Embracing Uncertainty

Some time ago I read a book by Alan Watts entitled “The Wisdom of Insecurity” in which he pointed out the futility of trying to control the future. Perhaps the one constant in Life is transition… motion and change that is happening all the time. Our ego likes the illusion of structure, certainty, and stability. But of course we will not find that in the physical world… unless we find the still-point of the timeless moment…


In today’s world, perhaps more than any other time in our lifetime, the reality of “Uncertainty” is creating much chaos, confusion, and stress for many of our brothers and sisters around the world. Perhaps we need a new book entitled, “The Acceptance of Uncertainty”…


For those of us who have counseled others during transitions or have gone through major transitions ourselves, there may be an understanding of the transformational and transitioning process… much like the stages of death and rebirth into something new…


Some of us are going through the ‘death’ of a personal cycle of life and preparing to enter a new beginning ... Some may be going through loss of a partner, a job, a dream, a home, a pet, a pension… etc… Confusion, chaos, and uncertainty are normal emotions… any feeling is quite normal including fear, worry, anger, sadness, relief, or despair… It is normal for our ego to feel these as threats to our survival…threats to the survival of who we thought we were… of what we thought life was for us… now life in the guise of a corporation, a partner, or by our own choices has stripped us of our identity or our role in life…


We are not the emotions we experience… emotions too come and go…. Constantly changing… We are much more than our emotions… Who is aware of the emotion? Who is aware of the words you are reading?


As one with the consciousness of LIFE, we are basically here now… and aware … and we have a choice always about how we will respond… resisting LIFE and ‘what is’ will usually, if not always, create more stress and conflict… A part of us…our ego… may not like or want what is happening to us or around us… and this ego stance separates us from others and from LIFE…


To find peace in the midst of what may appear to be insanity, confusion, and chaos, we need to find a way to shift our thinking and consciousness to present moment awareness. This can be facilitated by accepting what is present now. Then we have choices or options about how we can respond… the key is to acknowledge and accept what is… and let go of past or future fantasies so we can actually be present now…


Looking to blame ourselves or others is more of an ego game that solidifies our ego stance in a kind of ‘victim’ identity… and we can easily become identified as Mr. or Mrs. Whiner…


It is only in the timeless moment of now that we are at peace with ‘what is’ and can choose a path of non-resistance and direction.


We never know what will happen tomorrow… or in the next second of time. A woman came in to the restaurant this morning and shared that yesterday while her husband was having a regular check-up, they found some wrong during a stress test; he was rushed to the hospital for a quadruple by-pass surgery… all totally unexpected.


Uncertainty is… and there is also the oneness of life that stands alone as the place of serenity within our consciousness… Waking up may appear difficult at times, but the wakefulness of NOW is always present and really is all there is… We can move through uncertainty through breathing into this present moment and still the thinking mind which the ego uses to keep us away from the present…


Can you embrace the uncertainty as a fact of Life? Can you find time to still the thinking mind in the present?


There are many who are predicting more changes to come… I don’t know if or in what form this will take place. Perhaps more of our social structures will breakdown, so new and hopefully more harmonious structures can emerge… There may be more changes to come in the economic, religious, corporate, and government structures … Economic melt-downs and oil spills have a way of expanding our awareness toward more just ways of bartering and cleaner and more harmonious energy usage… and industrial, individual, and collective greed become exposed for the ego game that it is…


Whatever changes may come, we are all one with the interconnected web of LIFE… we are all One with the Source Energy of Life… the ever-present Life Spirit.


In gratitude and respect… for what some have called “the good, the bad, and the ugly”…


John