Image via Pixabay.
This thought came out of a reflection on the appeal of certainty offered by religious and cultural beliefs. Cultural beliefs include those embedded in the practice of business and within individual organisations.
Examples would be: there is life or reincarnation after death, long-held rituals that afford luck, the belief of endless consumption/growth, and the good old “we have always done things this way here.”
Certainty is very comfortable. We don’t have to question or re-think anything. Just do what we have always done, and the results will be exactly the same as before.
Uncertainty is scary. We don’t know what may or may not happen. We don’t know what we need to do. “We don’t know” can be terrifying.
Certainty is a fixed mindset; by definition.
Uncertainty is a growth mindset; by necessity.
Certainty is actually really hard to come by. The cost can be blind faith and the outright denial of facts and reality. It can take a lot of energy to maintain the faith. A topical example would be those who believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 election.
Uncertainty, on the other hand, is a guarantee! Especially in today’s world. If we truly allow ourselves to think about it, we quickly realise that we have very little actual control over our lives. We seek or purchase shallow certainty in a thinly veiled attempt to cover this reality.
Which do you prefer? To die with comfortable certainty at the cost of a thoughtful conscious life, or embrace and thrive in the face of uncertainty?
