from certainty to uncertainty

The movement from certainty to uncertainty is what I call fear.

This quote from Krishnamurti also relates to fear, a subject of the last episode. And here Krishnamurti is associating fear with this change, from feeling certain about something to feeling uncertain. And it's interesting to look into oneself in this regard. What happens psychologically to one, when one is feeling certain about something? And how does that change if one comes to feel uncertain?

Let's's take an example. One might meet somebody new, get close to them, and not really really have any certainty about how the relationship will develop. Perhaps there will be a brief affair with energy dying out quite quickly. Or perhaps it will develop into a long term, intimate relationship. But at the beginning, this isn't usually felt as a fear. There's uncertainty, but if anything, in that period, it's rather exciting. Then perhaps that relationship does develop into a committed relationship. Things feel certain for a while. You are in a relationship with this person. It's stable. Everything feels good. And there's no sense of uncertainty about the relationship. But then perhaps something goes a little bit wrong. You have a fierce argument. Or you begin to suspect that your partner is not being honest with you. And suddenly there's uncertainty. And now with that, the there comes a great fear. And it's interesting because there's no more uncertainty than at the beginning of that relationship. But because it's been through a period of certainty, the transition back to uncertainty feels rather terrible. There is a great fear in it.

So I feel Krishnamurti is right to pick up on this movement – from certainty to uncertainty – and relate it to fear. In any case, there is always some element of uncertainty associated with the feeling of fear. I don't know whether you've ever been involved in a road accident where, perhaps for a second or two before impact, you've seen very clearly that an accident is about to happen, but there's nothing you can do to avoid it. In that space, the mind can enter a strangely different state, rather calm. Time has a different quality to it. And even though some disaster is about to happen, one doesn't feel afraid. The mere certainty of disaster actually stops the mind from feeling fear.

It's really the uncertainty, the unknown, that causes us to feel fear. I'm not sure that it needs to. And for me, part of the spiritual journey is about becoming more and more relaxed in the space of uncertainty; to be able to dwell in the unknown without feeling fear, perhaps feeling that excitement that we might feel at the start of a new relationship, or perhaps feeling neutral when faced with uncertainty. But I do feel it's possible to go beyond fear, to a large extent at least, and reach a state where uncertainty does not cause the reaction of fear. Because in a way, when we are feeling certain about something, we are deluding ourself. Unforeseen things can happen as at any moment. So however certain some aspect of life may seem, it's not really certain. There is always some chance that things will change or unfold in a totally unexpected way.

So uncertainty is the reality of life. That's the truthful view. So another way of looking at the spiritual journey is that it's one of moving evermore into truth. And that goes hand in hand with living evermore with the understanding that things are uncertain. And whilst we're fearful when feeling that uncertainty, we can never really feel free: that fear causes us to try and control the situation, try and move from uncertainty back into a sense of certainty. But it's not really possible. In the end, we are not in control.

So many of these psychological aspects go together – fear, the need to feel in control, the urge to try and make things certain. And really, relating to all of this is our sense of free will. Whilst we cling to that, we are almost bound to be trying to control, trying to make things feel certain, trying to avoid uncertainty, and feeling fearful when there is uncertainty.

So Krishnamurti is right to link the feeling of fear with the feeling of uncertainty. But that is just a part of a more complex psychological web. And also, it is possible to break that link, so that uncertainty no longer causes us to feel fear.