One of the congregations I served as an interim minister included in their values statements the commitment to “honor uncertainty and ambiguity in the search for truth, meaning, and equity.” Given my usual response to uncertainty and ambiguity, namely to try and minimize them or replace them with clarity and sureness, I struggled to imagine what honoring uncertainty and ambiguity might look like. I came up with the option of asking questions, lots of questions—yet even my questions would be pointed towards getting rid of any ambiguity since being certain about an action or a path forward just seems to me the best possible way to proceed.
Or is it? In an age marked by fake news and the capability of artificial intelligence to create images that are difficult to separate into those which are actual and those which are made up, it may be less and less possible to find a point of certainty, a place or perspective in which ambiguity has been eliminated. If anything, there may be more ambiguity than ever, less certainty to be had on any matter. Which may mean we revert increasingly to a kind of defensive response, saying “well, this is true for me,” and figure the matter is settled. But does that mean there are no longer truths we share? Has all truth become personalized, individual?
Whatever the outcome of next week’s election, the results will bring an end to one period of uncertainty while opening a whole new era of uncertainty before us. The divisions between us will remain with no reliable way to bridge them. More than ever we may struggle to honor uncertainty and ambiguity not only in the search for truth but also in the context of relationships where finding points of connection is challenging.
A favorite quote by poet Rainer Maria Rilke shows up often when the way forward is unclear yet remaining where I am is not possible: “live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” My strategy of removing ambiguity by asking questions is still available, but those questions probably need to look quite different, not so focused on narrowing options in pursuit of certainty but widening options in pursuit of possibilities. Because with our polarization into mutually hostile camps where neither side trusts the other and persuasion to change minds will not work, questions and possibilities may be the first steps towards rebuilding community.
BLESSING FOR UNCERTAINTY
To say that I don’t know for sure
And even admit that I may ever know
Requires a particular kind of strength
That this blessing offers
As it draws strength from a deeper place
Than logic and facts
And clarity and certainty.
This blessing knows how to savor shadows and dim light,
How to find the next step when nothing can be seen clearly,
How to rest in confidence that no matter where my foot may land
There will be something
Or someone
To bear me up,
To catch me,
To set me down on solid ground once more.