Coping with Uncertainty
abracad, · Categories: self help, spiritualityMost times life seems pretty predictable. We wake each morning knowing largely what the day will hold. We make an action (cause) and the expected result (effect) usually follows.
Modern science has quite a different view. The universe consists of zillions of unpredictable events at the sub-atomic level. The order we observe is just the result of these numerous random micro-events combining to give a neat, seemingly predictable, macro-reality.
Schrodinger's cat is a famous thought experiment in quantum physics illustrating that nature's inherent uncertainty isn't limited to the microscopic scale, eg radioactive decay. A cat is placed in a box with a radioactive source and detector, and a flask of poison. If the source emits radiation the poison is released. Thus, the macroscopic cat's fate depends on the uncertainty of the sub-atomic realm. Esoterically, quantum theory further suggests the cat is simultaneously both dead and alive until the box is opened and it is observed!
Life is inherently uncertain. Nassim Nicholas Taleb's bestseller The Black Swan argues that uncertainty is more common and influential than we generally believe. Uncertainty can force us out of our comfort zone. The trouble is we don’t always get to choose when we have to push the boundaries of comfort.
Quizzes aimed at finding your ideal career often have a question on how you feel about every day’s work being the same. Uncertainty is an issue that tends to polarize people. Some love it; others hate, or are crippled by it.
Those who crave uncertainty have it easy. The question is not whether surprises will occur, but when. And because of the very nature of surprise the question is unanswerable.
So, how do your cope if you’re one of those left paralyzed by (the fear of) the unknown?
The first step is acceptance. The acceptance of uncertainty in principle, and of whatever circumstances it throws up. If you can't change something, just accept it and let it go.
Secondly is the limitation of focus. By nature we tend to imagine how we hope the future will be. That’s good, because holding a blueprint helps focus our attention on the behavior most likely to bring it about. The danger is that we start living our life in the uncertain future rather than the present, which is all we truly control.
We are just a part of the universe, not its master. As such there are things we can control, and a whole lot more we can’t. By definition our attention and efforts ought to be focused on what we can control. It can be comforting to consider that small and insignificant as we are, every act of our will acts as though a pebble thrown into the ocean; it creates ripples that spread out changing forever that which would otherwise have been. That’s a powerful notion.
Perversely, there can be a certain comfort in uncertainty. For example, the author doesn’t check his lottery ticket until the day of the next draw. Even though its fate was decided (like Schrodinger's cat) a few days before, he prefers to keep the dream alive until it’s time to buy a new ticket. That approach is fine, so long as it doesn’t prevent us doing what we ought in the present. Be guided by your inner instinct.
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Filed in: self help, spirituality
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