On the whole, doubt often gets a bad rap. We don’t like it; we prefer certainty. But the ways in which we deal with doubt may reveal some insights into what makes us human and how to find your way in a life in which uncertainty will always play a part.
The notion that things “happen for a reason” is a powerful idea. It is also a dangerous one. The concept of “agency” is so central to our understanding of ourselves and our world that we apply it even where there is no agency to be found.
No matter how deeply we feel connected to a group that shares any given identity, the fact remains that on an individual level, we will always be more unalike than alike.
On the first day, Bit created the one and the zero. And Bit said, “Go forth and copy and paste thyself ad infinitum.”
A human life is punctuated by events of special significance, which are often surrounded by rituals. The rules of the marketplace are redefined in the reality distortion zone that surrounds these events.