Friday 10 October 2014

Hope ?

                "Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man"
                                                                                                                -Friedrich Nietzsche

It is the hope of an oasis perhaps, that keeps a thirsty man lost in a dessert going. Why else would he take another step? 
Hope, one would say, is a necessary delusion to survive in a world which is out to get you. 
On a subconscious level, hope gives us the power to take control in our disappointment. It allows us to choose how and when the disappointment reaches us. When the world lets us down, hope allows us to reject the world's dictum and take the reigns of power in our hands by choosing to believe in a probable version of the story that may become our reality at a future time. It makes us feel empowered. We feel we are in control of choosing the hope of happiness over the reality of  our disappointment. Indeed an intoxicating promise for a broken heart.
We need hope, we do.
Yet sometimes, this empowerment is really just an illusion. A rather tormenting one. We hold on to a version of the truth that doesn't presently exist in reality and might not even in the future. But somewhere in us a faint whisper tells us that, if we hold on to it a little longer, if we keep faith, if we give it more time, if we wait for the right moment to come, if we are a little more patient.........if, if only!
It is a shackle. It binds us to something we need to give up on.
But how do we know? How do we know when the empowerment becomes imprisonment? How do we know when to give up hope on hope?
It could be a casual question thrown in a joke, an empty laughter, an unspoken word, a broken smile, a silent stare, it maybe subtle or  it may be really loud, but when it happens, somewhere, somehow a switch flicks. We lose hope. It is perhaps the most liberating experience. To be free finally from the burden to believe in an illusion. Liberated from the obligation of holding on.
Hope doesn't necessarily bring us happiness, but rather encourages us to hold on to a version of the story that doesn't really exist. Never did. Probably never will.
And what if it does exist? Well trust the future to bring it to you, if it so pleases. But don't expect it, don't hope for it. Don't let your present be limited by the hope of your future. Don't let an illusion limit your reality. At least the present and it's reality is yours. Why jeopardise what's yours for what might never be?
I would rather accept the truth and be heartbroken than fool my heart with promises of happiness I will never be able to deliver on.
Knowing it will never happen is so much more liberating than hoping it does. There's an odd sense of peace in the knowledge.
So, Give Up.
Lose Hope.
Move On.
Be Free.