Uncertainty is the
problem that our brains evolved to solve.
Resolving uncertainty is a unifying principle across biology, and thus
is the inherent task of evolution, development, and learning.
Nothing interesting
ever happens without active doubt. Yet
doubt is often disparaged in our culture because it is associated with
indecision, a lack of confidence, and therefore weakness.
The
"reality" that our perceptions see is the meaning of the meaningless
information that your brain receives.
Birds also perceive
polarization, which allows them to see the electromagnetic structure of the
sky, and not just shades of blue. When
they fly through the air, birds (presumably) see tremendous patterns that are
constantly changing depending on the angle of the sun relative to their
position. These patterns enable them to
navigate, since the structure of the sky changes according to the angle of the
sun.
In the end, the
meaninglessness of information doesn't matter.
It's what we do that matters, since at the root of human existence is
the question: What's next?
It is critical to
understand that there is always meaning everywhere in our perceptions; it is
just not in the information we have immediately at hand. Rather, the ecological brain constructs
meaning out of the only other piece of information it does have access to… past
experience.
Russians perceive
shades of red with greater discrimination than English speakers because the
word choices available in their language impose more nuances.
Your brain is only
interested in change, difference, and contrast -- all sources of information
for your brain to interpret.
Pain takes place in
the brain and absolutely no where else.
There isn't a sensation taking place inside your arm after your bone
snaps, or your skin when your thumb bleeds, or around your eye as the area
purples.
Pain is a
conversation between your mind, body, and the world around you in which a
crisis -- and a response -- is being discussed.
At any point in
time, your brain (as well as the brains of any living system) is only ever
making one decision: to go toward or to go away from something.
Our perceptions are
an ongoing, ever-growing, ever-changing story, and our brain allows us to be
not just passive listeners to that story but the storytellers writing it as
well.
The fundamental
truth about perception… we don't see reality -- we only see what was useful to
see in the past.
You have assumptions
(or biases), every second of every day, in every act and perception.
For chess grand
masters, the process of thinking during a match can "cost" up to
6,000 or 7,000 calories per day.
So how do we see
differently? We change our future by changing our past. As strange as it may sound, this is entirely
possible. As a matter of fact, it's what
we do all the time. Every story, every
book, all narratives spoken, read or enacted are about changing the past, about
"re-meaning" past experiences, or more specifically, about changing
the future past.
To ask why is
evidence of awareness…of proactive doubt.
If you don’t ask why
you have one response, there's no chance of creating a different one.
The assumptions that
shape our perceptions are often like the air that sustains us…invisible, which
makes it hard to know where to ask and target our why questions.
Throughout
evolution, it has been harder to stay alive than to die.
Our brain has
evolved two general strategies when presented with the fear of
uncertainty. One of them is anger.
Not knowing is more
stressing to the system than having certain knowledge of something bad.
When you feel you
have agency (a sense of control -- delusional or otherwise), your sense of
uncertainty is also decreased.
Embracing
uncertainty in order to innovate within it is possible… in fact, it is
essential. Feeling comfortable and other
sensations of discomfort are in fact welcome states. They are places to dwell and let perception
explore.
So how do we ensure
that we engage in creative conflict in practice? Most essential, we must listen differently…
that is, actively observe. Instead of
listening only to help us better defend ourselves, we must listen with the
thought that conflict is a genuine opportunity.
Free will lives in
changing the past meanings of information in order to change future
responses. Free will requires awareness,
humility, and courage within the context of uncertainty.
The power of
attention is in looking away from the "obvious", toward the less
obvious.
Trust is fundamental
to leading others into the dark, since trust enables fear to be
"actionable" as courage rather than actionable as anger.
