Indeed, we live in times of uncertainty, fearing climate change, witnessing war crimes, and facing political unrest with the emergence of Christian nationalists. Religion is used as a weapon to control others. On the other hand, the church declines and struggles while theological schools dwindle.
Amid multiple layers of change and their lingering effects on our theological education, I ask: Where are we now? What can we do? Where are we going? Where is our anchor and hope? As Dr. Martin Luther King once said, we must believe things can be changed. Somehow, things can change amid uncertainty. The emphasis is on “somehow.”
While uncertainty unsettles our minds, it can be a moment of unlearning for reconstruction. It can be a momentum to innovate or reimagine our future. I quote several uncertainty-related words and insights below.
Heraclitus, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from the sixth century B.C.E., emphasizes fundamental aspects of change in life and the universe. Popular paraphrases of his thought include: "We all face changes every day." "The only constant in life is change." More importantly, his insight about change is wonderful. He says, "Whoever cannot seek the unforeseen sees nothing, for the known way is an impasse."
—Heraclitus, Fragments
"Not knowing is a permissive and rigorous willingness to [leave] knowing in suspension, trusting in possibility without result."
—Ann Hamilton, “Making Not Knowing,” in Learning Mind: Experience into Art, ed. Mary Jane Jacob and Jacquelynn Bass (University of California Press, 2010), 68-69.
"Knowing of not knowing is the best; while not knowing, pretending to know is a disease."
—Laozi (Daodejing)
"It is dangerous to live in a secure world."
—Teju Cole, Open City (New York: Random House, 2011), 200.
"Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos."
—Mary Shelley, Frankenstein: The 1818 Text (New York: Penguin Classics, 2018), 240.
“Hope is the story of uncertainty, of coming to terms with the risk involved in not knowing what comes next, which is more demanding than despair and, in a way, more frightening. And immeasurably more rewarding.”
—Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2016), 7.
I hope we wisely and courageously navigate all these parameters of uncertainty and change.
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"Not knowing is a permissive and rigorous willingness to [leave] knowing in suspension, trusting in possibility without result."
-Ann Hamilton
"Knowing of not knowing is the best. While not knowing, pretending to know is a disease."
知不知上;不知知病。-Laozi
"Whoever cannot seek the unforeseen sees nothing, for the known way is an impasse."
-Heraclitus
*Paraphrases of Heraclitus's thought: "We all face changes daily." "The only constant in life is change."
Annica (諸行無常, impermanence): "Everything changes."
-from Buddhist scripture.
"Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity."
-Eccl. 1:2
*Note: The Hebrew word "hebel" means "breath or vapor." Vanity is not the only translation of this word. The idea of "hebel" is that everything changes.
*Note: The Hebrew word "hebel" means "breath or vapor." Vanity is not the only translation of this word. The idea of "hebel" is that everything changes.
"Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos."
-Mary Shelley
"It is dangerous to live in a secure world."
-Teju Cole
“Hope is the story of uncertainty, of coming to terms with the risk involved in not knowing what comes next, which is more demanding than despair and, in a way, more frightening. And immeasurably more rewarding.”
“Hope is the story of uncertainty, of coming to terms with the risk involved in not knowing what comes next, which is more demanding than despair and, in a way, more frightening. And immeasurably more rewarding.”
-Rebecca Solnit
"Change is inherent to being human; the key lies in understanding and embracing it. A creative life emerges from a vortex of change."-Yung Suk Kim
