The Falsity of Hope
Hope is a last resort, an admission of defeat. You hope when there is nothing left to do, nothing you can do: you can’t act, repair, work, correct or strive anymore, so you wish that things could go your way.
Don’t hope. Never hope.
Hope is a last resort, an admission of defeat. You hope when there is nothing left to do, nothing you can do: you can’t act, repair, work, correct or strive anymore, so you wish that things could go your way. All you’re left with is your powerlessness and the hope that cosmic coincidences will align the world in your favour. When you hope, it means that you have given up.
They say that hope is the last to die, and for good reason: it outlasts any other sentiment and feeling. When you no longer have the desire to seek a way to victory, you can only hope that it will be delivered to you by divine intervention. When you have exhausted every possible option and possibility, you can only hope that a way out will be revealed. When all seems lost and forsaken, the only resort is hope.
If you find yourself in such a situation, then you can hope. If you are truly in despair, incapable and impotent, and you have honestly done everything in your power, then you have the right to hope in forces beyond yourself. But to hope when there are still alternatives unexplored, when there is still something you can do, when the only thing that is lacking is your will to try, then hope becomes a crime and a deceit. Hope will show you a world that doesn’t exist, where everything goes in the best way possible and where your deeds are justly rewarded, all of it with a magic-like veneer. If you trust in your hopes, if you come to believe in them as a future that hasn’t happened yet, then you will neglect the work and effort that are necessary to make them come true. If you start hoping before you have done all that you can and must do, you will be led astray.
So do not hope. Do not hope that the girl will say yes when you ask her out: know that you have done everything you can to make her want to be with you. Do not hope that the exam will be easy: know that you have studied and prepared to the best of your abilities. And if you have not studied, do not hope things will go your way: accept and know that they won’t. Either way, there is no need to false illusions and hope. Do not trust in the easy way offered by hope, but instead know, research, think, act and work as much as you can to achieve your goals.
Don’t hope. Never hope.
