With Certainty

List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.
-Wordpress Prompt

Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. Certainty is something that I have learned is most often a lie. There is very little that I would consider to be established beyond doubt. I think that most of the things that we consider to be true really should be regularly challenged and reconsidered. So, what am I certain of in life? I can only give you 4 things, not 10.

1. Death will Come

I don’t know when or how. But I do know that at some point I will die. Humans being mortal is something that I feel has been established beyond doubt. Since I am human, I will die. It also means that everyone I have ever know or loved will also eventually die.

2. All Things Pass

The universe is in a state of constant change. Nothing lasts within this existence forever. Rather things are always changing and evolving. There fore, no matter what I am considering I know that thing or circumstance will eventually come to an end.

3. Suffering is a Part of the Human Experience

I have been a nurse for 20 years now. There is no way for me to count the number of people that I have met over that time. Considering all the people I have cared for, the people that I have worked with and those that have been family or visitors to those I cared for… the number of people who’s lives I have crossed is HUGE. In all this time and in meeting all those people I have never met a single person who has not experienced some kind of suffering.

Pain is biologically programmed into our brains. Because of this, we cannot live life without feeling this pain. Our brains cannot tell the difference between physical and psychological pain. All suffering is perceived and registered as pain in our brains. We are not biologically capable of living lives that completely avoid suffering. We simply are not made that way. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

4. Truth is Subjective

Two people can both be correct while sharing a different opinion and believing in a different truth. The way that our minds are limited and controlled by our perceptions means that we will always have a truth that is based in a perspective of our personal reality.

Consider The Allegory of the Cave. [6]

Certainty

Why is my list so short? Life has taught me to be a skeptic. I believe it is important that we challenge the knowledge and truths that we are presented and that we hold ourselves. This is because I agree with the philosophical principals of certainty that lay out why there is very little in life that can be declared as certain. Philosophy demands that if you declare something to be certain you must be able to provide an uncontentious analysis of that certainty. This is rather difficult to accomplish.

Beyond Doubt

For something to be certain it must be beyond doubt. This means that there must be enough evidence for the truth of it that no one can deny that truth. It means also that there cannot be any evidence against it being true.

Infallibility

It must also be something that you can prove to be true. Meaning that there is never any time or condition in which it could be false. Certainty requires a state of 100% accuracy that is rather difficult to achieve.

Relativism

Knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute. Thus, certainty is also relative rather then absolute. Meaning that very little if any knowledge could be considered certain due to the inherent bias that exists from that knowledge’s relationship with culture, society, or historical context.

Well, that’s about it for my rambling today. Thanks for coming and spending some time with me. If you like my rambling then click on that like button. It really does help! Until we talk again, you take care of yourselves!

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