My daughter Kellin, clamming at Duxbury
Some people are more certain of everything than I am of anything.
—Robert Rubin, In an Uncertain World
Susan Cain used this quote at the start of one of her chapters in the very engaging Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. I am loving this book for so many reasons, but this quote captures a primal distinction that becomes starkly evident whenever I spend time in Utah. Because of its religious history, this is a place full of people who embrace certainty with extraordinary zeal. That is not necessarily a criticism so much as it is an issue of temperament, a concept Cain also spends time delineating in her book.
We went clamming today in Duxbury. Walking out on the beds in the morning light, we have to go with guesswork about where to rake and dig. But that is part of what I love—finding those treasure troves of bivalves quite by accident. Living outside the predictable is delicious.
A few thinkers agree with me.
What we overlook is that underneath the ground of our beliefs, opinions, and concepts is a boundless sea of uncertainty. The concepts we cling to are like tiny boats tossed about in the middle of the vast ocean. We stand on our beliefs and ideas thinking they’re solid, but in fact, they (and we) are on shifting seas.
–-Steve Hagen
I always work out of uncertainty but when a painting’s finished it becomes a fixed idea, apparently a final statement. In time though, uncertainty returns… your thought process goes on.
-–Georg Baselitz
An image is a stop the mind makes between uncertainties.
–-Djuna Barnes
The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
—Ursula K. Le Guin
I think that certainty, as in religious belief, can be dangerous (I’m almost certain of that ;-)). I agree with you about living “outside the predictable”.
One of the questions I ask when a younger person asks about doing art as a profession: Can you imagine living your whole life in uncertainty? You’ll never really know if your work is good, where it is going, or even where it comes from. That’s sort of an essential quality to survive in this field, don’t you think?
Perfect photo for your topic — one human in the vast world of other. Yes.
That beach is exquisite. I love going there. Thanks Sloan.
I have been finding that communicating on a regular basis with colleagues from a very different culture than mine has the effect of upending and revealing my assumptions. Many of these are as fundamental and unexamined as the air I breathe. For example when I say to them: in the future, to me the future is usually about 5 to 10 years out. For them it is thousands of years, or maybe even in another lifetime. Oh. That future.
I love that–Oh. THAT future. All those preconceived ideas, operating invisibly in us. Thanks for this Sally.
having a beginner’s mind, one that is at home in the not knowing and delighting in the wonder of it all. love the photo!
Beginner’s mind, such a great Buddhist concept. I often wish there were such concepts in other religious traditions.