In Praise of Doubt
If there’s one emotion that our current culture takes against it’s doubt. Confidence, conviction, certainty, these are the qualities we’re encouraged to aspire to. But doubt? That shit’s best avoided at all costs. Certainty feels good, it’s addictive, anticipation of it fires our dopamine receptors. Doubt is uncomfortable, awkward, itchy; it doesn’t allow us to settle.
We’re expected to have an opinion, be sure of ourselves, know what we stand for and shout down those who have a different point of view. Yet when you look around at the people in our society who exhibit the least doubt – and may I gently suggest you consider some of our more prominent politicians – they tend to be the ones who are also the most thoughtless, unattractive and dangerous.
What if doubt’s been given a bad rap? What if our increasing distaste for this uncomfortable emotion is doing us harm? What if we stopped running away from doubt and, instead, learned to embrace it?