Folly of Certainty

Folly of certainty:

recently, from several sources, I've been reminded on the folly of certainty, how we often cruise through life with the firm belief that we are think is most always correct and true. I came across a quote the other day, hearing it first from retired news correspondent and now author and meditation teacher Dan Harris, stating that we have a certainty epidemic, so many people completely sure that their view is the only one that really matters. Of course this often leads to clashes of the ego, no one else can be right if they don't align with how we're thinking. 

and that's the world we live in now.

everyone is certain.

even when they're wrong.

that seems to be the allure of conspiracy theories, that we've discerned a deeper truth that no one else is able to see. It makes us special, secure in our certainty that everyone else is blind and wrong in their own beliefs. Yet the true conspiracy always plays against us, that we're mostly caught in our emotional patterns that allow very little control for our choices or behavior. In yogic psychology this is advidya, ignorance of our compulsion, how we're driven by attachments and aversions, addicted to our own particular way of thinking. To break free of this they yogic, as well as Buddhist way, is to simply shine the light of awareness to our minds, observing these patterns of habits and behavior. 

one of the best means for this is in cultivating a sense of uncertainty. 

allowing ourselves the pleasure of now knowing. 

staying open and present to mystery. 

for me, I just continuously remind myself of the folly of certainty, that there is nothing that I truly know for sure and that I'm better served to allow others their point of view instead of offering a debate. The antidote for avidya is simply clear seeing, vidya, meaning true knowledge of the self.

 our truth is always a mystery, never something to be taken as certain and static in its hold, but being a continuous, fluid expression of what we are. 

aware...of the folly of certainty. 

~

Peace, Eric