Hope

Before the server crash (2004), we had begun what I thought was an interesting discussion about skepticism vs. spiritualism (or science vs. religion, whatever terms you care to use). I had remarked that some cutting-edge science, most notably quantum physics and string/brane theory, was treading somewhat on the edges of what we like to think of as “hard science.” I also commented that various scientific experiments tended to support the idea that the role of the observer can and does affect the outcome of not only the experiment, but also the instruments of measurement. What I hadn’t mentioned yet is that Biology, which most people tend to think of as a science, is probably the least science-like of any of the sciences.

Biology doesn’t have “laws” like physics, but it does have theories, such as evolution, survival of the fittest, theories about instincts and so forth, which gradually grew into another science, psychology. The problem with psychology is that no scientist even today can say with any real confidence that science is anywhere near totally understanding everything there is to know about this thing we call the brain, nor the possibilities and potential of the human brain. Yes, we have theories about learning and development, we even have whole libraries of books describing various theories and causes of thought and emotion and learning and how those things take place. Some theories are better than others, of course, but some are absolute bullshit.

Nowhere does science attempt to explain human hope. Unquenchable eternal hope that the human spirit is perfectible; that there will come a time when all human beings can live together peacefully; that everyone who is hungry or thirsty will be fed and have water; that the world can be better; that life can be better; that families, marriages, loved ones can be more whole, more caring, more kind… we’ve been disappointed so often, our history as a species is so depressing, and human nature is so complex, but still we have hope. Are we all simply deluded? I don’t think so.

Some of us persist in our belief in hope. It is not easy to have hope in this world of ours, but unless we hold on to this basic belief in the goodness and kindness of others, unless we can experience the compassion of and have compassion for other human beings, then we lose the most precious of all human commodities, hope. Holding onto hope is not easy, but it is essential to the human condition; it’s absence is detrimental to human beings. One may, indeed, die if lacking hope.

We are immersed in a world that, to say the least, does not go out of its way to reinforce hope. During these days of a senseless war, many of us will likely aim to increase our hope, to share it with others, to make it grow. Perhaps the evolution of hope will be for human beings to develop a set of personal beliefs that is not “blind,” “destructive,” or “hypocritical”… but one that is intelligent and life-affirming. Perhaps there will be no “leaders,” or “priests,” or other structures of power over other human beings. I have hope.