Help ourselves to a big humility sandwich

August 01, 2017 1:11 PM

Human beings, by nature, demand resolution.

It’s part of
our existential quest for meaning. We want answers now, and if an answer isn’t
readily available, we’ll happily and expeditiously manufacture one.

Wiesel’s
award winning book on the fiery
souls of ancient religious leaders writes about this very issue:

For the believer, there is no question; and for the non believer, there is
no answer.

It’s an interesting binary. One that doesn’t allow much room for
flexibility and openness. But it’s how so many people live in the world.

And
so, it’s really an invitation to see if we can exist somewhere in the middle.
To see if we can cultivate a deep comfort level with uncertainty, maturely look
reality in the eye and help ourselves to a big humility sandwich.

Personally, my
impatient, compulsive and obsessiveneed
to knowhas always tiptoed the line between aggressive skepticism and
pathological curiosity. In the face of uncertainty, I’m the kind of person who
stops and drops everything until he has a significant understanding of the
question at hand. Someone with a deep longing to resolve the burden of life’s
ambiguities.

Which is certainly be useful in a variety of situations and
endeavors, but it can also be exhausting. Both for me and the people in my
life.

Recently, though, life has been teaching me otherwise. Because nobody
actually knows anything. We’re all just guessing. And the sooner we accept that
it’s all one big goddamn mystery, the better it will be for all of us.

Sing it
with me, friends:

I don’t have to be in the results business anymore.

I don’t
have to know how everything works.

I don’t have to berate myself for not
understanding the whole of creation.

I don’t need answers to become a
protective fence around my anxious core.

I don’t have to rush to fill in the
gaps with nervous belief and excessive information.

I don’t have to prolong
my endless and futile search for quick explanations and efficient resolutions.

Isn’t it liberating to know that intelligence is not the solution to everything?
Isn’t it relaxing to know that we can survive not knowing?

Yes, it demands a
posture of vulnerability and humility and uncertainty. But it’s a far more
interesting place to be than having it all figure it out.

Remember, true
intelligence happens when you stop trying to be smart.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How are you making a concrete response to the mysterious?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com