I'm preaching to myself and likely preaching to the choir here too, but that is just a profound truth.
There is very little in life we can (or should) be "dead certain" about. In fact, just that one little term, dead certain, should be a huge red flag.
"Certain" is a funny word right out of the gate. It means, "known for sure; established beyond doubt," but it also means, "some, but not all." We see that when we say things like, "certain works of art." So absolutely, positively, known for sure.....except for the exceptions. I swear, "certain" is just the dumbest word ever.
Attempting to maintain a wee bit of intellectual humility is actually more difficult the older you get, the more stuff you know, the more stuff you have seen. We joke about how teen agers seem to just know everything, but they don't have anything on older people! It is just that we have learned how to temper our know-it-all-ness with a bit of wisdom and humility. Or at least, some of us have.
I've developed a pretty good eye for my own certainty, starting with being certain from whence I gained that certainty. Shout out to the flat earth community, because I admire their ability and willingness to "question the narrative." In truth, I have no idea if the world is a sphere. That is simply something I have been taught and told, something the vast majority of people seem to believe. My certainty about a spherical earth is an assumption and not based on much of anything concrete or tangible.
People tend to get upset when you say such things, as if you are now threatening the very firmament of their existence. I'm just trying to put in a good argument for the notion of practicing a bit of intellectual humility. "You do not always know what you think you know." All in good humor here, but one would think that more people would agree with me, since the Psilocybin Community is an actual political lobbying group in my area.
Recently we had a few high profile celebrity deaths by misadventure covered by the media. I found it very curious that nothing was actually said about suicide, it was simply implied or left to the imagination. The cops themselves basically said, we have no idea, we'll have to wait for an autopsy and lab work. That did not stop the hoards of social media activists from promptly declaring with absolute certainty that this was clearly suicide, case closed. In fact, if you don't immediately get on board with my absolute certainty, you are clearly a very bad, no good person.
The remarkably strident, outright viciousness of this certainty kind of took my breath away. A couple of people with big, puffed up egos actually offered to testify in court! Did you know either of these celebrities? Nope, but I know.
Which brings me to fundamentalism. I believe in the fundamentals of faith, but I do not accept the behavior of many internet fundamentalists. Like, stoopid people are always so certain! Tell me you are one of the stoopid people without actually saying it outright. Just bash complete strangers over the head with your dead certainty. Blech.
I like to say one's ego should not rise five stories higher than one's IQ. Don't be offended, I have to frequently remind my own self of that truth. I'm grateful so many are willing to show me why it's such a bad look. You wear the clown hat so I don't have to. Thank you.
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