I was forced to take an Uber today, and the driver was talking about how wonderful it is not knowing what his next ride may bring. He later says that if he worried, then he would be in a state of paralysis; for he woke up this morning and asked God to take his will.
This has the effect of giving up control which would be interesting to see if it reduces stress to help with happiness and health. This doesn’t mean that I endorse the belief in God. Because there are a lot of psychological tricks that we could use to reduce stress.
Feynman’s video on how believing in God is too self-serving to be taken seriously came to mind. I love the part when he gets emotional and says:
The earth, he came to the earth; one of the aspects of God is that he came to the earth mind you and look at what’s out there; it isn’t in proportion. [Italics used to point out Feynman’s accentuation.]
Even better is when he says this:
I can live with doubt and uncertainty of not knowing. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I’m not absolutely sure of anything. For instance, I’m not sure if it means anything to even ask why we are here. I don’t feel frightened not knowing. Say by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose. But this is the way it really is as far as I can tell. It doesn’t frighten me.
