Start Where You Are

The realization that you don't know everything can be very unsettling. The realization that authority figures don't know and can't know everything may be even more unsettling. Every person is born into this world believing their parents or guardians are God. The helpless, clueless kid doesn't know how to do anything. He looks around trying to absorb all that is going on and notices these big people who seem to know what's going on. They know how to talk, walk, drive and seemingly everything else.

Then one day the universe is beyond comprehension. We can either run from this realization: convince ourselves that someone in authority does actually have a handle on everything going on (self-delusion) or we may try to run behind a God. No matter how we handle it, the heart is struck with awful fear and dread. And we must choose what we're going to do about it. Escape or push through.

Many people grow up being taught about a God figure. Some jolly being sitting on a cloud playing a harp everywhere and nowhere who happens to care about you enough to offer heaven or threaten hell. Or some variation thereon. But if these old people who let the idea of God enter your head don't actually know everything, how do they know about this God? There are two ways to escape this fear. They both equate to damning the mind; stopping the critical thought process. One is to cling to everything that you thought made sense. Of course you have to stop thinking because you have already concluded that it doesn't make sense but you fear that you won't be able to resolve the inconsistencies if you delve further. So you regress and live in a fantasy.

The other equally mind-numbingly idiotic escape alternative is to rebel against everything you once were taught. It's actually the same thing in the same way that A and -A are the same. Having one is having the other. Rebellion is just as idiotic because when you realize you have no reason for believing something the very obvious corollary is that you have no reason to not believe it.

A logical conclusion would be that where you are is a good place to start. You doubt and question what you already believe and how you live, keep the good things and replace or forgo the bad. Good is that which is consistent with your chosen philosophical foundation and bad is that which is inconsistent with it. Life begins to be an iterative process towards acceptance of and adherence to reality.

A very important caution for those in the pit of uncertainty and doubt: it is the most profoundly unwise thing you can do to limit your future options. You cannot undo something you have done. If it is even in the realm of possibility that one day you may wish you have not done something you are considering to do; don't do it. You can always do something a first time; you can't not do something in the past. Develop your life philosophy and let your choices be yours.

Live forward; love truth; know that you have no bounds.