Uncertainty, Certainty, and How they Relate to Worldviews, Fanaticism, and Insanity

Uncertainty 

         Uncertainty, in its broadest definition, is the inability to be aware of, to know, or predict all the complexities of reality, ranging from its origin, its purposes, or the progression of events and occurrences within it. Uncertainty is one of the most prevalent, if not one of the most important, components of our existence. Uncertainty is everywhere. It is in politics. It is in economics. It is in Religion. It is in physics. It is in every major field of study and activity. It is wired in to the fabric of space and time itself, and the actions and behavior of all matter and energy, including life. With every decision we make, we must account for the uncertainty of the progression and outcome of the choice, for positive or for negative. Conscious beings have a respective field of awareness that is present in their waking conscious state. We are aware of our surroundings, the environment we are in, potential threats, potential utilities, and the light and sound projected from our immediate surroundings. However, outside of our field of awareness (what we can't immediately pick up in our senses) there is always a degree of uncertainty. Occasionally, we can use probability to relatively accurately predict the happenings and circumstances of other environments or other scenarios beyond our immediate awareness, but there will always be a degree of uncertainty within that probability or analysis.

The relationship between uncertainty and the formation of worldviews. 

       Uncertainty both blights and benefits the human condition. With it, we are often unable to have confidence about the circumstances and nature of our own reality to a degree to which we are limited in our ability to address our problems and find adequate solutions. Without it, some of the greatest joys and rewards of being human are no longer possible, such as the process of learning new skills and acquiring knowledge, as well as success in overcoming obstacles and challenges in games and social interactions. In other words, you could never grow in understanding and intellect if you knew everything already. It also forms a core component in the development and utilization of our worldviews and belief systems. To Start, a worldview is the lens by which you process, understand, and interpret reality. Worldviews often center around the ideas and beliefs we have about existence. Everyone has a worldview. It is often shaped by our experience in a certain culture, and developed and nurtured by our social group and language that we construct and interpret concepts and ideas through. We often form worldviews in an attempt to overcome and cope with the uncertainty of reality. Worldviews arise in the human psyche from a complex arrangement of circumstances, familial and social influence, and education that every human being is subjected to throughout their lives. Worldviews most certainly can, and often do, change over time. Someone may encounter new ideas or evidence that either persuades or even forces them to adapt their worldview to the new set of information. The primary function of a worldview is to cut through the natural uncertainty of limited conscious existence. If we were to have full cognitive awareness of all the substance, extent, and depth of existence, down to its foundation and up to it's complete cosmic expanse, worldviews would be unnecessary, since we would have full and complete knowledge of existence. Since we are human, and as such we are confined to a finite space, our minds confined to a finite brain, and our senses confined to a finite awareness of a finite amount of space, matter, and time, we cannot possibly be fully aware of the nature and scope of reality. This is where worldviews come into play. Worldviews allow us to cope with inevitable uncertainty and extensive gaps in our awareness and processing of the information reality provides. Without worldviews, human beings are left without a psychological construct sufficient enough to provide comfort, purpose, and meaning to our mortal lives.

The Relationship Between Certainty and Insanity

Certainty, in contrast with the aforementioned role of uncertainty, is often contrived, with respect to certain aspects of reality, through a subtle cognitive fallacy. The fallacy is that outside of the immediate space and immediate time you are present in, there will always remain a degree of uncertainty, no matter how low of a degree it is. This is particularly true with metaphysical and ideological worldviews. You cannot, with absolute certainty, understand or be aware of the foundational and fundamental aspects of the meaning and purpose of reality. To be absolutely certain of your understanding of the complexities and inherent meaning of reality is a fundamentally flawed and distorted line of reasoning and thought, to the extent that it borders on delusion. Insanity, in the sense of having false beliefs that are unfalsifiable to the believer, no matter how outlandish they are and how much evidence goes against the belief, is deeply rooted and entangled with the concept of certainty. Delusion is based on the notion that someone knows in their own mind, beyond a reasonable and respectable doubt, that they are right and cognizant of what they believe to be true, to the point where their social and personal functionality is severely impaired. Someone who has delusions of grandeur cannot be persuaded and informed of the falsity of their beliefs, because their chemical, neurological, and mental state precipitates a sense of absolute certainty of their beliefs. This is particularly dangerous for someone who is paranoid about being pursued or hunted by someone or something, even when their is no evidence of said pursuit or surveillance of them. Someone with this degree of certainty can pose great risk and danger to both themselves as well as others, which is why this kind of certainty is inherently fallacious in their cognitive processing of reality.

The Relationship Between Certainty and Fanaticism/Extremism

As insanity in regards to delusion is governed by an unrealistic degree of certainty, so also is ideological and religious fanaticism or extremism. Though many who are opinionated and vocal about their opposition to extremist views often equate insanity and extremism as synonymous, there is one major difference between the two, and that difference is the level of functionality involved. An extremist can calculate, adapt, infiltrate, and blend in with society and cultures that they originate from and/or target for their ideological missions and objectives, whether they are plotting terrorism or simply want to proselytize and recruit more individuals into their ideological movement. They can hold down jobs, manage finances, form complex plans and strategies, and maneuver materials and resources methodically and tactically/strategically in order to achieve their goals and complete their missions. Someone who is insane and delusional severely lack in this kind of functionality. Even so, the commonality of the degree of certainty involved remains substantially paralleled between both insanity and extremism. An extremist very much maintains a level of certainty that comes very close to, matches, or exceeds that of someone with acute and potent delusions. Both often have no doubt that they are right in their ideological, religious, or philosophical beliefs, and both are willing to go to great lengths to persuade others and act on behalf of their beliefs and ideologies. Though all of us have beliefs and all of us have worldviews, the distinction between the layman and the extremist comes down to the level of action, violent or otherwise, the individual is willing to take to spread their ideas and achieve their ideological goals. The violence component is what really sets apart an extremist. An extremist is so certain and so zealous in regards to their beliefs that violent action in order to achieve their missions or goals becomes not only justified, but often necessary to further the reach of their ideology and consolidate and systemize as many human beings into that particular ideological fold so that the ideology or worldview the extremist endorses can achieve dominance and supremacy within the targeted society and/or culture.  These actions are only done through, and only are possible, through the absolute certainty of the extremist, a certainty based on the inherent fallacy that you can have absolute certainty in a reality where uncertainty pervades every fabric and substance and circumstance of existence.