Apparatus Of Change - Chapter 113 (Book Three Start)
Added 2023-09-13 06:38:17 +0000 UTCComments
It occurs to me that hope is the counterpart to resiliency. You can't prepare for every "black swan" contingency -- there are too many, and the odds of any given one happening are too small. But you can build resiliency into yourself and your community; and that resiliency enables you to respond usefully to any "black swan" that may occur. And you can't count on any piece of good fortune -- there aren't nearly enough, and the odds of any given one happening are too small. But you can build hope into yourself and your community, and that hope enables you to respond usefully to any piece of good fortune that may occur.
Mikki Phoenix
2023-10-04 19:06:06 +0000 UTC"Everyone knows. We're doomed. But we're going to fight back anyway." And that's how you do it. That's why hope is the most fundamental survival trait. Because hope is what compensates for a realistic assessment (the third most fundamental survival trait) that can't possibly take into account impossibly good fortune. (The second most important survival trait is trust, because it permits collaboration and community. It only misses being first by a hair, and that's because a trusting community that has lost hope is no better off than an individual who has lost hope.) I could argue it the other way, of course. Trust is the most essential survival trait, because it enables community. And community bolsters hope -- and mandates it, for the paladins in the community. A paladin on her own may, in extremity, lose hope. A paladin with someone to protect must not, and will not, let go of that hope, however grim. And now I've made myself cry, and changed my own mind, because: "And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." I say "trust", the NRSV says "love". Tomayto, tomahto. The most important survival trait is trust, because it enables community. "But *we're* going to fight back anyway." The second-most important survival trait is hope; ask Dr. Wiseman why. And the third is a realistic assessment, because "faith" only works if there's a higher power making sure that everything come out right -- and counting on that leads to the guy in the hurricane, praying to God for rescue, and turning down the car, the boat, and the helicopter. Realistic assessment, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.
Mikki Phoenix
2023-10-04 18:56:53 +0000 UTCWelcome back, I am so happy to read this bleak wonderful chapter
Matthew MacKenzie
2023-10-01 23:42:45 +0000 UTCYesss!!! I love this Lil crystal doode
MurkyTruths
2023-09-13 07:50:17 +0000 UTC
