The seeing. The going.


This world of ours is really something.

Here is the one thing. We don’t have a choice between certainty and uncertainty. Not in how the tock ticks, how the breeze blows in, how the light falls.

And, the thing about me. I want that choice. Of course I would always opt for the assurances. Deep down, I think we all want certitude. We long for exactness and reliability. We want to know that “things” will go right.

Most of the time we have the illusion that congruity is there. But it is not.

Brancusi once said, “To see far is one thing: going there is another.”

That’s life. We can “see” in front of us. We know the general direction. But getting there is quite another thing. I keep thinking back about our recent trip to Sedona, AZ. One morning we set out for a hike. It was listed in the “guide” book as “medium” with some “scrambling” involved. So that morning, as we set out on the path, we could clearly see the top of the mountain. Clearly. But getting there was quite another thing. As it turned out, it was an incredibly enjoyable hike, and we were both well-suited for the few “scrambles” we encountered. Eventually, we made it to the top. But we passed a few people who probably wouldn’t or couldn’t. They would mostly likely get so far, and then have to retreat back down. Which was far better than falling off the side completely.

And those are the times in life that I don’t like. When we fall off the side of the mountain. We thought we saw the foothold, but we were mistaken. Or, our footing was sure, but someone grabbed us from behind, and down we went.

This life. Uncertainty can creep in and get us when we least expect it. Uncertainty nudges in the little spaces, in the inconsequential things. Other times it roars in like an out-of-control truck, blazing down the highway.

Little things. Big things. We could be making our Green Bean Casserole that we’ve made a hundred times before. And for this big meal, it comes out as dry as a brick. Or. Or. The phone rings, and we hear some terrible news about a friend, or a loved one. Or one sad day, our dog can’t stand up any longer, and a few hours later, she dies.

The inescapables. The unavoidables.

But we totter along.
Some days it could be more like a saunter. Other days, we barely crawl.
Yet we move along. The motion goes. And we wriggle past the uncertainty, having found a bit of ourselves we didn’t know before. Then, on we go. Until.


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“The mistake is thinking that there can be an antidote to the uncertainty.”
― David Levithan, The Lover’s Dictionary

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“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”
― Albert Einstein

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“You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”
― Max Ehrmann, Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life

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