We Live in Uncertain Times. But Haven’t We Always?

By Klaus Döring

Uncertain Times are bad times. The phrase describes decades of the Cold War, the sudden crash of the housing market, years of a pandemic, and the nervous months before an election. When we’re happy, content, or confident, when ominous global powers fall, when the housing market turns around, when vaccines are developed, and when the officials are finally sworn in, the phrase falls out of fashion.

The phrase Certain Times, by contrast, almost never appears—yet that’s just what Uncertain Times implies: that while sometimes we do not know what will happen, others, we do. It’s comforting: If there is uncertainty, then there must be certainty.

Certainty, or uncertainty, is a matter of feeling, not fact. Of course, I know that Uncertain Times is just a shortcut to describe a general feeling of unease; no one is foolish enough to believe they know the future. Or maybe it’s like discombobulated, disgruntled, and disgusted, which seldom, if ever, appear without their prefixes.

But, rightly or wrongly, we do experience certainty. It would be impossible to go about our days if we didn’t: By seven o’clock the sun will be out, when I eat food it will give me energy, when I drink this tea it will not kill me. Certainty is relative. Certainty is also flimsy.

If you say that something is questionable, you mean that it is not completely honest, reasonable, or acceptable. This has been a challenging time for us all. Compare thought-provoking.

No, I am not talking about political matters. Most of my fellow columnists are doing it already. More than enough. I’m talking about times of darkness. Times, where the whole world seems to be against you and me. No, I am not talking about corruption. That’s already too much. That’s what many people, who believe and trust in a new beginning, are talking about.

Allow me to become very personal. I remember difficult, problematic and questionable times in my life and surroundings, where I almost lost all my strength to get down to work on those problems. Life’s path became narrow. Fears grow it’s enough, it’s enough! I am talking about personal matters. But I also observe my people around me. We are all, yes, please count me in, we are all starting to become awkward and jerky. I am reluctant against the good ideas. I felt driven into a corner. Everything seems to have become a problem. Our voices bellow and our groans are becoming louder and louder.

Creating the life you want and dealing with uncertainty is not an overnight event. It’s in the little things. It’s having a vision. It’s making it compelling. It’s seeing it and feeling it with absolute emotion. It’s caring about other people. It’s calling to say “I love you” for no reason. It’s about taking every opportunity to connect. To be playful. To honor and cherish your loved ones.

In my personal case, I suddenly experienced how God put me into life’s “reconversion plant” and freshened me up: little but meaningful AND important cares suddenly happened. After a hot day and a refreshing thunderstorm, we might be able to enjoy the following day and night. The person, who insulted us, apologized suddenly; the illness wiped out.

“You prepare a banquet for me, where all my enemies can see me!” (Psalm 23:5). I am glad. I really don’t know about more and new spitefulness through my next “enemy on duty” in the near future. I don’t even want to know it. I learned that negativism blocks life and its plans.

Given just how common and recurrent uncertainty is, there are people ready to capitalize on it, and those ready to pay to be rid of it.

Op-ed writers, pundits, religious figures, scholars, consultants, influencers and hot-takers ready to prescribe remedies for all of your feelings of uncertainty: travel preparedness, political influence, literature, advice from football coaches, insurance, environmental sustainability, and self-acceptance. Their advice never seems to be that we should just get used to uncertainty.

Once we consulted oracles and soothsayers, then we looked to prophets and religious figures, we read tea leaves or Tarot cards. And no matter the epoch, we are prone to despots and demagogues ready to create certainty for us. Now we look for it in the big, nebulous sea of data. We implore statisticians to tell us who’s going to win an election or just the baseball game. We never seem to ask them how to just get used to not knowing.

Sad to say, but many people are not in the mood to follow Christ’s advice!

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Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook or LinkedIn or visit www.germanepatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com .