The magic of not knowing

(Nimue)

Many religions exist to try and explain the mysteries of life and death. That’s never appealed to me. I think the not-knowing is part of what it means to be human. The longing for meaning and explanations is also part of what it means to be human. We want there to be a point, a purpose, and something to offer comfort in face of all the many challenges and the inevitability of death.

There is wonder in mystery, though. There’s more magic in the uncertainty than in any tale we might want to tell ourselves about it. However much we know, there will always be more to know. The universe is vast beyond anything we could hope to grasp. At the same time, a field is vast beyond anything we could hope to grasp. You could devote your entire life to trying to understand a single field, and there would always be more to learn. That, to me, seems incredibly magical.

I have a hunger for knowledge and a longing to understand whatever I encounter. Yet clearly I cannot understand more than a fraction of what I experience. There are also no absolute truths. All we have is our best understanding right now. If you look back at how people saw things in the past it seems fair to assume our understanding is also partial now, and we do not have everything figured out.

Truths are so often partial, slippery things, depending on context and perspective. My truth is not your truth. My truth today may well be overthrown by my experiences tomorrow. To be human is to be unsure.

The desire for certainty can lead us badly astray. It makes us more open to the snakeoil sellers who offer is their total conviction. It’s part of why conspiracy theories are often persuasive – because there is no element of doubt, while anyone with expertise will be more cautious. The person who says ‘this is the truth, this is how it works’ pushes a lot of emotional buttons. It’s a big part of what makes religion attractive in the first place – that promise of truth and meaning in face of the chaos and uncertainty.

Part of why I feel at home with Druidry is that we don’t deal in absolute truths. We’re each on our own journey, making sense of the world as best we can. Druidry gives us tools we can use to help navigate, but what sense we make of anything is individual. What meaning we settle on is the one we have found for ourselves – helped by guides, teachers or deities perhaps, but still with the individual Druid being responsible for the choices they make.