We would like to dedicate this page to uncertainty.  Yes! Uncertainty.  We nominate uncertainty as the driver of all progress.

Okay, okay, we will concede to those of you who would like to soothe their shared human ego that curiosity may compete for this nomination. You must give us this though. Could we have curiosity without uncertainty?

The content associated with this page will focus on the value of accepting uncertainty. The process of knowing is filled with ignorance. It must be. If we have the goal to know the how or the why of something, we are starting with ignorance and uncertainty regarding that how and why.   The larger the question, the more levels of ignorance we must overcome. 

The process to know the unknown is not like building a pyramid. Once the first layer of a pyramid is built, by-passers may see an undefined, unfinished building, but the designer of that pyramid knows exactly where it will end and how they will get there. A half-built pyramid contains very little uncertainty.  Beginning the process of knowing an unknown starts with many little unknowns. Those little unknowns must be isolated and tested in isolation. The results of those little unknowns changes the path of getting the broader question answered.

The purest test performed is isolated from all influences other than the input of the test. For Example, we can't do a single test to evaluate the effect consumption of an herb or an oil has on someone's attitude toward their environment. We must perform many test to overcome outside influences like human interaction, fluctuations their health, financial health, other foods, other drugs, other situational changes, etc.  This is possible though. We can perform enough tests to mitigate all of these circumstances.  At some point, we will come up with a conclusive result. We will conclusively know whether this herb or oil made a difference in mood for the participants in this study.

That result is very specific. To those who are not familiar with this process, this result may be unsatisfying. This, however, is our most accepted process for gaining knowledge so far.  By isolating and testing specific unknowns we can use these results to begin to lay down building blocks that can support the next round of tests. By accepting the uncertainties, or unknowns around the results of these test we can infill the most appropriate next step of knowledge through testing.  Making assumptions or guesses of our next level of unknowns at these levels can compromise the entire process. If we don't acknowledge and accept what we don't know, we will make faulty assumptions and cannot rely on the knowledge we gain beyond this point.

Only by recognizing and accepting those things we are uncertain about, can we accurately become certain.