The sin and salvation of certainty

Like so many things in life, it's a two-edged sword

Nov 29, 2024

I straightened from my computer keyboard the other day and, needing a break in routine, on a whim looked to see what was playing at the local cinema. Maybe it was all the red robes that grabbed my attention, but the ad for the film Conclave stood out like an oasis of calm intelligence amidst the mindless rom coms and bloody action offerings.

Stanley Tucci, Ralph Fiennes, and papal intrigue? I thought. This has gotta be good.

And it was.

One scene and one message in particular grabbed my attention. Relatively near the start, the unambitious Cardinal Lawrence, played by Fiennes, is assigned the task of leading the conclave of cardinals in the selection of the next Pope. Delivering a homily during mass prior to being locked into the chapel for deliberations, he says: “There is one sin which I have come to fear above all else … certainty.”

He goes on to describe how certainty is the “great enemy of unity” … the deadly enemy of tolerance.

"Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt. If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery and therefore no need for faith.”

I reeled in my recliner (if it's possible to accomplish such a feat) hearing this, thinking, OMG, how can so many false and true statements possibly be simultaneously crammed into so few sentences?

My mind boggled. But then the film moved on and I tucked away a mental note to return to the subject of certainty and write about it someday.

The great enemy of unity

Everybody knows that words can have different meanings. And everybody knows that context can change the meaning of a word. What fewer people understand is the esoteric concept of levels of truth as it relates to levels of one's individual awareness or consciousness.

Many statements can be simultaneously true and untrue, depending upon one's level of conscious awareness. The statement "Certainty is the great enemy of unity and tolerance" couldn't provide a better possible example of this.

The drama, anxiety, conflict, despair, name calling, character assassination, etc. that characterized the recent US elections—both pre and post—perfectly reflect the certainty of opposing political views. One side is certain of one set of "facts." (We now must bracket that word in quotes to reflect the actual uncertainty of how factual a fact is nowadays.) The other side is certain of another set of "facts" about the exact same subject, just from the opposite point of view.

People on one side are certain the man named Trump is a Nazi and the woman named Harris is a saint. People on the other side are certain Trump is a savior and the woman named Harris is a globalist puppet.

Everybody is so sure! So stuck on the "facts" they've collected from heaven only knows what questionable sources … like CNN or ABC … that they have no tolerance for other people's views.

Thus, it is absolutely correct to say that, "Certainty is the great enemy of unity and tolerance."

We've been witnessing the truth of this for years.

But here's the thing. Nobody ever asks the overarching question: "What are we so certain about?” Is it "facts" we're sure about? Factoids? Clinical studies? History? Science? News reports? Opinions? Memes?

Every single one of these things is malleable.

The old saw about how statistics can be twisted to prove the equal validity of opposing views is ubiquitous. History isn't "true." It's simply the point of view on events written by the victors. Clinical studies are ever so easily manipulated to skew results. Science depends on how good your microscope is ... or isn't. And news reports ... I won't even bother to go there.

What are we basing our certainty upon?

Unreliable, shifting sands.

The trouble with faith

I used to be certain of a lot of things. (More facts!) I used to know the world was a ball spinning through space. That US astronauts landed on the moon. That Democrats care about the welfare of people and Republicans don't. That John Wayne represented the peak of masculine expression, and that America was a bastion of global freedom and unflagging fairness and justice for all.

I used to be certain that God exists, that karma is a bitch, and that reincarnation is real—the great recycling machine of the universe. I could tell you, with great certainty, how personal manifestation works, the colors corresponding to the chakras, and the hues of each of the mental, emotional, and etheric bodies. I could converse about numerology and alchemy. I could quote Jesus and Lao Tzu, Rudolph Steiner and Einstein, certain I understood what each was saying.

Today I know I hold information about all of those things and a great deal more—but whether any of it, all of it, or none of it is true, I haven't got a clue. I'm not even sure two plus two equals four. It would seem certain. But perhaps that mathematical "truth" varies depending on what dimension I'm in or what base number I'm counting in?

I don't know!

This broad-spectrum uncertainty would seem to place me in a nebulous state of great instability and anxiety. It would seem that, lacking such vast amounts of substantive information, I would be desperately scrambling for a firm foundation to stand upon.

Which is why faith is so attractive.

When people are uncertain and basically don't know squat, they can still believe. And those beliefs become the rock to which they cling, providing the foundation to build their lives upon.

But God help them if those beliefs are shaken ... for if they are they have nothing.

This, of course, is why religious beliefs are so violently adhered to and protected at all costs ... even to the point of committing heinous acts of death, destruction, and genocide. Above all else, my beliefs—my faith—must stand, inviolate.

Thus, we cycle back to the truth that certainty is the great enemy of unity and tolerance.

Especially when it's disguised as faith.

Certainty as the great unifier

So, if facts can't provide certainty and the certainty of faith can lead to all sorts of conflict, violence and destruction, what's left?

Well ... back to the questions, "What am I absolutely, rock solid sure about? And why am I so certain about them?" (Asking yourself these questions is a great exercise. An arduous one to be sure. But worth the effort.)

Personally speaking, I am absolutely, rock solid sure that:

· Love is that which supports life, health (mental, emotional, physical and spiritual), connection, growth and wisdom.
· Love matters above all things. Thinking and acting from love in everything I do is paramount.
· Life knows what it's doing. Its intelligence is supreme and unfathomable.
· I can trust life to deliver what's perfect for me and my healthy growth and evolution. It may not be what I think I want. But it's always what I need. And this holds true for everyone.
· Everything and everyone are connected. What I do to myself I do to others. And vice versa.
· Feelings and intuition are far more reliable guides than my thinking mind.
· Everything Earthly changes. Nothing but love, life’s intelligence, and change itself are changeless.
· The only thing I have total control over is myself.
· Wisdom is the most precious of all commodities.
· Assuming leaders are necessary for a happily functioning society, only the wisest amongst us should lead.
· The person who wants to lead isn't the wisest amongst us.

Just imagine for a moment what this world would be like if everyone knew, with absolute certainty, that their highest priority in life was to ensure that love was the foundation of all their choices, actions, and creations. That life can be trusted and that everything and everyone are deeply, inextricably connected.

Just knowing those first three things, for certain, would change everything. It would bring all people together. It would foster tolerance, grace, and kindness. It would create ease, relaxation, and harmony. This kind of certainty would set humanity free to enjoy life and create a new world from the highest levels of consciousness possible.

Which is what I meant about how levels of consciousness can determine the simultaneous truth and untruth of the same statement. It all depends upon your consciousness, which is reflected by your outlook and focus.

Certainty (about facts, beliefs, and philosophies) creates division and hatred.

Certainty (about the most nurturing values and truths of life) creates unity and tolerance.

It’s like the difference between Madonna and having the mind and limited interests of a material girl (just gimme the cold, hard facts ma’am and a margarita to go), and Plato and his focus and involvement with the heavenly Ideals upon which the Earth and humanity were created.

Their outlook and thus their “truth” is going to be different.

Mystery

As far as the final statement by Fiennes in the movie Conclave is concerned: "If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery and therefore no need for faith.” I beg to differ.

If we dwell in a grounded, stable world, safely resting within and protected by the most nurturing values and truths of life, can we not easily face the rest of the mystery called life?

Certainty of the ground of our being does not destroy mystery. Living from a place of deeply internal security and health allows us to meet the ongoing mysteries of universes and dimensions with sanity, stability, curiosity, excitement and wonder.

Certainly, a fine place from which to launch exploration!

Last but not least

And what about my second question? "Why am I so certain about what I'm certain about?" How have I come to absolute, rock-solid certainty about all the points above?

1) Desire. Desire to know what fosters health, tolerance, grace, and kindness, ease, relaxation, and harmony, freedom, joy and creativity and what doesn't. Desire to grasp, as best as possible, how life works and align with it.

2) Experience. Life has reliably and consistently brought me experiences in alignment with my deepest desire to know what fosters health, tolerance, grace, and kindness, ease, relaxation, and harmony, freedom, joy and creativity and what doesn't. I have experienced what works and what doesn't.

3) Knowingness. Knowingness is a great mystery. It has nothing to do with the mind. It has nothing to do with information and facts. It apparently has everything to do with momentary spiritual alignment with life itself.

Everybody has had the experience of knowing something for no reason and later discovered they were right on. How or why they were right on, they haven’t got a clue. But for one shining moment they knew.

They knew they were love and loved. They knew they were part of something bigger than them and that this didn't diminish the import and grandness of their being in the slightest. They knew to turn left even though SIRI kept insisting they turn right. They knew the next card on the table was going to be the queen of diamonds. They knew their lost dog would make it home somehow. And it did.

If the very substance of our being is love—if our very existence is based in oneness—how can we not know that love matters above all things and that everything and everyone are connected?

Once we clear the clutter away—our dependence on malleable facts, our dependence on faith, dogmas and philosophies—and seek to know the truth of life and Who We Really Are, the truth of life and Who We Really Are become inescapable.

And then we are free.

Much love and aloha ~

Cracking the Matrix explores the astounding history and nature of what humanity has erroneously labeled "evil" on this planet, helping people finally see the very real, negative, interdimensional influence that exists behind historic and current global events and our social decline.

The book outlines how to break free of this Force's ancient controlling agenda and how people can stand up in the power of their true spiritual nature, ready to create the New Heaven and the New Earth that have so long been prophesied.

Buy the book

About Cate Montana

I’m a professional journalist specializing in alternative medicine and health, and the author of several books, including Unearthing Venus: My Search for the Woman Within [Watkins 2013], The E Word, Ego Enlightenment & Other Essentials [Atria 2017], and a spiritual novel titled Apollo & Me. After Cracking the Matrix: 14 Keys to Individual & Global Freedom, my latest book is Gender, Patriarchy & Sexual Mind Control: Breaking Free. I have a master’s degree in psychology, am gently owned by two fast-growing cats named Leo and Scout, and am extremely blessed to have been called to Maui to live. I’m grateful every day I awaken here!

For more information you can reach me at www.catemontana.com and info@catemontana.com