology of extreme individualism and competition has hidden this truth from us, leading to a situation of growing isolation and loneliness. We must use this time of uncertainty to allow for change, founded in understanding and forgiveness. The solution is to build a “politics of belonging” based on the idea of community. Community should be the basis to build a democratic and participatory political system, together with an economic model that respects the environment and guarantees welfare for all. In that society, the natural altruism of human beings would flourish and the damage inflicted by us on our planet would be greatly slowed.
You may think I have lost the plot, and you’d be right. The old plot is a story of self-destruction and despair. New stories are being woven by people everywhere, and choosing the right ones will determine our path.
The truth is I don’t know what the future holds, but I know what I’d like it to, so I’ll do what I can to create a new future with my choices and actions, so that I’ll be able to look back without too much regret.
I continue to meditate daily to strengthen my awareness, so I can be what I can for the people and causes I care about.
I continue to make mistakes daily and acknowledge them, so that I can learn and make changes to my habits and behaviour.
I continue to forgive myself and others daily, so that myself and others might become who they might be.
I continue to recognise how lucky I am to be born into the family I have and the country I live in, so that I have had the time and opportunity to think about these things without worrying about putting food on the table or surviving the day.
I continue to be uncertain, continually, about whether the future will be as I would hope or as I fear.
So here we are again, here and now, with each other for what little time we have. If you have read this far, thank you for coming along for the ride, I wish that all your dreams for this life be realised, and the time we have will be filled with joy, health, and peace. Live with courage. Remember that change takes time and sometimes staying inside and waiting it out is the best thing you can do, but not always.
I’ll leave you with two songs to enjoy and a poem to take stock of.
Big Love to All
John
- Imagine — John Lennon
- The Times They Are A-Changin’ — Bob Dylan
And People Stayed Home — Written by Kathleen O’Meara in 1869 after the Irish famine and reissued in 1919 during the Spanish Flu Pandemic
And people stayed home
and read books and listened
and rested and exercised
and made art and played
and learned new ways of being
and stopped
and listened deeper
someone meditated
someone prayed
someone danced
someone met their shadow
and people began to think differently
and people healed
and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways,
dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
even the earth began to heal
and when the danger ended
and people found each other
grieved for the dead people
and they made new choices
and dreamed of new visions
and created new ways of life
and healed the earth completely
just as they were healed themselves.
What next?
Feel yourself alive and breathing. You are an influencing part inter-being within and with a complex whole. Act like you make a difference, because you do.
Want to become more comfortable with uncertainty and grow and strengthen your awareness in the present moment to make better choices for yourself and others?
I am a strong advocate of mindfulness meditation, which is backed by science and thousands of years of practice by holy men and women of many cultures. Despite it’s association with religion, it can be completely separate. I’m sure that there are many great meditation apps but I can only recommend Headspace and Waking Up as the two I have tried personally. As little as 10-20 minutes a day can have a huge impact. A daily practice has changed my life.
Some great resources include The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh(my fave book), Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris(book), Zen Habits(website), Insight Meditation Society, Plum Village, Jack Kornfield(teacher), and letting fear guide you to situations and scenarios of growth. Do not hesitate to message me if you have any questions about my practice or mindfulness and meditation in general.
Want to learn more about geopolitics, culture, history, and how we organise societies as well as the potential risks of current ideologies and advancements in technology and surveillance?
I strongly recommend you find Yuval Noah Harari and his work on google. He is a great speaker who communicates complex ideas very well. He recently appeared on a podcast with Sam Harris called Making Sense that you can find on Spotify, it is episode #201. This is a piece he recently wrote for the Financial Times
Want to know if we are really living in a simulation or not?
One of the most popular thinkers in this area is Nick Bostrom. Find his Simulation Argument on Youtube.
Want to get involved in efforts to change politics and slow climate change in this time of opportunity and uncertainty?
Alongside individual behaviour changes, governments and businesses must feel the pressure to change. Get involved with organisations such as Extinction Rebellion, Transition Network, The New Economics Foundation, and Forum for the Future. Learn about the leading thinkers in these areas, Kate Raworths Doughnut Economics is interesting, Rob Hopkins and George Monbiots ideas are also interesting, any of these would be a good place to start. The “politics of belonging” narrative is one I have taken and altered, shared by George Monbiot. Use other peoples ideas to build your own stories and initiatives.
Want to see that video of Barack Obama calling Trump a dipshit?
Search ‘Obama Deep Fake’ on youtube. Be concerned.
Want to know how conspiracy theories fit into all of this?
Conspiracy theories are usually over simplistic fictitious narratives that give the illusion of certainty, breed fear and mistrust, and can lead to feelings of powerlessness. As things become easier to share, edit, and alter in the digital world, we may see them become increasingly prevalent. This article focuses on how conspiracy theories are related to wealth inequalities and uncertainty as well as offering an approach to dealing with them.
Wondering if there really are a lot of people out there who want change after this crisis?
This recent YouGov poll might suggest there are:
Made it all the way down here? Have some more music
