What we see of the world is only a sliver of what’s “out there”….Like our senses, every instrument has a range. Because much of Nature remains hidden from us, our view of the world is based only on the fraction of reality that we can measure and analyse. Science, as our narrative describing what we see and what we conjecture exists in the natural world, is thus necessarily limited, telling only part of the story….We strive toward knowledge, always more knowledge, but must understand that we are, and will remain, surrounded by mystery.
Marcelo Gleiser
I love that phrase, “surrounded by mystery”. Do you? Or do you find that frustrating, hoping for more certainty than ever seems achievable?
When there’s too much uncertainty around us, we start to feel lost and anxious, but people who are too certain, too convinced of the correctness and completeness of their own view are pretty scary too!
I’ve always had a preference for someone like Montaigne, who will throw in the occasional “que sais-je!” (What do I know?), and for those who clearly understand that no matter how sure they are about their knowledge and analysis, they remain ready to change and adapt at a moment’s notice, because there will always be more to know.
I always felt that although I could often reach a good understanding of what a patient was experiencing, make a good diagnosis, that there would always be more to hear, more to learn….that always, always, always, I was grasping “just a sliver”.
Politicians, economists, scientists, doctors, teachers….it’s always good to remain aware of the limitations of our knowledge and analyses. There’s nothing worse than those who don’t even know that they don’t know!
So what do I look for instead? Transparency, openness and accountability. That’s a start. Non judgemental listening and compassion are both good additions. All of those values trump the desire to be “right” and “certain”.
Beyond that I’m happy to know we will always be “surrounded by mystery”.
Heroes Not Zombies 
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