Without hope we cannot exist. But in the world of today, hope has become very difficult to sustain: the threats to humankind multiply like rabbits. We all know: it has become a huge pain to read the newspaper and, as a result, many of us have completely stopped to consume news.
But how do people still manage to survive mentally? Let’s look at some popular „solutions“:
- The most common is the perception filter. People simply ignore reality and live like all these threats did not exist. If they are reminded of their perception filter (which makes a quite ridiculous impression on those who don’t have it) they react aggressively. These people manage to live without hope because they deny the need for it. They cannot be blamed. It's a natural reaction which allows the mind to survive in adverse conditions.
- Then there are those who are willing to look at the dire facts. But of course in this case they need a strong source of hope. Alone it is very difficult to come up with something which makes sense. But still these people often develop ideas of what should be done to evade the disaster. As isolated individuals they cannot be realized. But if they join a group of likeminded people they have an option: they can create hope from a vision by convincing others (i.e. outside this group) to agree to it. But usually it is very difficult to convince a large amount of people. Especially the perception filter (1.) people are very hard to convince, as they simply don’t see the need to implement their vision. Therefore, after some futile attempts, these groups often become militant: they must create their hope from a vision of eliminating those who do not share their vision.
- Militance ultimately leads to harming or killing people. For some people it is not possible for religious reasons to harm. But as the pure religion cannot offer enough hope anymore, they subconsciously start to combine it with strategy (2.) to add another strong source of hope. They bend the rules of their religion to be able to eliminate the perceived enemy group. Now with the moral permission of the God in which they believe! Ultimately they invent or adopt perverted and violent variants of their religions.
You see: it is a very dangerous thing if people cannot find a sensible source of hope! This can actually kill us all. We become either ignorant or dangerous. But how did we end up in the current terrible situation (which is actually almost hopeless)? Let’s examine the important mechanisms at work here:
- The perception filter of course makes things worse. It prevents the implementation of solutions. And if you don’t solve problems but just ignore them, then - of course - things get worse
- The tendency of humans to form groups of likeminded people (2. above) is also problematic. The individuals simply adopt the strategy of the group and stop thinking. And all the efforts go into activities to convince or eliminate the people outside the group.
- There are two particularly interesting groups: the Left and the Right political groups. The Right promote a backwards oriented vision: if we only could go back to the good old times things would get better again. Of course we cannot go backwards in time, for very fundamental reasons: the second law of thermodynamics states that time always runs in one direction only, forward, for all observers. So their vision is an illusion which - of course - manifests itself also on a macroscopic level (i.e. people!). But their belief has the effect that they don’t feel the need for a future. They therefore stopped thinking about it. They even actively suppress any novel ideal which could bring change. The Left, on the other hand, promote a forward oriented strategy: they do have a (naive) vision for the future. But as this vision is clearly defined and immutable, they feel the need to bend human knowledge to make it fit their vision. Every discovery which could be a threat for their particular vision of the future, must be suppressed. Therefore, as their thinking is directed towards the pollution of knowledge too, it is equally useless.
In the end, only few people thinking are left. And worse: thinking is more and more even forbidden, because there is always a group which feels threatened by the new ideas.
In a way we checkmated ourselves! But the figures which seem to threaten us on the board (and prevent us from making a good move), they are identical with ourselves. It is our compulsory need for hope which makes us stop thinking and this is what makes things worse.
What's left of our thinking today, is totally weaponized: we use it only to fight the enemy, not really to find new ideas and solutions. New ideas threaten our fixed opinions which get reinforced and cemented by the group to which we belong.
All this weaponized thinking has cluttered our knowledge with millions of items which are more weapon than truth.
Is there a way out?
I think a first step is to become aware of these processes. But I understand that they are extremely difficult to accept. The reason is - of course - that accepting them means losing hope (or facing reality for the perception filter people)!
Therefore it is extremely important to find alternative sources of hope. But we must also be willing to see them when we stumble over them. Several articles in my blog show that, contrary to popular belief, it is nobody’s fault that things go so horribly wrong today. Now this view would clearly deprive us of our enemies and therefore our source of hope. But we should also see, that this alternative way to see humankind also offers fantastic new possibilities. So we could create hope out of this too!
When you read here, you should therefore suppress the urge to classify my thoughts whether they are compatible with the goals of your current peer group. Relax and try to see them as part of a completely new path. Try to see the possibilities for a new world and not the problems they could create in the current world.
In my blog I try to punch a few holes into the dark sky cluttered with sacrosanct weapon-ideas. I try to make a small space of the blue sky visible again. I will then try to convince other people to dare thinking freely and without fear again - and to open an even larger piece of sky.
Animated GIF „Hope“ by GUM
Image on top: Shutterstock, PopTika
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