Certainty
Posted by Yam on September 23rd, 2008So, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we know that we know things. Not how we prove them, but how we internalize that knowledge, how we accept that something’s correct.
It seems to me that certainty is an emotion, that we “feel” certain about something the same way we might feel anger, or joy, or sadness. It’s part of how our mind communicates back to itself something about its current pattern of thought; you might think of a driver who cut you off this morning, and feel angry about it, or you might have some philosophical insight, and feel certain about it.
Like anger, the fact that one feels certain about something doesn’t mean that logically, that certainty is justified–many things might set off that emotion. You can cultivate certainty, and you can cultivate uncertainty, the same way one might cultivate an angry or a peaceful response towards different situations.
Some amount of certainty is useful–otherwise it’d be hard to pick out shampoo at the grocery store (which is what got me started on this. :-)Â But there’s a downside, too.
Once you feel certain about something, you’re less likely to keep learning. You’re more likely to reject competing points of view. My hunch is that people who cultivate certainty and decisiveness are more likely to be ignorant and foolish.
The antidote, as usual, can be found in the scriptures, where we’re admonished to be humble, to be teachable. I realized last night a little more of what this means: that at the moment we feel certain about something, we have sinned, for certainty is a lack of humility and teachability.
So the best course is to cultivate humility as a response to that feeling of certainty.
That’s not to say we can’t make decisions; life must be lived. What it means is that we need to be at peace with our decisions, going forward as best we can, while still remembering that those decisions may not be correct. It means we must stay open to competing points of view, that we must stay humble and teachable, no matter how much we’re tempted in our certainty to shut out everything which might contradict our feeling.
Interesting thoughts, Yam. And very nice to hear from you again!
I struggle with how to feel about this topic. Other scriptures come to mind as well. The spiritual experiment of Alma 32 for example, when faith becomes dormant when it is replace with knowledge.
In my work as an engineer, there are frequent arguments and disagreements about how things should be done. And this is with machine design. Sure it is complex, but not as complex as life or eternal truth. I sometimes feel a loss of hope in the objectivity of engineers. But what about objectivity in other areas?
For me, I often think about the alternatives. If the alternatives are not any better, then keep going. As you say, decisions must be made and life lived. So I would like to outline some important ones for me:
Certainty in the existence of God. I feel like Alma, that all things denote there is a God. If I seriously consider the possibility of no God whatsoever … yuck. I just can’t go there. So my certainty remains because I find no value in alternatives.
Certainty in Christ as devine savior. I have had a few religious experiences with this. Particulary through repentance. These religious experiences seem so real that I don’t forget them. They bring certainty to me. The alternative seems to be to dismiss those experiences. Why should I? These have been among the best experiences of my life.
Certainty in additional scripture and modern revelation. When I consider the content of the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenents, and the general doctrines of the church, I am just amazed. Sure, people can bring up some historicity issues and such things that I may not have answers for, but the overall content is amazing. What are the alternatives? Joseph as genius/fraud? Sorry, he had his flaws, but the overall content is to much for me to chalk up to anything other than revelation.
Anyway, thanks for the post Yam.
Comment # 1 left by Eric Nielson on September 23rd, 2008
I already have a followup article in mind, describing how this meshes with having a testimony–stay tuned.
Comment # 2 left by Yam on September 23rd, 2008
Yam
I think I follow the direction of your thoughts. It has been my experience that most people begin to die inside somewhere between the ages of 18-20. At this point people tend to feel they have worked life out other than for some few refinements that need working on. But they feel no more major shifts are necessary. Thus they go to sleep.
It is something the Holy Ghost made me aware of; and I have fought to make sure it doesn’t happen to me. However we all have to keep examining that one.
I see your practical point Eric, but I don’t feel Yam meant it quite that way, in my reading. We do have to become and remain as little children to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Comment # 3 left by DougT on September 23rd, 2008
I sometimes have to read things a few times, and think about them before I start to ‘get it’.
When you say - people who cultivate certainty and decisiveness are more likely to be ignorant and foolish I see this a lot. Particularly at work. Unfortuneately most people do not see things this way. Self confidence in an individual carries tremendous influence. I feel this is true and unfortunate.
I usually see things as shades of gray. There is very little black and white for me. There is only a very small handful of things I feel quite certain about. This sometimes frustrates some of my coworkers and supervisors.
Comment # 4 left by Eric Nielson on September 24th, 2008
Interesting take on the meanings of certainty, Yam. I think I see what you mean by the danger of letting our feelings of certainty impede our intellectual and spiritual progression.
Eric N. brought out some points I think are important. Some spiritual “certainty” seems to me to be fundamental and necessary if we are to gradually overcome the “natural man.” And in a practical sense, we either need to be pretty certain that an action we are going to take is at least “O.K.,” or we will be paralyzed by indecision, and not get much done in our daily lives. As you pointed out, “Life must be lived.” And if we are willing to admit our mistakes quickly, we will usually learn good lessons from them.
Perhaps serious problems usually arise when we want to carry the kind of self-confidence which is necessary to live a normal life (i.e. I can usually make reasonably good decisions about what to do and say), over into prideful certainty about absolutely everything. Then we may let prejudice and illogical thinking hold us hostage, instead of investigating issues and trying to be open to better ways of understanding the world and other people, as well as our Heavenly Father and the Savior.
Comment # 5 left by RoAnn on September 25th, 2008
I am reminded of something Obi Wan Kanobi (sp?) said in Episode 3. Something like ‘Only the dark side speaks in absolutes’. I think there is some truth to that.
Comment # 6 left by Eric Nielson on September 26th, 2008
I’m mulling over this one. I think certainty can be positive and negative. We have been told there are certain things that are absolutes in the gospel (which I imagine you might get to in your next post…). But there also needs to be such humility that 1) we continue to rely on and acknowledge God and 2) that we do not let our convictions cloud our ability to have compassion.
But I think very few of us truly have absolute certainty, like perfect knowledge that Alma talks about in Alma 32. So there is a tension with faith, too. I think that is some of what Eric was getting at.
Meh. Things like this can kind of hurt my brain. There are many tensions in the gospel. It’s one of the reasons the Spirit is so important…because words are not sufficient to sort this stuff out.
Comment # 7 left by Michelle on September 29th, 2008