Faith: The Most Rational Strategy in an Irrational World?

"Remember when we called it a polycrisis? That word already feels quaint. The world has since graduated to a poly-unknown. We no longer juggle multiple crises we can name and measure; we now inhabit a fog of probabilities. Wars morph without endings, economies convulse in unexpected directions, and technology-especially AI-advances faster than our ethics, our institutions, or our sleep cycles. Uncertainty has become the only certainty."

"The first step is to recognize that uncertainty belongs to the world, not to you. It's data, not destiny. Yet many of us, especially those used to optimizing spreadsheets and strategies, make the mistake of trying to internalize uncertainty-as if by worrying more we could somehow model it better. The result is emotional osmosis: the volatility of the outside world becomes the volatility of our inner world."

"In conversations I have with policy analysts and friends across sectors, the undercurrent is always the same: I don't know what's coming next, and I can't plan for it. It's easy to internalize that volatility-to let it seep into one's nervous system until the body feels like a ticker tape. But psychology gives us a different playbook. The healthy, productive way to live in an age of radical uncertainty has surprisingly little to do with prediction and everything to do with faith."

The world has shifted from named, measurable crises to a 'poly-unknown' characterized by probabilistic fog where wars, economies, and technology evolve unpredictably. Uncertainty is now the prevailing constant. Individuals often internalize external volatility, producing emotional osmosis and affective forecasting errors that cause living through disasters that haven't occurred. A healthier approach treats uncertainty as external data and focuses on disciplined faith—non-theological commitment and routines—that fosters focus, resilience, and practical performance. Detachment means acknowledging control limits while remaining engaged. Action converts optimism into influence by participating rather than passively worrying. Discipline and involvement anchor productivity amid radical uncertainty.

Read at Psychology Today