{"id":50633,"date":"2026-10-10T15:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T15:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/how-to-doubt-your-way-into-a-truer-life\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T15:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T15:40:20","slug":"how-to-doubt-your-way-into-a-truer-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/how-to-doubt-your-way-into-a-truer-life\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Doubt Your Way into a Truer Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"How<\/a><\/p>\n

The most maddening thing about life is also the most beautiful: its indeterminacy. The course of our lives, the fate of our species, the future of the universe: all undecided. But because possibility is the hardest thing to bear, we sedate ourselves with certainty \u2014 even though we know that liminality is the most generative place<\/a>, that to believe is to doubt<\/a>, that we are most creative when we attempt what is not certain<\/a>. (\u201cWhatever inspiration is,\u201d one of my favorite poets reflected in her Nobel Prize acceptance speech<\/a>, \u201cit\u2019s born from a continuous \u2018I don\u2019t know.\u2019\u201d)<\/p>\n

In a culture that bandaids its fissures with self-righteousness, it is nothing less than a countercultural act of courage and resistance to remain undecided, to refuse to mistake for finished the works in progress we are, to remember that our task here is not to be certain but to be true \u2014 to our incompleteness, to the open-endedness of life itself, to the unhurried wisdom of the heart. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Art from An Almanac of Birds: 100 Divinations for Uncertain Days<\/em><\/a>. (Also available as a print<\/a> and as stationery cards<\/a>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That is what Jeff Foster celebrates in one of the poems in his altogether wonderful collection of reckonings The Way of Rest: Finding the Courage to Hold Everything in Love<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (public library<\/em><\/a>) \u2014 a prayerful invitation to \u201cfind a space in your heart for the unwanted, the unloved, the rejected aspects of experience\u201d and to honor the sanctity of your doubts. <\/p>\n

\n

INDECISION<\/strong>
\nby Jeff Foster<\/em><\/p>\n

Friend, please,
\ndo not try to decide now.
\nDo not shut any possibility out of your heart. Honor this place of not knowing. <\/p>\n

Bow before this bubbling mess of creativity.
\nSlow down. Breathe.
\nSink into wonderment.
\nBefriend the very place where you stand.
\nAny decision will make itself, in time.
\nAny choice will happen when your defenses are down.
\nAnswers will appear only when they are ready.
\nWhen the questions have been fully honored and loved. <\/p>\n

Do not label this place \u201cindecision.\u201d
\nIt is more alive than that.
\nIt is a place where possibilities grow.
\nIt is a place where uncertainty is sacred.
\nThere is courage in staying close.
\nThere is strength in not knowing.
\nThere is power in doubt. <\/p>\n

Friend, please know,
\nthere is simply no choice now.
\nExcept to breathe, and breathe again,
\nand trust this Intelligence beyond mind. <\/p>\n

A decision will grow, but for today, nourish the ground.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Art by Julie Paschkis from The Wordy Book<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the introduction to The Way of Rest<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, Foster observes: \u201cPerhaps if you were to take in all of this life, all this experience, your heart would not be able to hold it. Perhaps it\u2019s not death we\u2019re afraid of but too much life.\u201d And perhaps this is why we are so eager to foreclose our conclusions \u2014 deciding is a way of containing what will otherwise spill into the unbearable infinity of possibility, which is in consequence a way of being less alive. But isn\u2019t the whole point to be more alive<\/a>, to stop waiting and start living<\/a> in order not to waste your life<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\n

donating = loving<\/h3>\n

For seventeen years, I have been spending hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars each month composing The Marginalian<\/em> (which bore the outgrown name Brain Pickings<\/em><\/a> for its first fifteen years). It has remained free and ad-free and alive thanks to patronage from readers. I have no staff, no interns, no assistant \u2014 a thoroughly one-woman labor of love that is also my life and my livelihood. If this labor makes your own life more livable in any way, please consider lending a helping hand with a donation<\/a>. Your support makes all the difference.<\/p>\n

\n

newsletter<\/h3>\n

The Marginalian<\/em> has a free weekly newsletter. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week\u2019s most inspiring reading. Here\u2019s what to expect<\/a>. Like? Sign up.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most maddening thing about life is also the most beautiful: its indeterminacy. The course of our lives, the fate of our species, the future of the universe: all undecided. But because possibility is the hardest thing to bear, we sedate ourselves with certainty \u2014 even though we know that liminality is the most generative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-life"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-25 11:19:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}