Indeterminacy means, literally: not fixed, not settled, uncertain, indefinite.
It means that you don't know where you are.
How can it be otherwise, say the Buddhist teachings,
since you have no fixed or inherent identity
and are ceaselessly in process?
Life is filled with uncertainty. Chance events happen to all of us.
Each of us must take responsibility and make decisions.
None of us should be imposing our ego image on others.
There's another way to live.
Accept indeterminacy as a principle,
and you see your life in a new light,
as a series of seemingly unrelated jewel-like stories
within a dazzling setting of change and transformation.
Recognize that you don't know where you stand,
and you will begin to watch where you put your feet.
That's when the path appears.
~ John Cage
from Where the Heart Beats: John Cage,
Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists
by Kay Larson
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