Daily Connect: From Hope to Hopeless to Hopelessness?

The iconic Barack Obama "HOPE" poster was cleverly remade and used by protesters in Libya this last week depicting Moammar Gadhafi with the word "HOPELESS" emblazoned at the bottom. Gadhafi, who makes no qualms about firing at peaceful protesters or handing out wads of cash as desperate and depraved measures to save his crumbling regime, certainly represents the antithesis of future or freedom or forward. Funny enough, IDP has been contemplating a similar poster for several months now with Pema Chödrön and the word "HOPELESSNESS."

Certainly not for the mild-mannered, Pema's somewhat shocking advocacy of hopelessness is particularly fascinating after a successful presidential campaign invoking precisely the opposite. Not meaning to diminish the importance of tirelessly committing oneself towards working for a better world, the appeal of hopelessness is more about engaging with the world as it is, rather than wishing, desiring...hoping...for it to be otherwise. "Without giving up hope that there is somewhere better to be, that there is someone better to be, we will never relax with where are or who we are."

In other words, hope as more than just wishful thinking can't really exist without living in a space of hopelessness or all we're doing is living detached and oblivious to the real suffering and opportunities that face us.

Yeah, what Pema said. Happy Tuesday loves.

If hope and fear are two sides on one coin, so are hopelessness and confidence. If we're willing to give up hope that insecurity and pain can be exterminated, then we can have  the courage to relax with the groundlessness of our situation.  This is the first step on the path. - Pema Chödrön