I just finished reading “How to Live -or- The Life of Montaigne” by Sarah Bakewell. Renaissance writers were obsessed with the question “How should we live life?” Michael Eyquem de Montaigne, considered the first “modern” individual, was no exception. Reading about his discovery of skepticism, and more specifically the skepticism of Pyrrhonism, had an intellectually rejuvenating effect on me.

I’ll save the story for you, listen to the philosophy of Skepticism, but I’ll share with you the endgame.

“All I know is that I don’t know anything, and I’m not even sure about that.” – Pyrrhonism Skepticism Said

This group of philosophers enjoyed using a one-word answer to each and every question: “epekhowhich in Greek means “suspense judgment”.

There is an incongruous nature of modern society. The complexity of everything that surrounds us increases day by day; Specialists reign and generalists starve, but everyone has an opinion on everything. How is this possible? Furthermore, we place this expectation on ourselves perhaps without even realizing it.

What do you think about global warming? What about immigration reform? Our criminal justice system? The nuclear energy? Sino-US international relations?

These are complex topics that very few of us have spent much time researching or learning about. Furthermore, there may be an infinite number of answers to these increasingly complex scenarios, but there seems to be intense pressure to select the “correct” answer from two available options. However, as social creatures, we take social cues from our peers and if everyone else has an opinion on “everything”, I guess I will too. I find this exhausting.

I think we would all reduce our stress levels if we didn’t incessantly hold on to an unattainable standard of having an answer for everything. Say “I don’t know” or even “epekho”: I suspend the concept.

Extend this further, as the Greek skeptics did, also our reactions to events in our lives. We are obsessed with categorizing events, moment by moment, as “good” or “bad.” We have no idea if being fired from our jobs is “good” or “bad” – time will tell a story that will surely be very different from the one in your head today, you know. The consequences of events in our lives (stuck in traffic, late for an appointment, poor performance during a presentation, closing the deal, receiving (or not) receiving the promotion) are never really clear to us at this point.

Could it be refreshing to try to react with “epekho” in response to the events of the day?

I’m not sure we realize the damage we do to our psyche when we hold ourselves to an omnipotent standard. I challenge you, for just one day, to “suspend judgment”… take the weight off your shoulders, let the universe unfold as it should, and reveal the consequences to you. We are not the judge and jury of every detail of our lives, so why do we burden ourselves with that illusory responsibility? And we certainly don’t have to be experts on the world’s most complex and pressing problems. Note that I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t have an opinion, I’m simply reminding you that you don’t have to. He may even be well informed and still epekho (suspend judgment).

Try this for a day. Say to yourself: “I don’t know”… “I’m not sure”… “I guess we’ll see”… “I can’t wait to see how this plays out” Take the chains of the obsessive need to categorize every minute detail of your life into categories of “good” and “bad” off your shoulders. Rest your mind and watch your stress level plummet almost instantly.