Editors’ Introduction:

Dancing With Uncertainty

Glenn Aparicio Parry, Jürgen Werner Kremer, Cristina Kaplan

There is the old Chinese story about a farmer who buys a horse that then runs away. A neighbor remarks, “That’s bad news.” The farmer replies, “Good news, bad news, who can say?” The horse returns and brings along another horse. The farmer gives the second horse to his son, who rides it, but then badly breaks his leg. Everyone is consoling the farmer about the bad news, but he again says, “Good news, bad news, who can tell.” And sure enough, the emperor’s men come and take every able-bodied young man to fight in a war, but the farmer’s son is spared.

This story illustrates the uncertainty inherent in life. Dancing with Uncertainty, the title of this issue, was originally the title for a conference held in the summer of 2020 at the start of the worldwide pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic may be behind us, but in 2024 we were faced with an unexpected return of Mr. Trump to the White House. His relentless political actions, often erratic, if somewhat predictable (since based on Project 2025), have engendered anew a feeling of uncertainty, if not dread among many people in the U.S. and throughout the world. The current quality of uncertainty is distinct from the fundamental existential threat created by the coronavirus. Human agency looms much larger in the current political climate of uncertainty. Suddenly, the viability of the United States as a democratic republic is in question, as is the state of the entire world that seemed more predictable even just a few years ago.

This issue delves below the surface of contemporary political events to examine some of the root causes of instability in the world today. We explore a host of issues regarding uncertainty, from holding paradox and the integrity of opposites, to the stories and mythologies behind disruptions and chaos together with the possible good that can come out of it, to the promise and pitfalls of democratic republics and the visionary sovereignty of Native America that influenced the founding fathers of the United States.

L. E. Maroski delves deep into the heart of the certainty/uncertainty paradox, bringing terms that seem to be opposites together in a way that highlight their independence as well as their interdependence, and even their mutual co-arising. She briefly explores philosophical, psychological, sociological, and linguistic approaches, understanding that each approach offers a different type of map that enables us to see different aspects of the territory. She creates novel structures, not just neologisms, not as a synthesis, but as a lens to view complementarities as one.

Jürgen W. Kremer reminds us, whatever the overpowering forces of the modern West, the alternate stories of Indigenous provenance have always persisted. The originally empowering winds of the European Enlightenment traditions have presently turned into winds of delusion as we have entered the dead-end-street of the present polycrisis. The ongoing erasure of Indigenous traditions the world over highlights the suicidality of the Western model of progress. Kremer asserts that our primary challenge is not one of progress in any form, but of the need to change the story that we are acting in—from addictive obsession with progress and development to one of relationality, care, and balancing ourselves within the web of life. An interpretation of Kent Monkman’s monumental painting Welcoming the Newcomers, created for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, highlights the pluriversal worlds it depicts and the potential of reversals and remembrances. It evokes the continuation of alternate stories of visionary sovereignty embodied in Indigenous paradigms. The algorithms of stories, ceremonies, and place facilitate the emergence of grounded hope in the face of uncertainty.

James W. Perkinson discusses white supremacy, Christian nationalism, and male gun adoration as symptoms of an older aberration in our species evolution. He points to the indigenous roots that we all carry, the indigenous wisdom that is available to all of us. Disregarding this wisdom puts us in danger of self-destruction. He calls for a return to ancient knowledge that has worked for millions of years as remedy for our current polycrisis, our “rabid growth and ‘tech possession’”.

Laurelyn Baker, an Anishinaabe Sundancer, introduces a different perspective on dancing with uncertainty, asserting that sundancing is a creative, liminal space between the worlds. She chronicles some of the spiritual insights she gained as a sundancer, insights that have enabled her to face the challenges of today with equanimity and a sense of humor.

Catherine (Cat) Reynolds begins with an overarching myth of an old woman making a beautiful weaving who is then interrupted by a trickster figure that unravels her creation. In Native cultures, the trickster is generally accepted as a part of creation; everything emerges and returns to the flux and nothing is perfectly finished. She goes on to address the sacred way of tea and other perennial wisdom that must be remembered and reintegrated into modern knowledge if humanity is to survive and thrive. Such wisdom acknowledges kinship with the more-than-human world.

Glenn Aparicio Parry’s piece unveils the roots of uncertain leadership in today’s US politics. He chronicles how we began as far away from monarchy as possible with a system closely modeled after tribal government; yet since the Constitutional convention we have been gravitating toward ceding more and more power to the presidency. The second Trump presidency is the culmination of this trend, dangerously shifting the balance of power to the executive branch. Parry concludes that a second Constitutional convention is necessary if we are to correct the imbalances within our current tripartite government.

Be Scott puts the onus on We the People for rebalancing our system of government. “Crossing her own Delaware to protect the Constitution and its Bill of Rights,” she formed a “heartwarming” support group after the 2024 presidential election that has been meeting ever since. Her concept is to embrace the essence of democratic government, building community from the grass roots level. Her piece includes a fascinating look at Gouverneur Morris, a little-known historical figure who took a leadership role in crafting the Preamble to the Constitution.

Kelly Bulkeley and Jennifer Marie Lane discuss their analysis of 220 dreams gathered in 2024. It shows that the meaning of dreams extends beyond the personal sphere of individuals to social experiences and collective concerns. They find that people’s dreams of a politician represent a measure of the politician’s charisma. Their analysis shows that politically-themed dreaming appears to be distributed across the ideological spectrum.

John Heckel and Michael Bickford explore the difficulty of dialoguing across our current political divides. John facilitated a zoom group consisting of people with disparate life experiences and political viewpoints. This contribution is a creative braiding of facilitator reflections, participant statements, and poetry. It is a powerful illustration of how such a potentially hazardous dialogue can be facilitated

As the Chinese story of the farmer illustrates, uncertainty is an inevitable part of life. Quantum theories suggest an alert beyond this fundamental existential predicament by emphasizing the role of the observer in the arising of reality. If reality is indeed observer dependent, then the measurements, intentions, and ethics of the observer become an important issue: we as humans hold an important responsibility in our co-creative intra-actions. Our observational process is implicated and we need to be acutely aware of the ethico-ontoepistemological lens we are holding. Which paradigm are we in? Which story are we a part of? What is our responsibility to the web of relationality we are embedded in? Which framework are we using to respond to uncertainty? How do we dance, think, envision, story, and relate to each other? The articles of this issue may help to sharpen the depth of our self-reflection and ethical engagement with the worlds we are creating.