We live life with a certain degree of certainty. We take this certainty almost as a guarantee. Seldom do we stop and ponder to what extent is our certainty grounded in reality?
We go to bed at night and make plans for tomorrow – expecting that we will awake the next day able to carry all if not most of our plans. To what do we owe this certainty? Is it to the fact that thus far in our lives that seems to be the case and there is nothing to suggest that tomorrow would be any different than today? Is that our certainty or is it our delusion?
Millions of people have their lives ruin everyday – through disasters, accidents, wars, breakups, lost of jobs and opportunities or succumbing to illness. Yet each one of them went to bed the night before with plans for the following day – just like we do everyday. Certain that they too will be able to build a better future tomorrow. There was no indication that would not be the case and yet their lives and plans were irrevocably changed the next day. Were they wrong to be certain? If they were, are we right to be so?
Life it seems afford us only an illusionary certainty over our lives. Anyone with a reasonable spiritual insight will see that all of our certainties are simply manufactured by our delusion or desire. Hardly any of them are real – let alone guaranteed.
We cannot be certain that tomorrow awaits us with a smiling face and open arms. We don’t know what tomorrow holds for us. The old saying that man proposes but fate disposes teaches us not to cling on to our plans or their intended outcome.
Many are willing to admit that life is full of uncertainties. Yet if life is so uncertain how certain can we be of what lies after it? To this few are willing to admit their ignorance – choosing instead to be arrogantly certain that they know what is going to happen to them – and everyone else – after our time on earth is over. Much debate and ill feelings is created because we cannot bring ourselves to admit that in truth – despite how strong our faith may be – we truly don’t know what – if anything – lies beyond this life. If only we can practice some humility than we would see the wisdom to live and letting others live and not make such a big fuss over things which are purely a matter of belief and not certainty.
Yet it is the very need for certainty that leads us to believe we know everyone’s ultimate fate. This is a fear based certainty – a willingness to gasps at unproven “truths” simply because it comforts us or makes us feel special or better than others.
Psychic Income
So what is the spiritual man or women to do when faced with the realization that nothing in life can be taken for granted – not our loved ones, not our health, not our wealth and not even our breath? To the spiritual, uncertainty underpins their very way of life. Realizing that nothing can be taken for granted, they learn to cherish all that they have even more. When they do that the joy and happiness it brings multiplies not because it comes more to them but because they appreciate it more.
In the field of economics there is a term called “psychic income”. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines psychic income as “: rewards (as in prestige, leisure, or pleasant surroundings) not measurable in terms of money or goods but serving as an incentive to work in certain occupations or situations a creative artist can reap a psychic income that money cannot match”. Put it simply psychic income is actually a fancy way of saying joy and happiness but that such a term exist in the field of economics tells us that joy and happiness are just as important as money and other tangible possessions and that one does not necessarily lead to the other.
The Spiritual Approach to Living in Uncertainty
How then are we to increase our psychic income when increasing our actual income is a big struggle in itself? Here is where the realization and acceptance of the great uncertainty yields practical results.
When one accepts wholeheartedly that all of life is uncertain then we begin to appreciate the things we have even more. We do this by becoming grateful. Gratefulness is the catalyst that can reawaken the sleeping joy and happiness in our hearts. It is that which can rejuvenate our lives and let us see meaning in the things we take for granted. When you realize that everything you have today you are going to loose it someday, then you will see the value of it.
Don’t listen to anyone who says that in order to be grateful you need to have someone to be grateful to – aka God. No god is required for us to value the good things that we have. Of course you can be grateful to God but you can also be just grateful – period.
So uncertainty need not be our enemy or a dreadful truth we need to shy away from. Have the spiritual courage to face it and see it for what it is and embrace it. When you do, you will turn something dark and gloomy into something positive and light.
May the force of spiritual light be with you always. Walk in Spirit.