We live in a time
of certainty.
Voices calling
from every direction—
declaring,
defending,
dividing.
Each certain
it possesses the truth.
Each certain
it knows.
And beneath the noise,
a quieter question waits.
What if certainty
is not the ground we seek?
What if the ground
has never been certainty?
What if the ground
is our willingness
to stand together
within uncertainty?
Not above it.
Not beyond it.
Within it.
Life does not ask us
to be certain.
It asks us
to be present.
To meet one another
without first deciding
who is right.
To listen
before knowing.
To wonder
before concluding.
To remain.
Between self and other.
Between fear and hope.
Between what is ending
and what is trying to emerge.
There is a place
that is not a compromise.
Not neutrality.
Not resignation.
A living place.
A human place.
A place where curiosity
is stronger than certainty.
Where compassion
is stronger than judgment.
Where presence
is deeper than opinion.
I have spent much of my life
searching for a place to stand.
A philosophy.
An identity.
A belief.
A certainty.
But life kept removing
the ground beneath me.
And slowly,
reluctantly,
I began to hear
that perhaps the place to stand
was never a position.
Perhaps the place to stand
is presence itself.
Not knowing.
Listening.
Becoming.
The river does not cling
to either shore.
Yet it belongs
to both.
And perhaps
the work of being human
is not to choose sides,
but to become wide enough
to hold them.
To remain present
to ourselves.
To remain present
to one another.
To remain present
to life itself.
And from that presence,
to act.
Not from fear.
Not from certainty.
But from love.
For in the end,
the opposite of polarization
is not agreement.
It is presence.
Together
by Chuck Craytor
I wrote this poem as part of a presentation I delivered at the 4th World Congress on Existential Therapy in Denver, Colorado, on June 3, 2026. The presentation, From Polarity to Presence: A Middle Way Approach, explored the possibility that our deepest growth may not come from choosing sides, but from cultivating the capacity to remain present amid uncertainty, difference, and change.
The poem emerged from that exploration and reflects my ongoing inquiry into what helps us remain human in a polarized world.
Questions for Reflection:
– Where in your life are you seeking certainty?
– What helps you remain present when certainty is unavailable?
– What is the difference between conviction and certainty?
– What becomes possible when curiosity enters a polarized conversation?
– How might presence itself be a form of ethical action?
One Response
Logical mind wants definiteness and clarity and concreteness.
However, look at nature, wind blows strong sometimes weak other times.
Sun bursts through clouds sometimes, other times the clouds mask the sun,
Can go on and on.
If mankind had one principle to adhere to – it is simply the Divine is the perfect planner and that everything that unfolds in your life, is a precise plan that you can surrender willingly. The opposition is resist and suffer that many do.