Doubt

The motto of my graduating class was "Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth." Archimedes supposedly said it, though I remember something about a lever long enough being necessary. Not the greatest quote but better than "Hakuna Matata" by any number of Olympic class discus throws. Most of this is beside the point. I was just trying to be clever and original.

My concern is what that "place to stand" is. Is it economic security? A great thing to have but hardly something a high school diploma can guarantee you and not an ideal position to move the earth from. Discontentment is what breeds a desire to change the world.

No, I believe my place to stand is my convictions, those things I believe in so strongly that I wholly subordinate myself to their propagation. Spice of Life is, in part, an attempt to discover what these things are as I work them over, consider them and present my thoughts to others in a public forum. But how sure can I be about any of these things. Descartes worried about some demon or malevolent being obscuring the truth from him. I worry that I am too limited to realize it. I'm not perfect, and I've been wrong and screwed things up before. It's certainly not unlikely that what little reasoning I apply to my thoughts here is flawed. What reassurance do I have that the convictions I hold now aren't wrong? I can't even be sure of the effects of even my most minor actions and what their repercussions may be (stupid muderous butterflies in China and all).

This lack of certainty disturbs me. As much as I'd like to move the world, it be nice to merely exist with some level of confidence in what I do and believe in. Where can I find it?