It never ceases to amaze me just how thin the line is between hope and despair, fear and courage, success and failure. We let ourselves believe that there is a grand canyon between two opposing sides, but it’s all in our imaginations. I’ve pondered as to why this is so: why are humans so hell bent on believing things are black and white and then proceed to driving a huge wedge between the two. This isn’t a new concept at all but maybe we forget there is a little bit of everything in everything… if that makes any sense. I’m talking about a little yin and yang, if you will.
For instance, there is always a little light in the darkness and vice versa. If there is no darkness, then light ceases to exist. They are two sides of the same coin. Why shouldn’t the same thought process apply to things like hope and despair, fear and courage? Can you not find fear in courage and courage in fear? And what is despair without some degree of hope? We might agree that we can find success in failure if we look hard enough. So then if we look hard into success, we will find failure.
Right now the economy is sucking in a major way. Doom, despair, and fear are running rampant. Everyone becomes a Chicken Little prophecizing of a falling sky. Yet day after day, the sky still hasn’t fallen. Day after each grueling day passes and the apocalypse still hasn’t arrived. And even if it did, the only way to go is up. What is the use of moping and pointing fingers? Even in these times hope still perseveres like a tree growing in Brooklyn.
You can flip the story and go back into time four years ago. The economy was doing great and the great middle class seemed to finally be making it to the ever-elusive American Dream: home ownership with a white picket fence, two kids, and a dog. But beneath all of that despair was growing. Too many people and institutions had been gambling with their future and living in crippling debt. Hope was alive and kicking, but despair was there as well: in the hiding and spreading like cancer.
Anyway, I’m not here to write about the economy, even though I just did. The point is that we limit ourselves far too much about how we view the world and thus we limit our capabilities and how far we can take ourselves as a species and individually. We all know this deep down inside. Maybe it’s time we stopped ignoring it. Black and white is an illusion and is ultimately unsustainable, especially in a country like ours where individuality is king and in a world like ours that is becoming increasingly global.
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Related posts:
- "Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics"
- Finding the courage to start telling better lies. And acting on it.
- How you can succeed every single time
- [Spirituality month] Never give up on finding your brand of peace
- Obligatory post in which I babble about authenticity, imperfection, negativity, and then somehow throw Thanksgiving into the mix.
