Dealing with Ambiguity

Life is ambiguous. Not everything has a clear answer. Not every situation has a right choice. The Mature Magician learns to sit with not-knowing without panicking, to resist the urge to make things tidy before they're ready to be.

The Manipulator can't tolerate ambiguity. He forces false certainty and manipulates information to create illusions of clarity. The Dummy is paralyzed by ambiguity—he can't act without certainty. The Mature Magician dwells in mystery.

Dealing with ambiguity includes:

Staying curious: The Magician gets interested in what he doesn't know instead of anxious about it. Not-knowing means there's still something to find out.

Holding multiple perspectives: The Magician can hold contradictory ideas without forcing resolution. Both/and rather than either/or.

Resisting binary thinking: The Magician avoids false dichotomies. Most situations have more than two options.

Trusting the process: The Magician trusts that clarity emerges over time. He doesn't force premature conclusions.

Tolerating discomfort: The Magician sits with the discomfort of not-knowing. He doesn't rush to certainty to escape the tension.

Acting despite uncertainty: The Magician acts without complete information. He makes the best decision he can with what he knows.

The need for certainty is often a way of avoiding how uncomfortable it is to not know. When we demand clear answers, we're sometimes just trying to stop the itch. The Magician lets it itch.

The truths that matter most usually refuse to be simple. The Magician who can hold paradox sees things that the person demanding easy answers will never see.

The Magician who can live with ambiguity sees more of the world than those who need everything nailed down before they'll look at it.