The uncertainty principle as stated by the physicisit Werner Heisenberg goes something like this: "it is impossible to simultaneously determine the position and momentum of a particle with absolute certainty." Another way to understand this, according to Heisenberg, is : the act of measuring one magnitude of the particle, whether it be the mass, velocity or momentum of the particle, immediately blurs the other two magnitudes and makes them 'uncertain'. So, for example, if you measure the particle's mass precisely it is fundamentally impossible to accurately measure its velocity and momentum and vice cersa. This has nothing to do with our techniques or technology which are advanced enough. Quantum physicists have long recognized that Uncertainty is a fundamental property of the Universe.
From the very sub-atomic level, Uncertainty is the thread that weaves our Reality. Time, space, matter and energy are all subject to the same Uncertainty. It blew the world away when Einstein talked about the relativity of space-time. Today, physicists at the cutting edge of quantum research would be hard pressed to admit whether even the most basic things we believe to be true about ourselves and our realities are actually true. Instead, they would more likely use terms like "high probability" or "low probability" because they have long since realized that Reality itself is not a static state but more akin to a field of potentiality. Try to imagine a world in which everything that happened, is happening and will happen only "probably happens". Thats it. Its hard for our minds to grasp this on anything but a theoretical level.
On a practical level it seems to have no relevance. And so we'd rather leave it up to those brainy, awkward physicists to worry about. How does one even use language to describe anything anymore? Bob goes: "So what are you doing?" And I answer: "I'm probably sitting at my desk, probably drinking a coffee." Or if I want to get really technical: "This person that I probably think I probably am is probably sitting at a probable desk probably drinking what is probably a coffee." You could take it even further but that would just get annoying. And so while there are a few people who ponder these issues on a philosophical level, engaging in debate and feeling all the more intellectual for it, when it comes time to go home and do the dishes none of the philosophizing really has any relevance anymore.
But you don't have to delve deeply into quantum physics and ponder the nature of Reality in order to sense the truth of the Uncertainty principle. In fact, if you just take a look at your own life you'll find that it is something that you experience 24 hours a day. If you bring some awareness into your own thought processes, the feelings, the stimuli and the emotions in your system you'll find that everything stems from that sense of Uncertainty. Its there underlying every motivation, every idea, every goal, every desire, every fear. We are in constant relationship with Uncertainty. And more often than not its a relationship that is far from harmonious.
When you wake up in the morning you most likely have an idea of how you're day is going to go or at the very least how you'd like it to go. Your mind has already forecasted a blueprint of events which evolves as your day moves along. At every step along your day your mind will be evaluating the Reality of what is actually happening against what it forecasted to happen. In fact, you may not even be very concious of this but its happening and the proof of this is in your reactions to events...
The subway train you were supposed to be on was full and the people cramming the doorway didn't even have the courtesy to make room for you. As a result you walked in late to work and even though your manager didn't say a word you just know he/she's judging you. You feel agitated, rushed and hot. This is a reaction to events that did not happen as they were forecasted or "supposed to". Embedded within this reaction are all the thoughts and feelings that rise in our minds and bodies: our judgments of others, our judgments of the situation, our judgments of ourselves. Our entire experience of "who we are" is perpetually suspended in the purgatory that lies somewhere in between Reality and our expectations.
The entire human condition can be summed up in one phrase: "The Human relationship with Reality." As long as we continue to believe, against all wisdom and intuition, that we can control Life and events, in other words, that we can achieve certianty in our lives, we are denying the most fundamental property on which Nature is built and as a result missing the entire point of Life. Even if you are successful in really nailing down your career, maybe your personal life suffers. You nail down your personal life, your health suffers. You achieve excellent health, your kids cant stand you. We're constantly juggling all these aspects of our lives trying desperately to keep all the balls in the air. And it all stems from one place - a denial of Uncertainty.
When you go to sleep tonight, will you wake up tomorrow? Even if you do, will the sun rise tomorrow? Even if it does will the people you love still be there tomorrow? Even if they are, will your job still be there tomorrow? Even if it is, will you still make it to work tomorrow? If we all look at this honestly, the only true answer we could offer is "probably". There is absolutely no certainty that any of these will happen. In fact, all there ever is is Uncertainty. All we can hope for is a high probability. And even that is something not within our control. You do not make the decision to wake up in the morning, it just happens. It just as well could not happen. You don't decide for the sun to rise, it happens. It just as well may not. You don't decide for the people you love to be around you, because they just as well may not.
Our relationship with Uncertainty manifests itself in all our daily relationships: our relationships with work, with family, friends, our significant others, ourselves. We are all desperately seeking security : emotional, physical, financial, spiritual. Security is just another word for certainty. We are an inherently insecure species. We are uncomfortable with uncertainty and so we create the delusion of certainty, we put it on a pedestal and we chase after it for the rest of our lives like a carrot on a stick.
Its not easy to perceive any other way of living because our society and the very principles it upholds keep us fixated on this delusion. Our governments and financial institutions are always promising us greater certainty. In our jobs we desperately struggle to hold on to securtiy. For most, marriage is a means of "sealing the deal" providing a sense of certainty about your partner's presence in your life. The promise of "forever" is an unfortunate lie that both members commit to unwittingly. The intentions may be true but sadly the very basis of commitment is the insecurity or fear that the opposite may happen. The only authentic way to approach any relationship whether it may be with work, with your family, with your spouse or yourself is one in which you can exist in harmony with Uncertainty.
The reality is that we don't know. The reality is that we can never know. This kind of statement is almost blasphemous in our present culture. We are a very "certain" species. We are "certain" of ourselves, "certain" of our faiths, "certain" of our political affiliations, "certain" of our stances on current issues, "certain" of what we want from life, "certain" of what we need from our relationships, "certain" of what we deserve, "certain" of what others deserve. But lets return to something that we stated earlier. Uncertainty, not certainty, is a fundamental property of Reality. And so when we are "certain" we are essentially in a state of resistance with Reality. We hold our perceptions and presumptions in higher regard that that which exists. Its our way of convincing ourselves that we are in control.
In reality, certainty is the other face of doubt. Notice how extremely fundamental people also seem like the most certain. In fact, its a common experience for many of us that the most stubborn, ignorant and insecure members of our societies are often the most certain about what they believe. Whereas the more flexible, knowledgeable and free thinking are often more allowing of room to grow and expand their positions. Its that indirect admission that we "may not know" that opens our minds a little. To quote a famous zen story: "a student goes to a Zen Master and asks him to give him the teaching. The Master invites him in for a cup of tea. As the Master pours him some tea, the cup fills and then begins to overflow onto the table. The student exclaims," Stop Master! No more will go in" The Master responds, "Your mind too, like this cup is full. How can I give you the teaching when no more will go in? First you must empty your cup."
This isn't just a feel good parable. Its extremely relevant and extremely practical. Our notions of reality blur our view of Reality. Life is a spontaneous and unknowable landscape. But in our minds it appears as something quite different. Until we are willing to purge ourselves of all our certainties and come face to face with Uncertainty, that demon that we have always been attempting to escape, we will never see it for what it truly is. Embedded in every moment is the essence of Uncertainty. To truly experience a moment in all its spontaneity is to be in complete harmony with this Uncertainty.
Not knowing is a choice as courageous as it is humbling. Not knowing is a willingness to see into the true Nature of Reality and our Selves. Through reflection or by some series of circumstance, often harsh life events, we will be exposed to this lack of certainty in our own lives. Some of us will respond by renewing or doubling our efforts to regain that certainty, but some of us, embattled and exhausted will be forced to face our new reality - that we are not in control and that we cannot really know. From here, some of us may live in a kind of hesitating, unsure relationship with Life not denying but not really trusting the Uncertainty. But some of us may have seen deeply enough through our experience, that Uncertainy is actually all that really exists. In fact, when we glance back at our lives, we find that through every stage and every event, it was our one true and constant companion.
We all come into this world not knowing. Infants are by nature harmonious. They have the ability to put people at ease and make them smile even in the midst of a hot and crowded bus. Its not as if they intend to have this effect, they just naturally emanate ease. We were all born that way. It is our essential nature to be in harmony with Uncertainty, to be comfortable with not knowing. However, we were educated out of our own natures by our parents, by our society. And we will do the same with our children. We will teach them to be cautious and fearful. We will teach them to be mistrusting and uneasy. We will teach them that certainty of thought, emotion and circumstance is the highest principles to strive for. In other words we will teach them how not to be natural. And our children, like us, will fall from grace and spend their lives, unbeknownst to them, struggling to regain some remnant of the peace they once felt a long long time ago. Not realizing that the very thing they believe will take them there is the very thing that is denying them.
When one is ready to surrender to Life, one surrenders everything. Embracing the Uncertainty means letting go of all the ways we hold on to some shred of control. With this letting go comes a recognition of a much deeper Intelligence operating through all of us and all of Reality. Scientists have long maintained that in a Universe as diverse and chaotic as ours, the odds that events lined up so serendipitously, that this Earth that we live on just "happened" to be the right size, the right distance from the Sun, have the right atmosphere and the right amount of water necessary, the right impulse to create life and the right confluence of coincidences since that have been sustaining Life eon after eon - all this is nothing short of a miracle. In fact, that humanity can even exist in this moment is so low on the probablity index that its like hitting the New York lottery minute after minute in a row for millenia. And yet we believe in certainty.
When you truly embrace Uncertainty, you have the opportunity to see that your own will is only an illusion. It is Nature that is moving through you, moving you, guiding you. It is the Intelligence of the Universe, the same one that makes the cherry blossoms bloom in spring, the one that keeps the Earth revolving around the Sun, the one that makes your cat purr and keeps your heart beating; that has been guiding you every step of the way on your journey. The person you thought yourself to be and the control you thought you had over your own reality was nothing but a dream. Its the illusion you reaffirmed to yourself in order to hide from Reality.
When you embrace Uncertainty, there is a sense of true humility. This is the humility that recognizes that we do not and cannot really know. And with this willingness to not know comes a deep and lasting peace.
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