Photo credit: Ruth Calder Murphy

It has recently struck me, more strongly than ever, how much “certainty” there is out there.

There are people who are absolutely certain, for example, that there is God—and not only that, they know precisely how to connect with God, how to worship, how to behave. Other people, also certain of the existence of God, have completely different “certainties” about what this means. Then there are people who are “certain” that there is no God—and their indignantly strident, ridiculing protests often match the evangelistic preachings of the opposite camp.

They are all absolutely certain.

They each have Absolute Truth and are not afraid to say so—in fact, they are quite determined to say so. Which is very interesting, when each of their certainties is different from the others, to the point of being in direct opposition to them.

I used to find this quite intimidating, I admit. Frightening, even, at times.

Recently, though, I have begun to find it liberating—as though being surrounded by such inflexible certainty gives me permission to step outside of them all and find my own path, experience my own journey and, based on those experiences and the evidence presented to my own, independent mind and heart, discover truth and beauty for myself.

I’m surrounded by Certainty:

everyone else’s

idiosyncratic

Absolute Truths.

Each of them is different

as day and night,

yet linked

inextricably

as day and night are.

Diverse certainties,

Equal and opposite,

dancing like multi-faceted,

many-coloured angels

on the dazzling head

of an infinite pin…

So certain,

so differently definite

That I feel free

to be me

To walk amongst them,

dance with them,

to be spectrum-split

and sparkled by them,

to be liberated,

to find a way through,

enhanced

but not held by them

finding treasures

in new troves

and hope

in new heavens,

surrounded by old certainties,

balanced

not

bound.

Ruth Calder Murphy is a writer, artist, music teacher, wife and mother living in London, UK. Her life is wonderfully full of creativity and low-level chaos. She is the co-author of one published novel, The Scream, and author of several books of poetry, one or two as-yet unpublished novels and lots of short stories. She is passionate about celebrating the uniqueness and diversity of people, questioning the unquestionable and discovering new perspectives on old wonders. She is learning to ride the waves that come along—peaks and troughs—and is waking up to just how wonderful life really is. Her most recent collection of poetry and short stories, Wings of a Thousand Tigers, is available through Amazon. You can visit Ruth on Facebook and on her website.

Editor: Jamie Morgan

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