doubt

Doubt is a funny word. It looks as if it should be pronounced "doo-bit." Maybe it should be spelled with a "ght" like in "drought." Dought. But then I guess we might mispronounce it as "dough-tee."

Doubt has sometimes had a bad reputation. A "doubting Thomas" is often thought of as not a good thing to be. Well, I doubt that doubt is bad. Unless one gets stuck in it as a professional doubter and assumes the lifestyle of skeptic of everything (one's own skeptical stance excluded, of course).

Doubt means "Well, I don't know about that." That's reasonable. And truthful. As such, doubt is an antechamber to knowing.

Doubt is not "I don't know about that, so it's a lie." One has set oneself up as the Illuminator of the Universe, the God of All-Knowing. Laughable. Pitiful. A balloon waiting to be popped. A tough skin is usually developed so that one is less poppable. The defensive "doubter" floats through life inhaling his own vapors.

No. Doubt is honest not-knowing. A true doubter searches for knowledge. Take a look at Jennifer Hecht's Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson.

Doubt does not have to result in a quest for knowing. One can adopt the stance of "Well, I don't know about that, and I am not going to investigate it." This happens as commonly as when one is reading something, bumps into a word or concept one does not understand, then just skips over it. A minor form of unexamined doubt, but one that builds over time into an insulated world.

True lively doubt produces a quest. Thomas: "I'm not going to believe until I can stick my hands into his wounds!" A true scientist. He achieved his goal. He got some experimental results, but he decided to modify his procedure; he only had to stick his eyes into the wounds, not his hands.

May we pursue our doubts with vigor and with open minds! May we not become so enamored of doubt that we make it our religion.