About certainty and uncertainty
We doubt.
Doubt is part of all religion.
Photo : HugoLorent
The truth is outside all fixed patterns.
So
we have to learn how to be just a little bit unhappy.
I think.
I doubt. Which is what I do,
and I do it for my own peace of mind.
Photo : HugoLorent
Through the years I've learned
that truth is on the wrong end of my telescope.
UT SI IN ALIQUO ERREM, ME DIGNETUR REPREHENDERE.
(If I'm wrong, please correct me)
To have doubted one’s own principles is a good thing.
As often as a study is cultivated by narrow minds,
they will draw from it narrow conclusions.
It is not certain that everyone is uncertain.
But uncertainty is a fundamental and avoidable feature of daily life.
In order to deal with uncertainty intelligently,
we need to be able to represent it and reason about it.
Well then. Throughout the history of Western philosophy there have been intellectual debates concerning how human beings should live an think. What should we do with our lives as wholes and in specific problematic situations? Intellectually we are sceptics and relativists. We doubt. We point out that no once can be certain in what she/ he believes, etc... We are suspicious of declarations of transcendent reason of truth. There are so many questions and of course, any answer will only be true for you. Right?
Or might it be that our scepticism and relativism are the result of our own laziness and failure?
In order to deal with uncertainty intelligently we need to reason about it intelligently. There are universal laws. Not only Taoism but most of religions gives us answers. Even to questions that have no answers. Right?
It’s quite possible to understand
some relationship between Taoism and the art of Tai Chi Chuan,
it’s also possible to comprehend words as 'transformations' and 'dualities'.
But it’s impossible to comprehend everything about everything.
'Superstring theories' are maybe the first candidates for the theory
of relationship between everything about everything,
for the theory of black wholes (emptiness?)
Superstring theories refer to a variety of interrelated objects related
by transformation that are called dualities (yin-yang?).
Wise man says only fools rush in.
Scientific theories refer to the understanding of a variety of
interrelated objects.
Taoism refers to the understanding of a variety of interrelated objects related by transformation that are called "yin-yang dualities".
Jesus Christ refers to the understanding of a variety of interrelated objects related by transformation that are called "love".
Understanding means the ability to think and act flexibly with one knows.
Wise man says:
"Pessimism is a good thing.
The pessimist complains about the wind.
The optimist expects it to change.
The realist adjusts the sails.
Realists adjust the sails.
But if they do not know where to sail to it will be of any use to them.
In science realism means the understanding of a variety of
interrelated objects
In Taoism realism means finding an optimal balance between
optimism and pessimism,
between yin and yang, between "things of Heaven and Earth".
In Christianity realism means finding true love.
"All we need is love and understanding.
Love is the understanding of the whole".
"When we meet each other, the one thing we know for certain is
that one of us is born before the other.
That one of us must die before the other."
(Jacques Derrida)
that one of us is born before the other.
That one of us must die before the other."
(Jacques Derrida)
Western Classics about uncertainty: