Dear Fellow Travelers,
A quick note: I hope this volume of “Know Thyself” finds everyone well! If you missed any of the previous volumes, check out The Philosophy of Desire (Vol. 1), The Self, Shadow, and Sage (Vol. 2), The Wisdom of Wonder (Vol. 3), The Art of Rationality (Vol. 4), and Making Sense of Emotions (Vol. 5).
Lastly, if you have any questions, thoughts, or suggestions throughout this series, please don't hesitate to share them in the comments.
Be wise and be well.
👁️ Know Thyself
The “Know Thyself” series explores philosophy, theology, and psychology for insights on the art (and science) of self-awareness. Expect to learn perennial ideas and psychological concepts on human nature, along with philosophical lessons on the art of living.
The Paradox of Uncertainty
On the eve of publishing On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin walked alone in his garden. His hands trembled as he contemplated the chaos his book would unleash. Everything he had believed, everything society held sacred, now hung in the balance. He was terrified—and yet, he could not turn away. That quiet walk points to what it means to be human: to stand in the fog of uncertainty, sometimes afraid, yet willing to move forward.
We fear uncertainty because it unsettles us, threatens our illusions of control, and stirs fear, anxiety, and doubt. Yet—paradoxically—it is precisely through navigating uncertainty that we discover our deepest selves: our values, our creativity, and our freedom.
This essay examines the paradox of uncertainty by highlighting three main ideas: (1) our desire for certainty, (2) why uncertainty causes fear and anxiety, and (3) the importance of embracing uncertainty.
1. Why We Dislike Uncertainty—and What It Reveals
From the moment we learn to walk, we begin mapping the world around us. Predictability keeps us alive. If we know that fire burns, wolves hunt at night, and certain berries are poisonous, we can act accordingly.
But our craving for certainty runs deeper than survival. We also long for meaning and coherence—to feel that our lives fit into a larger story.
In How Emotions Are Made, Lisa Feldman Barrett explains,
Your brain is wired to predict. It continuously compares incoming sensory information to its predictions and adjusts accordingly. Prediction is not only faster than reacting, it’s also safer.
When our predictions fall short and the future is unclear, we tend to feel lost.
The sixteenth-century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne captured this unease with characteristic irony:
It is ignorance that begets confidence more often than knowledge does. We are all huddled together in a fog of not-knowing—yet we strut about as if certain.
We dislike uncertainty because it reveals our fragility and our dependency on illusions of control.
The mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623—1662) lamented:
We desire truth and find within ourselves only uncertainty. We seek happiness and find only misery and death. We cannot but desire to know the truth and to be happy, and yet we are incapable of attaining either.
It is precisely in these moments of disorientation that self-awareness arises; we catch sight of the inner mechanisms that so often go unnoticed—our need for mastery, our fear of disorder, and our longing for stability.
The British historian Peter Burke (author of Ignorance) adds:
One of the benefits of recognizing our ignorance is that it allows space for learning, for listening to others, and for creative solutions that certainty would have blocked.
Our reaction to uncertainty is like a mirror: it reveals what we value, what we fear, and how we create meaning. The more clearly we understand this, the more clearly we understand ourselves.
2. Uncertainty, Fear, and Anxiety
When we face uncertainty—about our health, our future, our relationships, or even the meaning of life—fear and anxiety arise almost automatically.
The existential psychologist Rollo May (1909—1994) defined anxiety as
The apprehension cued off by a threat to some value which the individual holds essential to his existence as a self.
Anxiety confronts us with what we care about most. It makes us painfully aware of our vulnerability but also of our values.
The Danish theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813—1855) called it “the dizziness of freedom”:
Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom, which emerges when the spirit wants to posit the synthesis and freedom looks down into its own possibility, laying hold of finiteness to support itself.
Likewise, Barrett reminds us that emotions like fear and anxiety are constructed, not imposed:
Your brain constructs instances of fear and anxiety on the fly, based on its predictions about what’s happening in the world and what that means for your survival and goals.
This tells us something essential: our emotional response to uncertainty isn’t just a reaction—it reflects our interpretations, our priorities, and our identity.
Dean Rickles, author of Life is Short (and previous podcast guest), observes:
The fragility of life—its openness to accident and death—is precisely what imbues it with meaning. Were we immortal or fully secure, life would lose its urgency and poignancy.
Recall Darwin’s walk in his garden before his publication. His anxiety showed not only his fear of social upheaval but also his strong commitment to truth and his identity as someone dedicated to seeking knowledge.
