I’ve recently been really into the On Being podcast, but it wasn’t until the most recent, where the host became the subject, that I felt compelled to share. Some choice quotes (I’ve edited some parts for easier reading):
I think you quote the great, old physicist Freeman Dyson. He’s always had this line I love, which is, “I’m not a believing Christian, but I’m a practicing Christian.”
But then there is also this paradox that we are so often made by what would break us. And I think this is where our spiritual traditions, where spiritual life is so redemptive and necessary, because this is the place in life that honors the fact that there’s darkness but also says “And you can find meaning right there.”
It’s not overcoming it. It’s not beyond it. It’s not in spite of it. What goes wrong doesn’t have to define us; wisdom is walking through whatever darkness, whatever hardship, whatever imperfection and unexpected catastrophes or the like, the huge and the ordinary losses of any life, walking through those and integrating them into wholeness on the other side. That you’re whole and healed, not fixed. Not in spite of those things, but because of how you have let them be part of you.
I never use the word optimism. For me, optimism sounds like wishful thinking. “We’ll hope for the best.” “We’ll see the sunny side.” And for me, hope as a force, as a resource, is reality-based. It sees the darkness. It takes that seriously. It sees the possibility for good and redemption. And takes that seriously. And it’s a choice.
And it’s also an action. It’s something you put into practice. We’re learning through neuroscience that what you practice you become. And that goes for being more patient, being more hopeful, being more compassionate just like it goes for any other skill.
And so I think you can choose to be hopeful, which is a more courageous choice than cynicism. I mean, cynicism is really easy. It’s never surprised or disappointed. And doesn’t lift a finger to change anything.