The Romantic
English poet John Keats first coined the term negative capability in a letter
to his brother defining it as follows; “…when
a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any
irritable reach after fact and reason…”.
Most of us are
not that comfortable with ambiguity, but the ability to hold two contradictory
ideas in one’s mind (or feelings in one’s heart), at the same time, without
deciding that one of them is true and the other false, is what is at the heart of negative capability.
This is important
because the foundation of our lives, whether we like it or not, is paradox. So
the ability to contemplate the world without prematurely trying to reconcile
its contradictory aspects, or fit them into closed and rational systems, is also
important.
Holding this
space for uncertainty—living in the tension between any two contradictory
feelings or ideas—allows for creativity, for what is unique to emerge.
Ultimately,
negative capability is the über expression of empathy.
Why, you ask,
does any of this matter?
Because asking
good questions—living the questions, as Rilke put it—is always better than
assuming answers.
For often our
assumptions are not born of reality, but of our attempts to avoid it—making
things what we need them to be, rather than accepting them for what they are
(very often ambiguous). And that is where much of our pain and suffering
emanate from. Who needs it?
Cultivating a
healthy respect for mystery—the unknowable, the ambiguous in life—is necessary
for moving through it with a little intelligence and grace.
Embrace your contradictions.
