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Current events, especially in our home country, have been raising hackles within many of us, I suspect. That’s definitely true in my case. And in a continued effort to deal with my own resistance to what’s happening, I’ve started to consider the possibility that the problem is a sense of certainty. This sense may be fueling many of the actions and policies of world leaders, including those here at home. People are certain that they’re right, and everybody who sees things differently is wrong.
When considering this sense of certainty, I went back to the film Conclave, in which the main character – a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church – delivers a homily that focuses on the negative spiritual and social impact that sense of certainty carries. When I saw this film at the movies, the Cardinal’s brief sermon near the beginning really stood out for me. Here’s the scene, as it appears in the film: [from YouTube: https://youtu.be/qY0O25Hdsus]
I did a Google search for this scene, and I found a bunch of references to it and about the whole notion of certainty. For example, the Substack online publishing platform has an article by Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, who tells us what he took away from this scene in Conclave. The Rabbi writes: “As the film Conclave demonstrates, doubt is the foundation of true faith.” (See https://rabbijoshuahammerman.substack.com/p/the-enemy-is-certainty.)
The Rabbi goes on to write about the existence and value of doubt in the religious sphere and in his own experience of religion. In fact, one could say he writes in praise of doubt, from his perspective as a Jewish clergyman, much as the movie character spoke about it. Here’s his final take on that:
Right now, despite all that is wrong with religion in this country, America still presents faith’s best face. Those are primarily good people wearing collars, frocks and those big red yarmulkes. There are good people in all religious garments. At least there can be.
But only when faith is fueled by doubt.
In his article, the Rabbi embeds a YouTube video (https://youtu.be/6ORDQFh0Byw) of a TED talk given by Lesley Hazleton, who is a biographer of the Prophet Muhammad. In her talk, “The doubt essential to faith,” Hazleton tells us that “Muhammad’s first reaction [to his received Revelation] was doubt, awe, even suicidal fear. And yet this experience became the bedrock of his belief.” Per this writer, then, even the Prophet had doubt, and he came to live with it (although some of his followers see this viewpoint as heresy).
So, according to these sources at least, we have doubt as a central aspect of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic faiths, despite how their tenets have been expressed by different groups of their adherents. Doubt, not certainty.
This notion of doubt also aligns with Buddhist teaching. We know that in Buddhism, the operative terms are impermanence and uncertainty. I found in Tricycle magazine an article that talks about uncertainty and impermanence and how we can embrace them in our own lives. The article, by noted teacher Pema Chodron, carries the title “The Fundamental Ambiguity of Being Human.” (See https://tricycle.org/magazine/fundamental-ambiguity-being-human/.) In this article, Pema writes that there is:
… an essential choice that confronts us all: whether to cling to the false security of our fixed ideas and tribal views, even though they bring us only momentary satisfaction, or to overcome our fear and make the leap to living an authentic life.
Looking for security. Fixed ideas. Tribal views. All ways of grasping for certainty and avoiding doubt. This touches a point way beyond religious faith; it’s about how we live our daily lives. She goes on:
But what does the fundamental ambiguity of being human mean in terms of day-to-day life? Above all, it means understanding that everything changes. As the 8th-century Buddhist master Shantideva wrote in The Way of the Bodhisattva:
All that I possess and use
Is like the fleeting vision of a dream.
It fades into the realms of memory;
And fading, will be seen no more.
Whether we’re conscious of it or not, the ground is always shifting. Nothing lasts, including us.
Doubt and change, not certainty. If nothing – including us – lasts, aren’t we living in the lap of doubt, of uncertainty? And aren’t we encouraged to embrace that doubt as we walk life’s pathways? In Zen we embrace it as one of the three pillars: Great Faith. Great Doubt. Great Determination.
The acceptance of impermanence and change is a hallmark of authentic living, and it invites us into the mystery of life itself and of our faith in the gift of life. As the Cardinal in Conclave suggests, such acceptance breeds tolerance, breeds unity. And in these fraught times for humanity, tolerance and unity are just what we need. That’s all for tonight.
Thank you.
EMPTY CLOUD ZEN 