Overcoming fear by having hope
It is common to hear in everyday life, there is no way, everything is really lost, in difficult days for all humanity, it seems impossible to believe in a future full of light and happiness, however, both in philosophy and in true spirituality there is a spirit of resistance: the hope.
So many times in history we seemed close to the end, the ancient empires, the great wars and the two recent “world wars” are not a mere chance, and they were also not without a lot of death, sadness and disappointment, but the worst thing is that we did not have the lucky to understand that scourge.
We don’t know how to deal with pain, with disappointment, with “no” and we want at all costs to be the winners in any dispute, even sporting ones that should only be a reason for joy and distraction, can become a war due to the lack of healthy spirit of competition.
In Palliative Society: Pain Today, Byung Chul-Han writes: “The palliative society is a society of enjoyment. It degenerates into a mania of enjoyment. The like is the sign, the painkiller of the present. It dominates not just social media, but all spheres of culture. Nothing should cause pain”, we want something that will immediately “cure” or suppress any pain or even a small amount of suffering.
The author creates a verb based on new media: “Not only art, but also life itself has to be Instagrammable; that is, free from angles and corners, from conflicts and contradictions that could cause pain. We forget that pain purifies”, and fear brings light to consciousness.
How to beat him? Have you ever stopped to try to answer this question? with Hope, not that of those who wait and do nothing, but that of those who stop and meditate on pain, also on those who suffer injustices, judgments and who should occupy our consciences.
The resistance of the Spirit, which Edgar Morin advocates for today, is also a spirit of Hope, because spiritual exercise would be worthless without a belief in a better future for all, of peace, justice and acceptance. the differences.
In the biblical narrative, when the disciples saw the resurrected Jesus “walking on the sea”, they were afraid and did not fully understand his iconic meaning, but the master said (John 6:19): “Take courage, it is I”, and approaches them , a new force came precisely after this “fear”.