Choose Hope

Justin Faerman

In the coming weeks, months and years you are going to be hearing a lot of people saying we are doomed.
That our civilization is in collapse.
That its too late to stop climate change.
That we have passed the point of no return.

And they will make compelling arguments and use big, intellectual words and have many letters and accolades after their names and cite impressive statistics that make you feel like the writing is on the wall and that we are indeed in a slow (or rapid) decline towards inevitable self-destruction.

And when you look around you, you might find it hard to disagree.

You might see the forests burning, our cities flooding and our political systems faltering...

You might see technology induced depression skyrocketing, the wealth divide growing, economies destabilizing, cancer proliferating and think to yourself 'they just might be on to something with this talk of collapse...'

And you might even feel some sort of social validation for being a “realist”, having woken up to the undeniable “truth” of our situation and feel the need to spread the gospel of preparation for what is to come.

That you are doing a service to humanity by warning them of the precariousness of our situation.

Or you might feel defeated.

Or like your actions are insignificant in the impending wall of hopelessness that seems to be rapidly descending upon us.

You might even feel scared or grief stricken.

But just know this:
In these most uncertain times, the most important thing you can do is feel hope.
Hope for a better future.
Hope that we can rise to the occasion as a species.
Hope that the best of the human spirit will triumph over its follies.

Because hope is the precursor towards action and inspired action contains within it the seeds of solution to the monumental challenges we face.

Without hope, we are indeed doomed, sealing our fate in the nihilistic belief that we are already too far gone.
Impervious to the great irony that our actions, and hence, our future will always follow what we perceive to be true.

The great leaders and storytellers throughout history knew this fact well.

The news media machine that spins the stories that serve corporate and political interests know this to an alarmingly masterful degree.

And the great philosophers whose timeless wisdom we revere in our most cherished works of literature have been imploring us to wake up to this truth for millennia.

It is simply how this reality works.

And so in these uncertain times, what we need most is hope.

Because hope is really the belief that we can rise above the challenges we face and if we believe we can, the possibility is there and if the possibility is there, it can be done.

I believe in the human spirit.
I believe in our ineffable creativity and ingenuity.
I believe in the power of small groups of altruistic, hope-filled rebels to change the course of history.
I believe we are being asked to rise to the occasion, not shrink away in pessimistic fear and doubt.

That we are being urged to wake up out of the hypnotic slumber of simply trying to make a living and to start working together towards the more noble aim of birthing a more beautiful tomorrow.

We choose our future with our beliefs, with our narratives, with our stories.

And I implore you: choose wisely my friends, choose wisely.

In the face of great odds, choose hope.

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Justin Faerman is an international speaker, serial entrepreneur and consciousness researcher working to create large-scale shifts in human consciousness, integrate high-level intuitional skills more deeply into the business world and everyday life and deliver solutions-focused media to a global audience. He is the co-founder of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine and the Flow Consciousness Institute and a sought after teacher, known for his pioneering work in the area of flow and the mechanics of consciousness.