Society reacts almost instinctively to what’s going on. We see this every day on the news, in every podcast, and even in social media posts. It always seeks sensationalism. Immediacy. Quick and direct “reward.” If there’s nothing to be gained from what we’re seeing, hearing, or even thinking, our mind tries to dismiss it as unimportant.
It has always been this way, but nowadays, there’s an increasing trend toward less sacrifice. A trend in which we’re led to choose whatever gives us the most comfort. Fewer hassles.
We treat ambiguity as a threat rather than an inconvenience.
When something appears unresolved, our mind cannot rest. It keeps thinking, revisiting it, searching for an answer that will put an end to that discomfort.
And for that reason, the mind often settles on the conclusion that is closest within its “reach.” It holds onto it, presents it as something we’ve carefully chosen, and locks it away, enclosing it within itself and defending it—even if it isn’t the best answer to the problem that seemed unresolved.
And this happens in many situations in our lives. For example, someone who doesn’t reply to a message for hours… Our mind won’t say it doesn’t know what that means, but it will “say” that it knows exactly what it means. Or a coworker who is quieter than usual during a work meeting.
The mind can’t stand the uncertainty; it ends up creating a story, assigning a reason for what it’s witnessing—or thinks it’s witnessing—and closes the loop.
Or, on the other hand, when we hear on the news about something that happened. And even before the facts are presented—or become known—our mind immediately makes a connection and sometimes assigns an outcome, or places blame on something or someone, and attributes meaning to the connection it has established.
Each time, the answer wasn’t chosen because it was the right one, but rather because the uncertainty of not knowing became unbearable for our mind.
The need for closure isn’t constant, but it does have peaks. These peaks are linked to time and pressure; stress also causes it to rise, and fear and fatigue contribute to its increase as well.
In other words, in those moments when we need to make important decisions—at those exact moments—our brain is under enormous pressure to find an answer, closure, or a conclusion, and it decides by simply stopping thinking! It needs to make a decision. And when it closes the issue, it not only stops searching for other possible answers but also begins to filter them.
And every piece of information we encounter is somehow adapted to fit the answer we previously “found.”
And it is because of this phenomenon that the facts ultimately fail to change people’s minds.
The matter has already been settled. And the facts emerged after that decision had been made—often under pressure.
So the question worth pondering is this: in those moments when we felt we had the greatest certainty and confidence that we were right, did that conviction stem from the evidence, or did it arise from a moment of uncertainty that had become too painful to bear?
Image by Phyllis Lilienthal from Pixabay
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