If I had to look last year at where I am right now, I wouldn’t in any way believe all the things that happened, and all the things I did.
We tend to think that we can predict the future, predict what will happen, but in fact, all we can predict are the little things under our control, which aren’t even guaranteed as our perspective can evolve and change; the world is way more complex than we think, lots of events outside of our control can happen and change the course of time, lots of variables are involved, making the future less predictable than we might imagine.
Another factor making the future less predictable is that as human beings, our plans are limited to our knowledge and imagination.
Our knowledge is a map of the world or reality, a perspective of it. Reality itself is the territory, the truth. And as the map isn’t the territory, likewise, our knowledge is not the truth, it still has a lot to improve and correct.
Our imagination is limited to what we know, and what we know is undoubtedly a tiny drop in the ocean, as we still have very much to learn and unfold new ideas.
That’s why oftentimes our plans don’t work out, new obstacles arise and things turn out to be more difficult or time-consuming than we expected.
The beauty of Uncertainty
Several times, while facing hardship or challenging problems, we may think that we’ve lost it all, that all of our efforts for example are gone, that our world is falling apart, forgetting that everything is temporary.
Hence, life surprises us with a new beginning that turns out to be better than everything we’ve lost.
Life’s uncertainty makes it beautiful and exciting because it has many downsides that could result in great difficulties, but its upsides are far better.
As an example, one might fall in love with someone, thinking that he’ll never find such a partner again, yet the couple breaks up, and the lover ends up finding a new partner, even better than the previous one, whom he thought was irreplaceable.
Talking of uncertainty, an old Chinese fable communicates a similar idea :
Once upon a time there was a Chinese farmer whose horse ran away. That evening, all of his neighbors came around to commiserate. They said, “We are so sorry to hear your horse has run away. This is most unfortunate.” The farmer said, “Maybe.” The next day the horse came back bringing seven wild horses with it, and in the evening everybody came back and said, “Oh, isn’t that lucky. What a great turn of events. You now have eight horses!” The farmer again said, “Maybe.”
The following day his son tried to break one of the horses, and while riding it, he was thrown and broke his leg. The neighbors then said, “Oh dear, that’s too bad,” and the farmer responded, “Maybe.” The next day the conscription officers came around to conscript people into the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. Again all the neighbors came around and said, “Isn’t that great!” Again, he said, “Maybe.”
The whole process of nature is an integrated process of immense complexity, and it’s really impossible to tell whether anything that happens in it is good or bad — because you never know what will be the consequence of the misfortune; or, you never know what will be the consequences of good fortune.
~Alan Watts
In conclusion, life can be very unforeseeable and uncertain, it never stops surprising each one of us, and I find it weird, yet beautiful.
Most importantly, let us keep developing ourselves, focusing on what we can control, while accepting life’s challenges, and progressing. Because our ability to navigate and thrive through uncertainty and chaos, figuring things out as we go, is what will turn us into highly exceptional individuals.
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Wind blows counter to what ships desire, nevertheless, we’re the wind, the ships, and the sea.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
~Viktor Frankl