Steven Kubacki

Excerpt from Re-Thinking God and Existence

 

Principle 6: Certainty as Illusion

 

Absolute certainty is an illusion and mathematically impossible because all knowledge is incomplete. Certainty about God is an illusion because all knowledge about God is incomplete. All professed certainties assume that knowledge is finite, existence is finite, and there is really nothing new to learn regarding that certainty. This is why those who profess certainty, especially about God, lack curiosity about what they are certain of and hate anything that challenges it. A certain God is a hateful and angry God. A certain ideologue is a hateful and angry ideologue regardless of ideology.

 

The Incompleteness Theorem as applied to any action, human or otherwise, would state that all actions are incomplete or insufficient (like all theories and ideas). The incompleteness of any action is thus a measure of its probable occurrence and effects. In contrast, the boundary conditions that maintain the integrity of any action constrain what is possible. Together—incompleteness and boundary conditions—function in the dialectic between the extremes of certainty and indeterminism.

 

Certainty is the central construct in the illusion of completeness. It is a construct that has plagued humanity since our inception on this planet. Mathematically and logically, certainty has been shown to be impossible, and yet adherence to its mendacity, no doubt, will continue far into our future. To understand why this is so, let us now examine the characteristics of how the certain reason.

 

First, the certain must assume that there is nothing outside of our certainty that would cause us to question our certainty. But this is not possible, because according to the Incompleteness Theorem there are always unknowns lurking outside of our certainty. These unknowns are innumerable according to the Theorem of Totality. Current knowledge changes in interaction with an infinite unknown. As a result of this interaction, nothing is constant; nothing is certain.

 

Second, the certain must assume that their knowledge is finite in order for that knowledge to be complete, self-sufficient, self-contained, consistent, and absolutely true. Knowledge as certainty can only be unchangeable and impervious to the influence of the unknown, if that knowledge is finite and closed to outside influence. However, this is assumption that knowledge is finite is a delusion, because, in the reality of an infinitely complex existence, knowledge is also infinite. Indeed, certainty must exclude the infinite unknown and interaction with the unknown in order to maintain its finite integrity. To be certain is to deny the infinite.