PEOPLE often look back at history as if it were stable, but every generation has faced wars, economic crashes, pandemics or rapid social changes.
The brain dislikes ambiguity. It prefers clear information. When the future is unclear, the mind may interpret the lack of answers as a potential threat, causing stress and anxiety.
There is also an “Uncertain Times” cycle. The phrase tends to become popular during crises. When life feels calm, it fades from use, even though the fundamental unpredictability of tomorrow never really goes away.
Uncertain times are usually understood as bad times. The phrase has been used to describe the decades of the Cold War, the sudden collapse of the housing market, the years of a pandemic and the nervous months before an election. When we are happy, content or confident—when ominous global powers fall, the housing market recovers, vaccines are developed and officials are finally sworn in—the phrase falls out of fashion.
The phrase “Certain Times,” by contrast, almost never appears. Yet that is precisely what “Uncertain Times” seems to imply: that while sometimes we do not know what will happen, at other times we somehow do. It is comforting. If there is uncertainty, then there must also be certainty.
Certainty—or uncertainty—is often a matter of feeling rather than fact. Of course, I know that “Uncertain Times” is simply shorthand for describing a general feeling of unease; no one is foolish enough to believe that they truly know the future. Or perhaps it is like the words “discombobulated,” “disgruntled” and “disgusted,” which seldom, if ever, appear without their prefixes.
But, rightly or wrongly, we do experience a sense of certainty. It would be impossible to go about our daily lives without it: By seven o’clock, the sun will be out. When I eat food, it will give me energy. When I drink this tea, it will not kill me. Certainty is relative. Certainty is also flimsy.
If you say that something is questionable, you mean that it is not completely honest, reasonable or acceptable. These have certainly been challenging times for all of us—times that can also be deeply thought-provoking.
No, I am not talking about political matters. Most of my fellow columnists are already doing that. More than enough. I am talking about times of darkness—times when the whole world seems to be against you and me.
No, I am not talking about corruption either. We have already heard enough about that. It is what many people who still believe and trust in a new beginning are talking about.
Allow me to become very personal. I remember difficult, problematic and questionable periods in my life and surroundings when I almost lost all my strength to confront the problems before me. Life’s path became narrow. Fears grew: It’s enough. It’s enough!
I am talking about personal matters. But I also observe the people around me. We are all—yes, please count me in—starting to become awkward and irritable. I find myself reluctant to accept the good ideas of others. I feel driven into a corner. Everything seems to have become a problem. Our voices rise, and our groans become louder and louder.
Creating the life you want while dealing with uncertainty does not happen overnight. It is found in the little things. It is about having a vision and making it compelling. It is about seeing and feeling it with genuine emotion.
It is about caring for other people. It is calling someone simply to say, “I love you,” for no particular reason. It is taking every opportunity to connect, to be playful, and to honor and cherish the people you love.
In my personal case, I suddenly experienced how God put me into life’s “reconversion plant” and refreshed me. Small but meaningful and important acts of care suddenly appeared. After a hot day and a refreshing thunderstorm, we may once again be able to enjoy the following day and night. The person who insulted us suddenly apologizes; the illness disappears.
“You prepare a banquet for me, where all my enemies can see me!” (Psalm 23:5).
I am glad. I really do not know what new spitefulness my next “enemy on duty” might bring in the near future. I do not even want to know. I have learned that negativity blocks life and its plans.
Given just how common and recurrent uncertainty is, there will always be people ready to capitalize on it—and others willing to pay to be rid of it.
Op-ed writers, pundits, religious figures, scholars, consultants, influencers and hot-takers are always ready to prescribe remedies for our feelings of uncertainty: travel preparedness, political influence, literature, advice from football coaches, insurance, environmental sustainability and self-acceptance. Yet their advice rarely seems to be that perhaps we should simply learn to live with uncertainty.
Once, we consulted oracles and soothsayers. Then we looked to prophets and religious figures. We read tea leaves and Tarot cards. And no matter the epoch, we have always been vulnerable to despots and demagogues promising to create certainty for us.
Today, we search for certainty in the vast, nebulous sea of data. We implore statisticians to tell us who is going to win an election—or even a baseball game. Yet we rarely ask them how we might simply become comfortable with not knowing.
Sad to say, many people still do not seem to be in the mood to follow Christ’s advice…!
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Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook or LinkedIn or visit www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com./PN
