For the general health of our society, we should all welcome – or at least come to terms with – the relative discomfort of taking nothing for granted and questioning everything.

It is certainly more comfortable to go through life without asking questions. As the comedian Trae Crowder says in his show “Trash Daddy”:

I think it’d be great to be dumb… because dumb people are confident…. They don’t have existential crises, they don’t lie awake at night, staring at the ceiling thinking: “Am I blaming the Jews enough?” Dumb people don’t have doubt. Smart people are racked with doubt. Every day, smart people [are wondering]: “I think I’m going about this the right way, but what if I’m wrong though? What if there’s information I don’t yet have, what if there are factors I’ve not yet considered, what if I’m wrong about this?” …

Why you think [alcohol] is so popular with smart people? … Because [it’s] ‘liquid stupidity’… People call alcohol ‘liquid courage’: they try to act like it temporarily makes you confident. No, it temporarily makes you dumb, and confident is a side effect of dumb – that’s how it works. We’ve all experienced it: You go out one night you’re drinking… and you’re the life of the party, you’re killing it – in your head. [Then] you wake up the next morning [thinking]: “God, I’m such an… idiot! Why did I say all that dumb shit last night?” Well, imagine you never had to wake up that way, you never had to feel that shame. That’s what being dumb is.”

^{– Trae Crowder, stand-up comedy show “Trash Daddy”}

And although we sometimes wish we could be dumb, and rid ourselves of doubt, it is this constant questioning—of ourselves, of others, of this world—that allows our evolution, both as a species and as individuals. Stability is sometimes necessary to strengthen us, but it does not move us forward.

Perhaps the goal is to move through life like a voyage by boat: after facing rough seas, we enjoy anchoring in a peaceful bay, or even spending some time on solid ground. But to keep the boat from deteriorating, and not to lose our reflexes, sooner or later we must set sail again. Going from island to island, meeting different people—family, lovers, friends, colleagues. Some for part of the journey, others just for a moment, others still for a lifetime.

But to breathe, to take in the most incredible landscapes, to discover our limits or become aware of our strengths, we must climb back on board again and again—sometimes despite ourselves. Little by little, we end up finding our own balance in the constant motion of the waves, the currents, the winds. We find our own rhythm, with others and without them. But we can never quite lower our guard or fully let go—lest we fall… into boredom.

(Title quote taken from Trae Crowder’s stand-up comedy show)