Make room for what we can’t understand

Make room for what we can’t understand is a principle for approaching the Yrr when mutual understanding seems out of reach. It distinguishes accepting the limits of human knowledge from allowing the Yrr’s values to govern, and presents retreat—not conquest or emotional identification—as a way to create room for a different encounter.

A limit on understanding

The argument begins from the prospect that humans and non-humans will never reach consensus. A comparison with Christians and Muslims makes disagreement familiar without suggesting that the groups are otherwise alike: the point is that understanding the Yrr may be no more attainable than reconciling deeply different systems of belief. The proposed response is therefore not to make comprehension a precondition for action. People may be unable to understand the Yrr emotionally and still choose to look beyond their own species’ perspective.

Retreat without surrender

Here, retreat means taking a step back from humanity’s self-centered view, not yielding to the Yrr’s values. The distinction matters: neither side’s values need simply hold sway over the other. Greater distance could let humans present the Yrr with a view of humanity different from the one the Yrr currently has. The expression thus frames restraint as an active change in perspective, with communication depending less on claiming access to the other’s mind than on revising how humanity makes itself visible.

Contact left unresolved

Jude Li objects that humans are already retreating by trying to make contact and asks whether that effort is enough. The reply turns the discussion from method to purpose: what does Li hope to gain from contact? Li says nothing. That silence leaves the desired outcome unstated, and keeps the principle from becoming a settled answer. Making room for the incomprehensible describes a possible stance, not a guarantee of agreement or a clear account of what contact will achieve.