domingo, 14 de agosto de 2011

Uncertainty

Human beings are designed to work for objectives, to live with a purpose. However, considering we do not know anything about what is our purpose in life, or our future, we usually cling to the first belief we consider as acceptable, I mean, the one that answers all or most of our transcendental questions about the meaning of life.
Some people decide to embrace some of the hundreds of different religions, others prefer to trust in conclusions obtained from the study of the objective facts (science). And, there are also people who pretend (in my humble opinion) they do not believe in anything. You also have quick service options like fortune-telling in any of its variants (reading palms, tea leafs in a cup, interpreting dreams, cartomancy, crystal ball, etc.). The only thing I can say for sure is that, apparently, nobody knows the universal truth, despite the fact that a lot of them guarantee that they hold it. At this point, I think there are two possibilities. Firstly, the ones who really know the truth have not yet released it, maybe because they are afraid that the rest of us will not understand it, or will simply ignore it, or about the possible consequences that it could trigger. On the other hand, it is also likely that the truth was already told and we are not smart enough to understand it, or even to listen to it. This last possibility is easy for me to believe because I am not a big believer in human race (even when I am part of it). I want to believe that there is a big potential inside us, but there is also a lot of confusion that lead us to make very bad choices, and these choices are defining the way we live our lives.
The uncertainty we are immersed in could be the reason for a lot of non-sense arguments, fights and suffering. Everybody believe (or want to believe) that they are right and all the others are wrong. Therefore, they try to transmit their ideas, to fight for them, or even to impose them.
Moreover, there are people more concerned about material things, but smart enough to use other people's beliefs in order to manipulate them, and to use them to obtain their own benefit, no matter what it takes.
We can see very often that there is some law or contract not perfectly defined, there is always somebody who is able to find the breach and invalidate it. The good thing about absolute truth is that there is no breaches, it is seamless. But, the problem is that we have to be able to analyze it thoroughly and without prejudices. And, we also need to consider the possibility that it could be better not finding it out. Sometimes ignorance brings you happiness. Anyway, I prefer to believe that everything makes sense, and someday we will be able to understand everything that has been causing so many troubles and pain so far.
I would say, emulating Socrates, that uncertainty is the only certainty. And we have to live with that, at least for now. So, enjoy uncertainty!