November 20th 2020

Hope - where do we go from here?

On the eve of Christmas (the cocaine of our culture), at the end of this dangerous amusement park ride of a year, civilization finds itself in a precarious position. Of course it always has; nothing is ever truly stable; tough times have always presented themselves. In fact, times have been much worse in the past, if we are judging by life expectancy, war, or hunger (the list could go on). But more confusing? Precarious? Existential? I think not. When in human history has global consciousness been so tightly knit, communication so (almost too) easy, technology so unpredictable? 2020, as it is still unfolding, is a year that has taken me aback, humbled, and made me reflect on the human condition, society, and myself. I suspect (and hope) these feelings are not exclusive to me. 2020, in all of its wisdom, is doing an effective job in turning me into what I would somewhat call an adult. Perspectives, habits, feelings, priorities; they’ve all been transformed. Surely others in the younger age group feel the same?

I write this with a purpose. The purpose is to address the confusion, precariousness, existentialism, and dare I say anger, present in the world at this time. To address this problem, there is a central thesis I plan to propose. Not that the thesis is of the utmost importance to any direct solution, and not even that it is specific and non-abstract; yet it is the key. There are several metaphorical black clouds hanging over humanity’s head, haunting us in our collective nightmares, moving with us when we try to turn away. The Coronavirus just happens to be the newest one. Another black cloud, a fairly large one at that, will soon turn 80 years old, it being the nuclear bomb and the risks that it poses to life of all kinds. A more recent one, although it was known of before we ever learned to split the atom, is the rapid pace at which the planet is warming. There are new clouds forming seemingly everyday. Then there are the black clouds that only rain on certain people, leaving others free of concern. Aliens are amongst us, corrupting governments and stealing information. Capitalism is a failed economic system that needs to be dismantled. People are becoming more insular and antisocial due to the rise of social media and the internet. Forget whether or not these black clouds are grounded in reality. The fact is they likely exist over the heads of millions of people on Earth. To combat the black clouds, both the ones over all of us and over just a few, we need (and here’s the central thesis) a sense of light, passion and ultimately, hope towards the future. Hope, in all of its forms and manifestations, has undoubtedly been a core reason why humanity has miraculously
overcome, time and time again, the trials and tribulations that have routinely presented
themselves inside this material world. It is not blind, ignorant hope that I am referring to. That may be more dangerous then collective pessimism. Instead I mean to say “Hope with a Plan”. Hope that with a plan and a passionate population, a solution to any problem is within reach. Hope that the problems of today and tomorrow can be solved with rational thinking and enthusiastic attention, and that the future will look brighter because of it. There is no
brightness, no sunshine, until we have hope that the black clouds that are following our every move will one day perish, not because of chance or luck, but because we believe that human intellect, cooperation, persistence and spirit can and will discover a solution that is worth fighting for. You see, hope is a self fulfilling prophecy in that way; with hope comes interest and excitement, with interest and excitement comes ideas and solutions, and with ideas and solution comes hope. The opposite is true for despair and hopelessness. The only way this cycle begins, the cycle that has been present through so many ups and downs in the past, is to spread hope throughout the people of the world when there is no interest, excitement, and motivation. When problems seem insurmountable, and time appears short, hope with a plan is the only way.

Yet when I search for hope, it seems absent.

David Graeber, an extremely interesting anthropologist (who sadly died in September), did a thorough lecture about something similar to all of this. He explained that in his childhood and long before it (he suspected), the future was a kind of magical fantasy. Back then the future was thought to hold unbelievable innovations, breathtaking lifestyles, and maybe one day the end of scarcity. People believed this; they believed that their grand kids would drive flying cars across the skyway (highway in the sky). In the year 2020, what do you believe the future holds, say, the year 2100? Is the image unpleasant? If so, where did the hope go? Did it just evaporate from our collective conscience? The confusing and quite saddening part about this is that there is still great interest, desperate as it may be, to make the world better (and to one day build that skyway). There are even ideas! Good ones, too. Somehow we have managed to skip a step in our self fulfilling prophecy by disregarding hope for the future, haphazardly throwing our interest and ideas at whoever will take them. There are theories as to why this is (the rise of consumerism, stagnant technological innovation, consistent economic collapse, nihilism and existentialism, geopolitical changes, etc), but how and why hopelessness for the future became the norm is not of the greatest concern to me. What is much more important is the question of how to get hope back, regain it, and use it for good.

We must learn from history. We must learn from the idea of human progress, an idea that is
very prevalent in the philosophy of modernity, that human society and culture is continually improving and upwardly evolving. Forget whether the claim is true or not, because it probably isn't (given that we can observe digression in the past and even in our own time). The point is that they had incredible hope that humanity could progress, and by the self fulfilling prophetic forces laid out early, they did. Myths, like never ending human progress, can serve a purpose. We must learn from the end of the enslavement of human beings in countries like the United States and Britain, among many others. How could the abolitionists and the slaves themselves have accomplished what they did without hope that it was possible, without hope that a better world and life was possible? They couldn't have. We must learn from the years following the great depression, where, as Noam Chomsky says,

“There was a very striking difference from today, judging from memories and what I've read. There was a feeling of hopefulness, which was quite different from now”.

If there was ever a time to be glum and down on future prospects, it would have been in the mid 1930’s, and yet, for some reason, hope remained strong.

So where is hope now? What’s with the pessimism about what 2100 will look like? There are
massive, global problems, I understand that, and the situation is unique to our era; many would even say that if we don't radically change the systems in which we live and work, there won't be a future for the species. But why is that met with hopelessness? I see it as a challenge. I see it as a chance to solve these problems for future generations. Hopelessness does nothing but dig your own grave when it is not yet pre-deterministically dug. Hope, on the other hand, can create passion and motivation to actually go out and do something about it. The greater the challenge or threat to the species (or other life forms, for that matter) should be met with even greater hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Do you see the light? I do. It may be blurry, and impossible to stare at, but I see it. I see it because I chose to look; I chose, and continue to choose, to go into the tunnel and crawl through with hope that one day my and everyone else's hands will reach the light, where we can finally pull ourselves out. Avoiding the tunnel, or pretending like the tunnel is non-existent and that seeing the light is not important, helps no one but those who find comfort in seeing others who share their own misery. We must grab ahold of these people, no matter who they are, and show them that entering the tunnel and slowly crawling through is the only way to eventually get to the ultimate goal of seeing the light and reaching the other side. This adventure can only take place if there is hope, hope that the tunnel has an end, and, speaking non-metaphorically, that humanity's many problems have solutions. I have hope that in 2100 human life will be thriving, because I believe we are smart enough to create a plan, and I believe in hope itself.

But where do we go from here? We are in 2020, not 2100. The existence of sadness and despair is evidence. Suicide, drug use (opium, meth), street fighting, reckless environmental policy - all common signs of a deeply hopeless society, exist in great degree today. From this point, we work upwards. First, we must bring together those who have hope, and therefore those who have passion and motivation. From there, we spread that hope across the land, and throughout the minds of the population. It doesn't even need to be a unified vision of hope; that's to be debated. All that matters is building a spark, an excitement, a community, that has hope for the year 2100 (this obviously excludes a vision of hope that includes genocide or the purposeful destruction of human life and society). Observe two of America’s most popular politicians of all time: Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Ignore for a second whether you agree with either of them or not, and note that when I say popular, I mean in terms of the excitement that they generate. Both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have a base of supporters that are madly enthusiastic about their proposed vision of America. You know why? Because they present an image of hope. Of course they do it in radically different ways; Trump uses cheerful slogans and a return to a fabled past, while Sanders promises to pass legislation that is widely popular among citizens (like medicare for all). Both of them shout to their followers that there is light to be seen, and a future to be excited about. Learn from this. Share your hope throughout your University, Church, Household or Workplace, but make sure you do not sound blind or ignorant. The hope I am referring to is not delusion or the ignorance of facts, as stated earlier. Hope is about recognizing that it is always better to search for the light (for solutions) and believe it is out there then to close your eyes and avoid the tunnel entirely because it may appear frightening.

Where do we go from here? We go towards each other, with hope in our eyes and love in our hearts.