Embracing Uncertainty: A Turning Point in History?

Uncertainty Everywhere: Are We at a Turning Point in History?

This program is dedicated in loving memory of S. and Ity Ainsworth, upon their third Yahrzeit, 14th of Tammuz. May their family be strong and continue to be blessed in all ways, materially and spiritually, all in good health.

Uncertainty. You can consider that a title for the period in time in which we’re living. So many things have happened – and are happening, accelerating – that are simply unpredictable.

The Age of Disruption

Let’s begin with the world of politics. Who would have predicted, eight years ago, Donald Trump being elected President of the United States? And then the tumultuous term, the battles, people glued to… I don’t want to call it entertainment… whatever you want to call that whole Trump love-hate media frenzy. Then, four years later, Mr. Biden wins – again, a very tumultuous election – and the events that followed. And now, here we are in 2024, another election with the two oldest presidential candidates in history. Who would have predicted the Biden debacle in his debate just a few weeks ago, and the events that then spiraled? And then, suddenly, middle of nowhere, an assassination attempt on Mr. Trump, and then, with all the pressure, Biden dropping out of the race and Harris… Kamala Harris taking his place. All unfolding as we speak. Who knows what other unpredictable things are to come?

That’s just in the area of politics in the United States. Going global, you have the war in Ukraine, the war in the Middle East that drags on, unfortunately, with again, unknowns ahead of us.

Let’s go over to the world of technology. Many of us are old enough to remember the birth of the internet, at least for the public, in the mid-90s. And how that began to change how we communicate, how we do business – almost every aspect of our lives – in many ways for the better, but still unpredictable change. And then there are the exponential developments that continue to create more changes. Then, remember the birth of YouTube and Amazon… oh, Amazon! How that disrupted retail businesses to this very day. How many stores closed down – retail outlets – a new way of doing business, and with all the growing pains that that brings on. And now we talk about AI, a new revolution. And where is that going to lead us?

Now, not all these changes are bad. Obviously, many of them are very good. But the unpredictability, the uncertainty that it creates – which for a human being is always disturbing because we like our comfort zones – it’s unnerving.

Let’s not forget COVID-2019. It began at the end of 2019, but then, March 2020, when it became a global epidemic. And what did that do to our lives? Again, completely from left field. No one expected it, and it had this disruption that it created. Yes, many things may have gone back, but many changes are quite permanent – how we work, working from home, communication, different industries that grew out of it, different industries that fell. And still, we’re in the wake of the aftereffects.

And the list goes on – not even talking about what’s to come in this presidential campaign, a Trump pitted against Harris and the polarization. I mean, some of it is just… it’s so ridiculous, but painful. What’s going on on our campuses? Thank God it’s quieted down to some extent, but wherever you turn there’s disruption.

I’ve already coined this: the Age of Disruption, when the headlines will be written – we look back – disruption. Now, disruption sounds very negative, like uncertainty does. As I said, it makes us all uncomfortable because we like predictability. We want to know what’s coming tomorrow. We don’t want surprises and yet they happen. And here, in our case, with technology, everything is amplified. So any uncertainty becomes collective uncertainty, a herd uncertainty if you wish. And that just creates even more challenges because everyone else is talking about it. It’s not just your own internal feelings. Now it’s shared.

Riding the Waves of Change

So how are we to look at all of this? And as we titled this class, is this a turning point in history?

Are we at a turning point in history? And the answer is: Yes, we are. And it’s always better to see it coming than not to see it coming. So you can look at disruption and uncertainty as a negative. You know, I’m comfortable, and suddenly you’re telling me something I don’t know, and I don’t know what’s going to be and what’s going to happen tomorrow.

Or you can step back and maybe let go of some of your need for control, and say, “Let me ride the waves. Let’s navigate.” Perhaps this… are signs of a new world order. And what can it do for me, and what can I do to be part of it, make it unfold in a healthy way? So instead of disruption turning into fear and insecurity, it can turn into an exciting opportunity of change.

And that’s exactly the way we should look at things in life, both personally and collectively. In the mystical teachings of Kabbalah, there’s a fascinating concept. I’ll say it in Hebrew and then translate it. It’s called Yesh, Ayin, Yesh. A three-step process. All growth, all paradigm shifts, all metamorphoses require three steps.

• The paradigm, the step, the stage you are at right now. That’s the first step.
• The last, third step is the new paradigm that’s created, that’s born.
• And the middle is called a void, a vacuum that creates the shift and the disruption necessary to move from the first yesh, from the first state, first paradigm to the new paradigm.

Now, why do we need that disruptive state? Why do we need something that’s uncomfortable? Just to give you a bunch of examples:

• You plant a seed in the ground. It deteriorates, rots as it turns into a sapling, and then blossoms. And you could even see the process today; you could do it with a plant on your windowsill.
• A mother will go through birth pains and pregnancy pains to give birth to a new child.
• An egg needs to crack for the chick to come out.
• A piece of gold needs to be melted down to turn it into a beautiful ornament.
• We need to shed one layer of skin to assume a new one.
• Creativity is a child of frustration.

I just gave you a bunch of examples. Anywhere you see real growth, you’ll always see a disruption that precedes it. Because it’s not a disruption, it’s transformation. Because as long as you have the previous paradigm, then you’re just going to have an extension of it; it’ll remain a seed. You don’t want the seed, you want it to grow into a flower, into a tree, into a plant. That’s why you need to change that state, to turn it into another state. And if you don’t do that, it will remain where it is.

The Metamorphosis of Growth

Look at a butterfly as it metamorphoses from a caterpillar. The caterpillar goes into the chrysalis, into the cocoon, spends however much time. If you wouldn’t know, you’d never know these are the same creature – the caterpillar then turns into a butterfly that can fly! A caterpillar that was subject to crawling on the ground, on the earth, now flies – a monarch butterfly.

Why, I remember reading a book – it was like a book that was fascinating; it was written for children, but great lessons for adults – of the consciousness, the psyche of a butterfly and the psyche of a caterpillar, and then the psyche of a butterfly.

Does the caterpillar know it’s going to become a butterfly? Does the butterfly know that it was once a caterpillar? And when it goes into that dark state, does it know it’s growing into a butterfly? And that there is going to be pain involved and discomfort because of the shift? And sometimes the greater the shift, the greater the discomfort.

Think of lobsters as they shed their shell. It’s because their bodies have grown and they’re so uncomfortable, and that ultimately sheds the shell in order to assume a new shell.

Reminds me of the analogy: There was a person witnessing a chrysalis opening up, the caterpillar turning into a butterfly. And he sees the butterfly struggling to get out of the cocoon. So in his compassion, he decides he’s going to help the butterfly. He brings scissors, a knife, and cuts open the cocoon so the butterfly can freely leave. And with a grin he’s waiting… he’s waiting. The butterfly remains perched on the branch, never to fly. He didn’t realize what he had done. Part of the process of the aerodynamics that the butterfly needs to fly is the pressure in its wings, a liquid that spreads into its wings, and that is developed through the butterfly struggling to get out of the cocoon. It’s the struggle; it’s like exercising its muscles, and that liquid then streams into its wings to give it the aerodynamics it needs. And in his misguided compassion by cutting the cocoon and avoiding that struggle, the butterfly will never fly.

You love your child. Your child takes its first steps. It will fall. Now, the compassionate mother or father will say, “I don’t want my child to fall,” and you hold your child all the time. What do you think will happen? The child will never learn to walk.

The compassionate parent will do what? Will say, “Walk to me, walk to me.” You’ll be there; you won’t hold the child’s hand, you’ll be there to show them you’re there for them. The child will fall a few times, but then they’ll learn to walk.

Embracing the Discomfort

This is the wisdom of appreciating the Yesh, Ayin, Yesh: to understand that disruptions and uncertainty and unpredictability, and all those other words, are actually… and all those experiences… are actually stepping stones to tremendous growth. While you’re there, it can be very uncomfortable, but that’s why you have to think of the bigger picture.

Now, of course, you may say, “Well, what about tragedies, terrible things that happen to us?” So, we’re not looking to justify tragedy, not looking to rationalize it. We’re looking to understand: Once something happens, how do you take that disruption, how do you take that discomfort and turn it into something? So it’s not that we’re looking for and seeking to disrupt our lives. We’re talking about things that come our way.

The good swimmer is not someone who… no storms ever come their way. The difference between a good and a bad swimmer is that they’re both swimming. And at that point, you may not be able to see the difference. In the words of Warren Buffett, “That until the tide is out, you don’t know who’s been swimming naked.” Comes the storm, the bad swimmer, the inexperienced, will try to fight the tide to the point of exhaustion. And who knows what will happen? The good swimmer recognizes it, says, “Oh, now’s not the time to try to swim it through. Let me let go. I’ll float, go with the waves.” Knows how to navigate every given situation. You see this with great athletes. It’s not just their strength, it’s knowing how to navigate, how to respond properly. Same thing in communication. It’s not just having your tools, but it’s knowing how to be flexible and how to navigate the vicissitudes, the twists and turns, ups and downs, including the uncertainty.

So when there’s uncertainty that you can’t fight – meaning something that you can resolve, by all means resolve it – but if it’s something you can’t resolve, maybe you shouldn’t try to resolve it, learn to ride on it, ride through it. That’s how we truly grow.

A Turning Point Towards Spiritual Revolution

So when we look at the world today, especially if you follow the news every minute – which I do not recommend, I actually strongly discourage people from doing – because that feeds into all our insecurities and all our unknowns and just drives fear into our hearts (maybe it’s good for voyeurs, maybe it’s good for entertainment, but since when has voyeurism and entertainment…) – what does the wise person do? As the Talmud says, “Who’s the wise one? He who sees the birthing.” He sees the birthing, he sees the consequence, he sees the result. He doesn’t look at the pregnancy, he looks at: What is it bringing? He sees an egg, he knows this is going to give birth to a chick. He sees a disruption, he knows that something else is going to emerge.

To look ahead, to look at the big picture. Disruption in the political scene, in technology, in the globe and economy, and so many other areas. This is an opportunity to see that yes, we are at a turning point in history. And more than ever. And what’s the real… where are we turning to?

So this is not a prediction, this is based on my understanding of reading the text: to a spiritual revolution. Because if you think of all the disruptions, look what’s… what’s in common about all of them: that the existing order… there’s a problem with it.

You know, pain… we don’t like pain. It’s exactly like disruption. But pain is a reminder that, as… it’s a red flag, a wake-up call: Do something about it. When you look around, you’ll see the disruptions are all of an old world order: that includes divisiveness, includes materialism, includes things that cause tension. So what’s the solution? How do you lower the temperature?

Shifting our Focus

So you can lower it by treating the symptoms. Let’s say the two presidential candidates sit down and say, “From now on, we’re going to be civil.” I’m not saying it’s realistic or practical. Will that solve our problems? It would definitely be very, very promising and very encouraging if it were to happen. The real root of the problem is: What do we really stand for? So when things are comfortable and we’re prosperous and successful, we don’t have to… we don’t ask that question. But when things are not comfortable, that’s the question we must ask: What do we stand for?

For… I remember, during COVID, I was asking young people (I was on many Zooms). I’d say, “What do we stand for? Video games, sexuality, money, power, control? Or our higher values?”

It’s when the Founding Fathers were pressured, because King George would not… would be… was not relenting and not allowing them to live and oppressing them, that’s when they decided finally to declare independence. You could see it in their tone, they were apologetic even. We have to explain why are we declaring independence? Why can’t we just be comfortable with our hosts, King George, of Great Britain? Because of the oppression, the pain.

As we learned from the Jewish people, the first oppression documented in the Bible, in Egypt – the Egyptian slavery and exile – it says, “As they were oppressed and afflicted, in direct proportion to that, they blossomed and they flourished.” Because they saw the ayin, they saw that the painful state [was] the birthing of something greater, and they channeled their grief and they channeled their pain and their distress into tremendous power and strength.

The verse says, “From my distress, I cry out to you, and you respond to me from your expansiveness.” Distress generates expansion because it has that power. When we’re comfortable, then we’re far more on a plateau. What’s pushing us? What’s propelling us? It’s pressure, resistance that brings out the greatest strengths. You see that the very essence of what a dam is: You dam the water, you block it, and it builds up, builds up, and suddenly you see just a trickle of water becomes this tremendous force. That’s what all resistance does.

Pioneering a New Reality

That’s where we are in our lives, but you have to get out of the mentality of the here and now, of the instant gratification, of the fast food, spontaneous results mentality. Because that mentality says, “Hey, what are we going to do right now to exploit this opportunity this… this second? I’m comfortable, I’m not comfortable…” But those that see the birthing, they see the bigger picture. That’s the ones that will really benefit from the transition of one paradigm to another.

So the spiritual revolution – meaning, our material needs already… has been taken over by so many machines, more than we even imagine, but as AI develops and other technologies develop, we will be freed of most of our mundane activities. We’ll be freed even of some of our more sublime ones, too.

What are we going to be left with? The thing that makes us unique: our higher values, our transcendence. That’s the new world order, but we have to prepare for it. We don’t want it… we don’t need that to come as a surprise. Even though the Talmud does say it will come as a surprise because our present mentality doesn’t relate to anything that’s different. We don’t even imagine it.

So it’s time to start imagining, to start dreaming about a better world, a better reality. And it begins not just with a better reality – how do I make more money? How do I buy an extra car? How do I provide more comforts for my family? And myself and my family is to establish a spiritual vision for yourself and your family. Not just more of the same, because then it’s just the old paradigm. Something new, something fresh. New initiatives, new pioneering programs. Start a class, start hosting something in your home, participate in something you haven’t done before, start sending out, via email or social media, a beautiful message every day. I mean, the list goes on. Be creative, but think out of the box, think out of the… the present, think outside of the present circumstances.

Discovering New Tools for Growth

New terms. The greatest, most refreshing, exhilarating thing is when you learn new resources, when you discover new resources and you learn new tools. Even though we’re comfortable with old ones, but then, suddenly, someone shows you a new tool that you didn’t have in your repertoire, in your tool chest. You say, “Wow, what can I do with that?” And you suddenly realize it can do things that your old tools could not do. That’s growth. That’s called opening yourself up to new possibilities and having the courage to do so.

We don’t have to wait till the tide is out. We don’t have to wait for every disruption. We have enough going on. So when people ask, for example, “How do I deal with this whole uncertainty? With all this discomfort? I watch every day the news; I watch Fox, CNN, MSNBC…” – there you go, the entire spectrum is covered right there – “… I don’t know who to believe. Everyone has their own narrative. This one’s pro this one, this one’s anti that one. There’s no room for seeing that each… that every side has some qualities. No, you’re pro this one, you’re anti the other…”

Why can’t you say, “There’s some benefits here and some benefits there?” Because people again, thinking in their own parochial, their own partisan fashion. Disruption is meant to get you out of the picture. Go up on the mountain, ask your little children, “Does it matter who’s president is going to be president?” They don’t even know the difference. And I’m not saying there isn’t a difference, but that’s not the point. The point is that our focus has to be, you know what? I’m fighting for… not this presidential candidate or that one, not this sports team or that sports team, not this hero or that hero. I’m fighting for higher values. What do we stand for? What are we infusing ourselves and our children about: our mission in life? Why are we here? How are you going to use your skills to transform and beautify your corner of the world? How are you going to be an ambassador of light?

The Courage to Dive In

So instead of responding, instead of being reactive, become proactive. I understand that requires a paradigm shift as well, and that’s exactly why we have this discomfort – to get us out of that comfortable place.

I mean, I’ve shared this in the past. I remember as a kid, as a child… so, I learned to swim in the summer; we had our swimming pool. Sometimes we were at a lake, at the ocean. But then I decided, I don’t know, I was eight, nine years old, I want to learn how to dive. I know I saw some people dive; I love the elegance of it, the swan dive, it was the racer’s dive – I learned different types of dives. I remember I got into the diving board, all excited, I went over, ready to jump, and I suddenly had this tremendous fear. I couldn’t… I couldn’t bring myself to jump into the water. And it wasn’t like a steep jump, okay? I went back, let’s do it again. The diving board, same thing, froze. Okay, I’ll count to 10. 1, 2, 3… 10. No. I’ll count to 100. I’ll count to 1,000. You know how it goes. Day after day in the summer, I could not bring myself to dive. Summer ended, I’m back home, didn’t really have a chance to go swimming throughout the year.

Next summer, okay? Now I’m here, older. Then I decide, you know what? It’s not… going from the diving board. Why don’t I stand at the edge of the pool and I’ll jump in? I couldn’t bring myself… I… What was the problem? I said, I know how to swim. It’s not like I was afraid of water once I’m underwater, and I’m standing on the ground. So what’s the big thing? What’s the worst thing? You fall in, make a belly flop, as they say. I mean, the old urban legend that your stomach will get pierced open because you just ate breakfast. What was the… what was I afraid of?

“One thing,” someone says. “Okay, I’m afraid of water.” People just… It’s a phrase. I don’t want to go into the water. That was not the issue. So I decided I got a trick: I’m going to sit, instead of standing, I’m going to sit at the edge of the pool, and I’ll just drop in. That shouldn’t be difficult. I started counting again. The counting… same problem. Until something happened. You know what happened?

I was sitting and counting, and had a friend who pulled me… got me out of my torture, by doing what? He snuck up behind me and pushed me in. As I was doing that… And that was it. Once I was pushed in… Hey! And I could stand and dive. I’m back to the diving board, learned how to dive – this type of dive, that type of dive – I never had problems again.

And I always wondered to this day, what was the problem? And I realized the problem was the ayin between the yesh and the yesh. Yes, I knew how to stand on the ground, and I knew how to be in the water. But that split second where you’re not on the ground and not in the water, subconsciously, my psyche froze, was paralyzed and in fear, because that’s that unknown: what happens when you’re suspended. Once you’re in the water, no problem. Once… and you’re on the ground, no problem. So there is a certain fear that we all have to get out of that comfort zone, which is why sometimes we need to be pushed.

But I’m not suggesting someone pushing you against your will. I’m suggesting, invite someone that you trust to kick you in your pants. That’s my bottom-line message.

A Fuel for Growth

Yes, let the disruptions propel us, serve as a catalyst, a springboard to tremendous growth, unprecedented growth. That’s what deadlines do. As a writer, I can tell you that. As a speaker. If you don’t have deadlines, if you don’t have schedules, you… you still… I’ll be still sitting and thinking 20 years later, Maybe this way, maybe that way. You need that pressure.

An olive does not produce oil until you press it. And that, my friend, is what’s going on in our times. The disruption, the uncertainty everywhere, we are experiencing a turning point in history. The choice we have is two… well, three I could say. Either you go on denial, and just bury yourself and ignore the whole thing, or you get completely disturbed and unraveled by the uncertainty, or you turn the uncertainty into a fuel for growth and you become part of shaping the unfolding destiny of your life and the life of the world. And one good thought, one good word, one good action tips the scales and brings personal and global redemption.

Thank you so much. This has been Simon Jacobson, meaningfullife.com. Please subscribe to this and all our programs, including our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDGNPfaaRXs. Please share with others. And I’d love to hear your feedback, thoughts, comments, questions, rebuttals. So let’s get… keep things going. Initiate, be proactive, and be excited about the unknown coming ahead, because it’ll lead us to the greatest possible future.

Be well and be blessed.

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