Discussing problems we are currently facing, individually and collectively, I'm often confronted with one of two responses: denial or despair. Either people don't want to take a fresh, honest look on reality, because it is too unbearable, or they feel crushed by its weight and they feel they can't do anything about it. I'm not here to tell you what to do about each specific issue I give as examples below, but that we can say yes to both: Looking at reality to see it clearly and using hope to move towards a better future.
Yes, most people on this planet still do not have secure and safe food, water, air and housing. For every single human on Earth, dozens of animals are suffering their whole lives in extreme torture just to end up as food, while that industry also causes much of humanity's environmental damage. Meanwhile some humans live in unjustifiable wealth, even though reducing inequality would make life better for everyone, even the richest. Social media platforms keep "user retention" high by abusing the brain's threat detection system, with the users' activated nervous systems creating self-reinforcing cycles and addictive behavior, and eventually causing (or intensifying) maladaptive collective threat responses, even offline. Yes, all these bad things are actually happening. And we can work together to improve on this. It is hard, yes, but it is possible. We can hope.
Yes, many countries already have a birth rate below the 2.1 required for a stable population size, leading to exponential decline and eventual economic and societal breakdown. However, in many cases we can still implement family-friendly policies, normalize communal support for child raising and cultivate a culture that gives people reasons to hope it's worth it.
Yes, climate change and environmental degradation is actually happening (CO2 concentration rising, chemical pollution, depletion of phosphorus and other non-renewable materials, species extinction, etc). And yes, we can collectively agree to create more sustainable socioeconomic systems that keep the biosphere intact, utilize technology we already have and nourish attitudes towards life itself that also keep us alive.
Yes, humanity is subject to increasingly severe risks from technology (nuclear weapons, engineered pandemics, AI, etc). And yes, we can solve coordination problems by constructing new, more adaptive social agreements.
Yes, many of the cultures and systems we created are not fully aligned with human needs. And yes, every human, deep down, tries to do the best they can working towards a better world. (Aren't you?) Even if that just means themselves feeling more of a kind of safety or belonging in the immediate moment. And working together in the same boat, we can actually improve on the ways we interact with each other and construct social realities.
Yes, most people live in a state of severely unmet needs, yearning for emotional depth, caring touch, or purpose in their work. And yes, we can create cultures that deeply listen, to oneself and others, and allow to safely create the kinds of connection we long for and find a place to contribute meaningfully to society.
Yes, you will die. And yes, you are free to exit life anytime you want and, until then, you are free to explore, experience and savor whatever happens.
No, there is no measurable evidence for a non-physical or agentic "god". And yes, we can realize our intrinsic interconnectedness with and belonging to everything, create the meaning and purpose we seek within it.
No, there is no free will that would allow us to take an action – or even just think a thought – influenced by anything other than prior physical events. And yes, we can sense and reason sufficiently independently to take actions that cause the world to evolve more in our favor.
Each of these examples show ways how we can move forward constructively if we accept fully what is actually happening and act with a vision of a better future in mind. Furthermore, seeing clearly can turn some issues directly into hope. Deaths by terrorism are hugely over-represented in media. In aging societies, some immigration is needed to keep the economy running. Vaccines are safe. Psychological trauma can be healed. Again, I'm not here to tell you what to think about any specific issue. I'm here to tell you to look and hope.
Look at reality as it is. And use hope to drive action.
Look. And hope. ✨️