Reflection 116 (doubt)

Doubt

Voltaire wrote:
"Doubt is not a comfortable feeling
but certainty is often madness"

There a plenty of situations indeed where certainty is certainly madness
In these situations we should not hesitate to accept the uncomfortable feeling of doubt.
Doubt makes us keep searching for the truth, keeps us on our toes, keeps us asking questions
Doubt spurs us on to reason it out, to think, to reflect.
The absence of certainty does not mean we reject the uncertain.

Whatever we believe to be true,
it is essential to mental and soul health
to keep open he possibility that we might be wrong.

Voltaire was alluding on certainties regarding religion.
Sects, fanatics and atheists alike claim so often certainty
about things they cannot be certain about.
Would the world not be a better place if all of us
would choose to be fully aware that our beliefs are just that, beliefs.
We choose the beliefs because we think they are closest to the truth.
But the big truth may be more complex than any belief can conceptualise
and even though we believe, our concepts are closer to the big truth than any others,
it may well be that we are wrong about many things.

Many people's egos do not allow this kind of thinking.
Hope they manage to calm their egos and
stop the madness of certainty.




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Just reminiscing about some wise words of 18th century Voltaire.