I am hit emotionally when viewing the news, which is why I prefer to read selectively but widely. On the other hand, I may miss seeing moments of great tidings and joy which would fill me with hope. Doing something for others, even if only with a smile, is my way out.
Wonderfully written, and wonderfully timed for the new year. Open Hope certainly is a virtue we should habituate. It does strike me that moral luck plays a role in who has the leeway to cultivate it. Those of us reading this likely all do but too often squander it. But it would seem too much to ask of people who are starving, or pulling the dead bodies of their children out of the bombed-out rubble of their former home. This role of moral luck does not diminish the power of the blog. Rather, it suggests that we must cultivate open hope not only for our own personal moral equilibrium, but also vicariously to hold out hope on behalf of people understandably incapable of it now.
Calling it a virtue implies that lacking it is a moral failure; not my intention at all. I meant it as a habit especially useful in hard times. I need to think about my framing. In the meantime, Sara Teasdale: "“look for a lovely thing and you will find it, it is not far, it never will be far."
"Realism guards against overestimating the probability of good." Yes, that is usually the vibe on 'realistic." But much of this essay addresses overestimating the probability of bad.
I explicate the virtue I call open hope in a variety of ways. One is by pointing out that it shares the structure of what we call "being realistic," but complements it.
Gardeners are aware of possibly. Nurturing a garden is an act of faith and hope. I find gardeners to mostly be optimistic, cheerful people who also face reality.
I've often thought gardening is a lesson in life. I plant things; sometimes they grow, sometimes they die. Other things, unplanted by me, show up and prosper. Such is life.
This is a great message for the first day of a year that will inevitably bring friction (fractiousness? fright?). I will resolve to practice Open Hope though I know that, like my other resolutions, it will be forgotten and revived many times. Hope as a virtue? The stem of "virtue" is "vir", so manliness. As it happens I am reading the Iliad where virtue or glory or honour is often synonymous with plunder or killing. I take it as a sign of progress that hope is a virtue, or at least we can make it so. Thank you.
I am hit emotionally when viewing the news, which is why I prefer to read selectively but widely. On the other hand, I may miss seeing moments of great tidings and joy which would fill me with hope. Doing something for others, even if only with a smile, is my way out.
Wonderfully written, and wonderfully timed for the new year. Open Hope certainly is a virtue we should habituate. It does strike me that moral luck plays a role in who has the leeway to cultivate it. Those of us reading this likely all do but too often squander it. But it would seem too much to ask of people who are starving, or pulling the dead bodies of their children out of the bombed-out rubble of their former home. This role of moral luck does not diminish the power of the blog. Rather, it suggests that we must cultivate open hope not only for our own personal moral equilibrium, but also vicariously to hold out hope on behalf of people understandably incapable of it now.
Calling it a virtue implies that lacking it is a moral failure; not my intention at all. I meant it as a habit especially useful in hard times. I need to think about my framing. In the meantime, Sara Teasdale: "“look for a lovely thing and you will find it, it is not far, it never will be far."
"Realism guards against overestimating the probability of good." Yes, that is usually the vibe on 'realistic." But much of this essay addresses overestimating the probability of bad.
I explicate the virtue I call open hope in a variety of ways. One is by pointing out that it shares the structure of what we call "being realistic," but complements it.
Gardeners are aware of possibly. Nurturing a garden is an act of faith and hope. I find gardeners to mostly be optimistic, cheerful people who also face reality.
I've often thought gardening is a lesson in life. I plant things; sometimes they grow, sometimes they die. Other things, unplanted by me, show up and prosper. Such is life.
This is a great message for the first day of a year that will inevitably bring friction (fractiousness? fright?). I will resolve to practice Open Hope though I know that, like my other resolutions, it will be forgotten and revived many times. Hope as a virtue? The stem of "virtue" is "vir", so manliness. As it happens I am reading the Iliad where virtue or glory or honour is often synonymous with plunder or killing. I take it as a sign of progress that hope is a virtue, or at least we can make it so. Thank you.
Superb and resonant. Judith.