When in doubt…continue to doubt.


No doubt

Which is why today’s words of wisdom are doubting your doubts, a simple but radically useful movement within the realm of critical thinking, and the process of becoming. While it’s tempting to dismiss the kind of stereotypical sounding phrasing often associated with pointlessly esoteric sounding wisdom of sorts with a repetitious or paradoxical approach to it, there is a lot of value to be mined in the simplest of notions, inverting ideas, and clashing opposites. Recursion is also key, as a self-defining state has a lot of relative value in how the mirror reflection becomes more real than the original, in some sensibility.

With all that in mind, I put forth the notion of doubting our doubts, as a dual meaning idea, with multiple meanings attached to the notion itself. The first way is the obvious one: if one has a doubt, doubt whether or not the doubt is real. Is it a doubt? Does it have the authenticity of a doubt that would make it real? Or is it a different intuition you have only wrongly assessed as a doubt to begin with? This helps clear the air of the authenticity of the notion itself.

The second, less obvious approach as to how one can doubt their doubts, is by assessing the content of the doubt itself, to analyze the content of the now true, literal, and real doubt, and see if the doubt now needs to be cross-checked as to what the doubt is in concern of. This vetting process is key in making sure that not only is the doubt real, but that the doubt has validity to its content, validating the premise of where the doubt springs from.

For example, and as per my usual, the words of wisdom can not only tie into the everyday, but are usually inspired from happenings of the week involving my deep dives into writing about video games. I ended up downloading and playing Silksong, even though I bounced off of the first game super quickly. The sequel was in no way shape or form even on my radar until the day of, and I really didn’t think the game was worth a second look. However, I didn’t let my own experience, bias, and even assessment get the better of me, in asserting my doubts that the second game would of of any interest or consequence whatsoever. I sat down and I really thought about it, doubted my own doubts, took them to task, deconstructed whether the doubts had merit, and really considered that perhaps my doubts were worth doubting. As a result, I ended up not only getting a game I’ve been thoroughly engaged with, but one that has prompted a litany of great ideas that continue to prompt excellent metaphysical dissections of the gaming realm in its entirety.

Never be too certain of yourself, and maybe borrow some of the powers of intense dubiousness from the school of Cartesian Skepticism, in always doubting even firmly held beliefs, so that you never rest on your laurels, in being betrayed by your own sense of self-delusional egotism of certainty, even on the most rigid of ideas. The stress testing process is vital to not only strengthening ideas, but reinforcing a resilient sense of self-consciousness, too.

As always, take care of yourself, and others.

~Pashford