While on my paddle board early one morning, a thick fog rolled in, limiting what I could see to what was within a few feet. Unable to orient myself to the sun or familiar landmarks, I drifted, uncertain where I was in the lake and in which direction I should paddle. As I waited for the fog to lift, I engaged in a centering practice of noticing my feeling state, both physical and emotional. I noticed as fear arose and faded, as my body tensed and relaxed. I contemplated how I was relating to the fog and noted an unease with not knowing where I was in the moment. The lake where I was paddling was small and I was always within sight of the shore, except when the fog blocked my view, so I was safe. The incident prompted an inquiry into my ability to be uncertain, even for a short time.
In modern Western discourse, certainty seems to reign. From science to politics to religion, one must be unwavering in what they believe they know or be called a charlatan. Can a new animism experience of fog shift the prevailing wariness towards uncertainty? This paper aims to position the philosophy and practice of new animism as a remedy for the need for certainty. The human relationship with fog will be explored, both as a physical manifestation and as a metaphor for uncertainty. Some new animist approaches to embracing and cultivating uncertainty will be presented and then applied to the experience of being surrounded by fog. In addition to philosophical and psychological perspectives, a few sources from ecology and biology have been included to highlight beneficial relationships between more-than-humans and fog that challenge the typical human way of thinking about fog. My experience in the fog will be reexamined through several new animism frames before considering if insights from that experience can be generalized to other encounters with uncertainty.