Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.

Published on www.acadun.com

The Netherlands

28th November 2014

 

 

Essence and Certainty

 

Every man or woman is certain of what he or she will do. Similarly, every man or woman is certain what he or she will say about an issue, or certainly what his or her thoughts will be over an issue. Every man or woman is also certain that he or she will be doing something different in the future, but uncertain of what it could be in the present. Despite the certainty man or woman has, he or she nevertheless is uncertain in life. Why is that?

 

This question has intrigued man since aeons of time. It is wise to look back to our ancestors and also the present-day children to understand the question. Our ancestors, in particular primitive man, were neither certain nor uncertain. Firstly, to begin with, when an event happened to primitive man for the first time, for example, drinking water and he knew it, he was excited. Secondly, he was surprised when he recognised the same event when it happened to him another time in the same day. Thirdly, primitive man became familiar with the event as life evolved and the same event happened to him many times in the same day. Fourthly, as man further evolved, primitive man became certain that he would drink water in the day when he knew that he was a doer. But primitive man did not know that drinking water is an inherent instinct within him. Similarly, as our ancestors evolved, they were certain that they would do many things in daily life, but they were uncertain of the precise moment or the exact event that they would do. How could we be sure of this?

 

We will be sure if we observe the present-day child. The present-day child too is excited when an event happens to it the first time. When the same event happens again the child is surprised. The child becomes familiar if the event happens regularly. Eventually, when the child knows that it can do, it becomes certain that it does the event, and runs to its mother with the words ‘look mummy I did it’. Now, as man is not in control of evolution, he is unable to determine when an event or the exact event will happen in daily life. Therefore, modern man, like his ancestors, is only certain of the event that he will do, and is uncertain of the precise moment or the exact event that he will do.

 

Now since evolution happens and man does not do evolution, it only implies that the event happens to man, and he does not do an event in daily life. Man is therefore uncertain in life, though he is certain that he will do.

 

The enlightened have realised that events (albeit illusory) happen to man, and man does not do any event. They are therefore certain that the uncertainty of life is the certainty.

 

Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2014

 

Editor’s Note:
Planning, both short-term and long-term, is an essential element in everyone’s life. Although it is accepted that the timing and exact nature of events within such plans cannot be known with any certainty, stress and even criticism is regularly experienced when a particular target is not achieved. Man longs for the certainties of life not yet understanding that he or she is not in control of events, for he or she is not the doer. We are no strangers to meeting challenges in our daily life and we manage these on a regular basis, or so we believe. Yet, did we manage our own birth? Will we manage our own death? The answer to these two questions is surely no. And in between these is the life we lead. This too is managed surely and safely by life itself. This is the realisation of the wise, as declared in this article.
Julian Capper.UK.

 

German Translator’s Note:

Certainty is what everybody wants the most and gets the least. Life, however makes every thought and word and action appear precisely as if they were interdependent, so that man would be a thinker, speaker and doer. Only this is certain in life, that thoughts, words and actions happen as an illusory reflection of light to make man believe in certainty which is under his control. The wise, as in this article, help man to understand that life can be trusted because life flows without any certainty of the mind and mistakes never happen in life, but only in the human mind as a thought. 

Marcus Stegmaier. Germany

 

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