Tell me the future...PLEASE!

Last week I took a drive up the coast to a ‘Psychic Fair’. 

I went as a sceptic and left as a cynic.

Of greater interest than the psychics were the people who sought their services ‒ honest, hard-working Australians who were desperate to catch a glimpse of their futures or to receive messages of consolation from the ‘other side’. Their guiding motive was to have the hidden revealed.

Knowing the future is power; uncertainty leads to feeling vulnerable. Anxiety is the fear of uncertainty, “what might happen”.

There are two responses to anxiety:

1.     To put in every effort to create certainty.

2.     To accept life’s inherent uncertainty.

In most cases, the first option is ideal. If I can predict the future, then I can ensure I am fully prepared for it. But can you be fully prepared? What if the predictions are wrong?

A more considered response to uncertainty isn’t panic, but rather acceptance. It’s not that certainty isn’t desirable, it’s that it’s unattainable ‒ there are too many variables.

The false prophets promising guarantees of financial security, perfect health and ideal relationships do their ‘followers’ a disservice. The hard work of preparing for the challenges of life is the only guarantee. There are no short-cuts.

An empty vessel makes the loudest sound...

 

"It has often and confidently been asserted that man’s origin can never be known, but ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: It is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." ‒ Charles Darwin

“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.” ‒ Plato

Recently, researchers at Yale proved that using a search engine to research a random topic makes people think that they know more about everything ‒ even topics unrelated to the question they just Googled.

In other words, a slight educational advantage creates a disproportional perceived knowledge advantage. Although we overestimate our abilities in general, where we are marginally competent, overestimation is exponentially worse.

This might explain why the most outspoken people are seldom the most knowledgeable…

Living in comfort with uncertainty

Once we lived comfortably with not knowing all the answers. We allowed the mystique of the unknown to not only puzzle us, but to inspire us. We had many answers but even more questions. Life and the world were mysterious.

But now we are all-knowing. Whether we are religious or anti-religious, we are certain of our convictions. We are right and others are wrong. We have all the answers; we have become fundamentalists.

Fundamentalism is the certainty of possessing the truth. There is no other way of considering an issue. “We are right and everyone else is wrong.”

There is comfort in a fundamentalist approach because it presents the world as a series of simple choices: good versus bad, wrong versus right.

It is this simplicity that makes all forms of fundamentalism appealing, because a complex world is a frightening place. By pigeon-holing communities and stereotyping individuals, I am protected from having to see the complexity of each unique person and each unique situation.

Our fear of humanising the ‘enemy’ and living with uncertainty causes us to move towards extreme positions.