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“From Pandora’s Box, where all the ills of humanity swarmed, the Greeks drew out hope after all the others, as the most dreadful of all. I know no more stirring symbol; for, contrary to the general belief, hope equals resignation. And to live is not to resign oneself.” –Albert Camus
(painting by Addie Hirschten)
Maybe there is a hope that is not the usual one. A hope without hope? After all, to hold to the idea that there is no hope is still a sort of fixed position, something to hold onto. What if there is a sort of hope based on profound awareness of one’s own ignorance, and hence the uncertainty of all things? How can I be sure that hope is illusory, unreal, never productive of anything? Am I just hoping that there is no hope to avoid being disappointed? Am I afraid to be open to the unknown, without any guarantee that my hope can be fulfilled? Maybe there is a hope that is a wild, free gesture to the unknown, a surrender to unknown possibilities. Do I fear giving myself over to mystery, come what may? Is my stance of hopelessness an imaginary island in a vast ocean of the unknown? What would it take to set sail without map or compass? Is that what meditation is about? Who knows what might be out there beyond my self-created limits…..
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The real hope (if there is such) might turn out to be real and intrinsic to the deep design of the Universe. It could turn out that hopelessness was an illusion due to my ignorance of deeper realities. It might even turn out that a smidgen of ordinary hope is necessary to open the door to deeper types of hoping, praying, manifesting unseen possibilities….who knows. One would have to risk exploring to find out. It could be a great adventure! If the quantum world turns out to be so strange and unexpected, who knows what dreams may come in a suspension of ordinary thought processes? Back to self-emptying, meditation, uncharted waters…..
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