Facing Uncertainty

Here I share a classic story of Nasruddin, the Wise Fool of Turkish folklore. The story helps us understand the challenge of facing uncertainty and gives us clarity as to why we avoid it. What key are you looking for?

Transcript

There might be things, Parts of your life, In which you know you really should lean into the uncertainty or into the unknown, But you avoid it for one reason or another and you remain in the realm of the predictable and the familiar, Even though that is what is blocking you. There's a line from a psychologist, Sheldon Kopp, That goes, We often prefer the control of guaranteed unhappiness over the uncertainty of possible happiness. So even if we know that the possible happiness lives somewhere in the realm of uncertainty, Maybe it's taking a step in life that I don't know what the outcome is going to be, But I know that feels more real than what I'm doing now, Or more like there is at least the possibility for happiness. And so we might elect to not choose the path of the uncertain happiness and choose the path of the guaranteed unhappiness. At least this is guaranteed and I know what I'm going to get, Even if it means that I'm guaranteeing unhappiness or dissatisfaction. And so, Here's a story from Nasruddin, The wise fool, That sort of expresses this, The resistance to the unknown and the obviousness of possibly moving into the unknown. And so the story goes, Nasruddin, He's looking for his house keys and he's looking under the light of a lamppost, You can imagine this light as the light of a lamppost, Out in the bushes looking for his keys. So he's looking and looking and then eventually a friend passes by, Someone who knows Nasruddin. He comes over and he says, What are you doing? Nasruddin says, I'm looking for my keys. And the friend says, Well, I'll help you. So the two of them now are looking, Looking through the bushes under the light of the lamppost for these keys. And then eventually the friend asks, Where did you see your keys last? And Nasruddin says, Almost like obviously, Oh, Back at the house. My keys, I last had them back at the house. And so then the friend is a bit confused, Well, Why are we looking here then? And Nasruddin says, Because the light's better here. And that's sort of the punchline of the joke story. We're looking here because the light's better here, Even though I know the keys are back at the house. And you can take that in whatever way feels useful or maybe just interesting for you. The house maybe inevitably is dark, Is unknown in this story, In this metaphor. It's someplace where you know kind of what you're looking for. It likely is there or maybe inevitably is there, But it's an unknown place. So I avoid it and I choose to look under the light of the lamppost, Even if I know my keys are not here. There's the synthetic light that I have control over. I can turn it off and I can turn it on. So I might just, To further express this point and maybe help you remember it in your daily life, Here's a key to my house. It's an important key. I don't think we have a copy of this one, Actually, And I'm just going to throw it. Of course, I'll find it, But it might actually take me a little while to find it in this room if I throw it. So here we go. Here's my house key. I kind of heard where it is, And obviously this isn't to the extent of maybe really going into the unknown, Maybe on the deepest level, That's like spirituality. What is your understanding of reality? As it says in the Tao Te Ching, The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. Darkness within darkness, The gateway to all understanding, The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. So anything that exists under the synthetic light of the lamppost, It's not really the Tao. The Tao is back at the house. My key, Somewhere over there. It's not over here. Let me go find it. So what's the key that you're looking for?