The Hope Illusion

[FUNKbrs]

[I recently received a request to begin releasing the Hatements, a series of trifold philosophical pamplets distributed at a small number of punk rock shows. This is the second release to Newgrounds writing forum of that series.]

In a world where everyone has a story, there has to be some sort of filter to keep people from wasting their time listening to stories that will have no positive impact on their lives. In most cases, that filter is whether or not the story was of a person who succeeded, or a person who is a failure. Failures are forgotten, but success stories continue long after the people who inspire them are gone. However, what is success without contentment? Who is willing to admit that the financial success they fought so hard to achieve brought less happiness than they had thought? The perception that things could be better but will not be is a cruel one indeed. Content people have no need of hope; they do not wait for joy that has already arrived.

In third world countries, it is not uncommon to find people living off of half a cup of dried rice a day. To someone who grew up with so much food obesity was a greater threat than starvation, this sounds like true misery. However, how happy would such a person be, being constantly reminded of people who had more than enough food while having so little themselves? Surely such a person would be driven to insanity!

However, the starving person has something more valuable than gold; toughness. Who is the better more secure person, one who can have their rich food taken from them, or one who can survive on almost nothing? The person that lives on the edge of starvation has value in themselves. That value can never be taken away short of death. Contentment requires stability. The person that eats rich food is spoiled to luxury; that person's happiness is subject to the whims of economy. The person that can survive on almost nothing can be content with almost nothing.

Everyone loves to hear the story of the poor immigrant that went from surviving on half a cup of rice a day to being a rich doctor in a foreign country. However, it was the skills that were learned in poverty that led to success. To hope for success is to miss the point of life; being content at the process of life. Are the great stories of success those of the child who left their homeland for greener pastures, or of the parent that never had a chance raising a child who rose above? The law of conservation of energy states that the energy of the effect is equal to the energy of the cause. If finding joy in the moment when all vain measures of success are denied inspires someone else to succeed, then that success belongs just as much to the inspiration as it does to the inspired.

It creates great satisfaction in the exercise of personal power to create something of great value from something of little or no positive value. The man who makes gold from gold is merely a banker. The man who makes gold from rocks owns a gold mine! Why do the rich go to live in tents in the wilderness on vacation? Why do the indolent aristocracy go hunting and fishing? Because life taken from little resources is more satisfying than life taken from many! It requires no personal strength to find a reason to work if there is a great promised reward. Great personal strength is required to work on what seems futile. It is the very richest of people who go to live with the poor looking for happiness and self fulfillment.

A person's full potential is reached in the moment, not the future. Hope is concerned with things out of the self in a future that will always be outside of the current moment; this is a terrible place to find joy! Joy in the moment comes from spite, from looking at long odds and making an attempt doomed to failure out of sheer stubbornness. Swinging an axe once at a tree yields not a single chip. The second swing, also, may yield nothing. If success was hoped for early, disappointment is sure to follow. However, chopping in spite of little success reveals suddenly the entire tree has fallen!

The person who only finds joy at the successful action feels no joy during the work. What is the purpose of despair, other than as a reaction to the lie of hope? Without hope, failure is impossible. Finding joy in the work, asking no reward, this person will be content in both success and failure. Finding joy in success, despair is found in failure, and happiness lasts only as long as success continues. Living in spite of death, those doomed to die find joy. Living in hope of life, those doomed to die find despair.

The most inspirational person is not the person who is successful and happy, but the person who is happy regardless of success. Even the successful are envious of the happy. Why should the rich oppress the poor if the rich have contentment? Why should the poor feel oppressed if they have contentment the rich envy? Comparing oneself to others is the path to failure. The child joys in aging; coming nearer to death, the moment is felt more intensely. Finding joy in the moment, joy is felt more intensely. From what past success can a child find joy? Having lost the joy of the moment, resting on past success, the elderly fear death and go weeping to the grave. Who is more inspirational than the old man who has not forgotten the source of joy from his childhood?

Finding joy in hope, the moment escapes us. As the moment of our lives slips through our fingers, we know nothing but despair even in our hour of greatest success. Expecting as much as possible, what positive thing is left for a surprise? Expecting absolutely nothing but death, even the next breath is a joyous celebration! Filled with joy in spite of death, even the most successful are inspired. It is the joy of the sick child that inspires the healthy, not the elderly who lives far beyond their prime after years of wealth and luxury. In fact, it is the elderly who survived deprivation that have the greatest wisdom to envy. It is the old who have suffered much and have been left with nothing that have the most precious wealth of all!

Even the wealthiest person should count their past success as nothing, and see only death in their future. Complacency is the first step to boredom, boredom the first step to depression, depression the first step to despair. Without exercise, the body and mind atrophy. Resting on great success causes the slow destruction of body and mind! When hope is realized, it fades into the past. Working hard for the sake of work alone, the mind and body become strong. Any outward success from this process is merely a reflection of the reality of the self.

Realizing the difference between reflections of value and value itself, the hope illusion is destroyed. Having achieved maximum success in contentment, what more could possibly be hoped for?

[Spilda-Bongwata]

Were you ever at a point in your life where you could not deny you are unintelligent?

If so, what was it that made you blossom into the human being you are today? Do you ever slip up in conversation?

[FUNKbrs]

At 5/31/11 01:00 PM, Spilda-Bongwata wrote: Were you ever at a point in your life where you could not deny you are unintelligent?

I was unaware I've ever made claims to being intelligent. The crux of my argument is in fact that NOONE is intelligent, and anyone who percieves themselves to be so is self-decieving.

If so, what was it that made you blossom into the human being you are today? Do you ever slip up in conversation?

Human beings don't blossom. They rot and die.

Also, your name is "Spilled the bongwater." I approve of this message.

[DeftAndEvil]

Interesting--but the same old Funk I suppose. There are some fallacies in your logic, especially posing the dilemma as black and white; life obviously isn't so simple. Still, it is starkly refreshing.

[FUNKbrs]

At 6/1/11 03:59 PM, DeftAndEvil wrote: Interesting--but the same old Funk I suppose. There are some fallacies in your logic, especially posing the dilemma as black and white; life obviously isn't so simple. Still, it is starkly refreshing.

Yeah, but consider the standard I'm measuring this against is Chick Tracts and Nazi propaganda.

It's not like I'm writing a college thesis.

[Dubbi]

At 5/31/11 03:56 PM, FUNKbrs wrote:
Human beings don't blossom. They rot and die.

This is a terrific line. I haven't had time to read the piece, though I will eventually, but I just wanted to express my satisfaction with this statement. Makes me visualize an exuberant, natural garden juxtaposed with a failing, chaotic human civilization fraught with blood, disease and death.