The Illusion of Certainty

​The Illusion of Certainty
One Life Tutorial for April 2019
It is wise from time to time to contemplate the things you think are certain. “The sky is blue, the ground is stable, life is short, I am alive,” for example. Then ask yourself if there is any way that these certainties could be illusion.
What is illusion? Generally speaking, an illusion is something perceived or interpreted by the senses that is “wrong” or deceptive. “A figment of the imagination” is commonly called an illusion. “Appearance” is often another way of describing an illusion. It is easy to call something an illusion if you have already determined that what you are perceiving is false, or a hallucination, or has arisen from your imagination without any seeming connection to “reality” or “truth.” It can seem more difficult to discover the illusory nature of what you believe to be certain.
There are many sorts of illusions. The illusion we will discuss here is the illusion of certainty. Supporting any idea of certainty you might hold, there are usually beliefs that are primarily formed in the intellect, or the discursive mind, and thoughts describing reality, or “What Is.”  These thoughts tend to be thoughts of separation like “I am alone, separate, and this is mine.” These thoughts may seem to be real or true in themselves, but become even more seemingly correct when grouped together to support a belief. If you are really attached to these thoughts, it becomes difficult to even imagine that what you might think is real is not real, or that what you might think is true is false. You expend energy holding on to your conclusive thoughts about things and may even use them to attempt to convince others to believe what you believe. The very idea that rightness and wrongness is an absolute, something more than a concept, can contribute to this illusion of certainty.  We would suggest that illusions of certainty are illusions of no substance or presence taking on the guise of being real or substantial.
The current affairs of the day can be seen as a profound teaching on this subject. You may have been thinking that an investigation, a report, could be the very thing that can prove the beliefs that have been so importantly held as certainty or truth. There has been a big investment for the outcome of this investigation to result in proof of the rightness or wrongness of beliefs that seem to contradict each other. You may have felt invested in seeing the “facts” (proven beliefs) as a means of maintaining your well-constructed reality. However these facts were interpreted by you, you most likely continue to be driven to see what you continue to believe. If your beliefs were not proved to be “real,” you continue to hold on to your beliefs and look for another way to prove them. If your beliefs were proved to be real, you elaborate on the truth of the proof, making it seem even more substantial.
However you see information presented to you, it is through the lens of what you believe is “real” and “certain” and “true.” And, you will attempt to prove your beliefs with any thoughts that can support the beliefs. Notice how the beliefs stay fixed in the illusion of certainty, and the thoughts actually shift in whatever way is necessary to support the substantiality of the belief. Also notice, however, that the beliefs are inherently without substance—they rely on the ideas and thoughts that, like a house of cards, try to support them.
In what other ways are you “certain” of things and on a mission to prove the veracity of those things based on beliefs you are attached to which are supported by ever shifting thoughts? In your relationships, can you notice yourself seeing what you believe about another rather than more purely experiencing exactly what is in the moment unfolding before you? In your daily routine do you start with an idea that something will be either exciting or boring and then unconsciously thoughts arise in your mind that prove one or the other to yourself? Most people tend to forget how to experience life in the moment without preconceived notions of what that moment will be, and instead rely upon their habits and beliefs to determine the nature of their experience.
What is it about those notions you are most convinced are real and certain and true, and believe are not illusion? Why are you driven to be “certain” of things? These certainties are oftentimes the most important building blocks of your concept of reality. Yet all of these things can be seen as illusion if you are willing to look from a different perspective. As a practice, seeing anything from a different perspective expands your view and weakens your attachments, and attachments are at the core of suffering.
Illusions of certainty are not the only illusions you may indulge in. There are illusions of enlightenment as being dependent upon some process or practice based on beliefs of “no pain no gain” and the need for a progressive path. There are illusions around life and death with elaborate speculations about the nature of existence. All of these illusions are a part of the paradox of human life. What is real and true can never be proved beyond all doubt. Life has no substantiality, permanence, or certainty. Awareness is truly all there is.
To live in the now, to live in presence, in the moment, is to let go of the often times most dearly held beliefs of what that moment is to be. The tendency is to think you are living life, when actually you are thinking about what you believe life is, rather than living it. So take just a moment to contemplate something you hold to be true, or certain, or right. If you can find any way to loosen your grip on that belief, you may open up your mind beyond its fixation on thinking all the thoughts that support that “certainty.” The mind can then become spacious and empty. This liberated mind is the mind of Awareness, of presence and possibility. Let yourself find this freedom in seeing the illusory nature of all beliefs and allow your reality to contain more possibilities. It starts with contemplating whatever you believe is certain and knowing that you see what you believe. If the beliefs are illusory, then everything you see is illusion. And amidst it all, One Life Awareness unfolds, no certainty required.