Winter 2025
Vol. 35 No. 1

Dancing With Uncertainty

Glenn Aparicio Parry, Jürgen Werner Kremer, Cristina Kaplan, Editors

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.

Editors’ Introduction

Glenn Aparicio Parry, Jürgen Werner Kremer, Cristina Kaplan

Integrating Perspectives on the Certainty-Uncertainty Paradox

Lisa Maroski

There Always Has Been an Alternate Story

Jürgen Werner Kremer

Fascist America or Sacred America: The Choice is Ours

Glenn Aparicio Parry

The Living Heart of the Constitution

Be Scott

Get the print version:
Volume 35, Number 1 • Winter 2025

Dancing With Uncertainty
Glenn Aparicio Parry, Jürgen Werner Kremer, Cristina Kaplan, Editors

ReVision Publishing price: $15.00 (plus shipping)