http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-cloak-of-hope.html
The Cloak of Hope
Hope is emotionally necessary in a crisis. It’s one of the chief ways our minds protect us. Yet hope has a hard time being felt when every disaster is instantly communicated around the world. And hope is rarely pure. It is always mixed in the tangled hierarchy with other emotions, including those opposed to hope, such as despair, fear, anger, and vengeance.
Because of this tangle, hope has often been a cloak for violence. We have lost touch with the reality of hope, which is a powerful force when it has a spiritual source but a deception when it doesn’t.
When hope serves as a means to reach deeper into yourself than anyone could predict, or than anyone believes possible, it is a spiritual force. There are certain hallmarks of remarkable recoveries: The person is without fear. There is a belief in an extraordinary outcome. The search for a cure doesn’t depend on outside opinions. Often there is an unshakable certainty that a cure will be found.
These same qualities apply to any situation that is considered hopeless by the majority of observers. To rekindle hope, one must find a path to the extraordinary. This requires a shift in oneself.
The trick is not to despair, and yet since we despair so quickly in our current condition, avoiding despair can only happen by going deeper into the spiritual value of hope.
The Sufi mystic and teacher Meher Baba once remarked, “The only prerequisite for enlightenment is complete disillusion.” Illusion keeps us in the grip of denial. It coaxes us to rely on our false friends instead of our true ones. If you can see with open eyes when hope is a false friend, you are moving ahead spiritually, because spirit doesn’t need hope once it can have reality instead.
Adapted from Peace Is the Way, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2005).
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16 comments
add your comment »Sorry Everyone! I am new at cyber communication and didn't mean to scream;But then again, as I think of it, I guess I was screaming because as a non Christian, Not a Christian in rebellion but one who has never been one, the unfortunately common assumption that anyone who is not, is Godless and going to their hell and therefor not worthy of life itself, just scrapes me raw. It was Adriene A. who was quoting the Christian bible that pushed me over the edge. Her assumptions about the goodly and the godly pain me and I seem to react by "SCREAMING". Thank you William and Georgia, Nan, Cathi, Janine and Deborah, I love what all of you are saying and I'm so happy to meet you. Uma
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Oh, brave new world! So much emphasis on Jesus from scriptures which were written perhaps decades after His life!
Do we TRULY understand His message? I doubt that we do... None of what I say is an attempt to change anyone's belief system. We have huge structures in our mind that we create for ourselves and call that "TRUTH" when none of us really know the TRUTH! Best to be humble and respect ALL beliefs, knowing that everyone is finding his/her way the best he/she can. And when human DNA is 99.98% exactly the same as everyone elses DNA, why do we continue to kill in the name of GOD?
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A new world sound good. But Uma C. why are you shouting?
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Hope seems like such an incredible concept. I think of our recently elected President and the Inauguration. The Inauguration was as pure an experience of hope that I think I have ever seen or experienced. People joining together, without a negative thought about another; I remain hopeful that we can move forward with that spirit in our hearts and minds to a new plain of existence in this potentially wonderful country.
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I can't believe that people get so caught up in this whole caps or no caps thing. It's ridiculous. For many it's just easier to read. I know it is for me. Dependent on your monitor size, or if you are on a lap top, as I am. Caps are simply easier to read. I hope this foolishness ends. Grow up! Read it, don't read it. You probably won't get the message anyway...
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I agree that the use of all “caps” made it hard to read the comment, however, I didn’t jump to the conclusion that it was the intent to “SCREAM”. I’ve read that in IM environments all “caps” means that you are “screaming”, however, in most other written communication the use of “caps” are to draw attention to something important. I am glad I put the EFFORT into reading the comment because I found it to be a well thought-out piece of writing.
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It was unfortunate the "capital letters" disuaded me from reading the comment which seemed appealing. I think we all know that "caps" represent screaming. I think the reality I personally face is that everybody seems to be insensitve and screaming. In my previous reality, I didn't have that. What happened???
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Didn't Jesus teach compassion? Where there is compassion there is peace.
Thank you to Georgia M. for clarifing~I was beginning to worry when I read that. I do feel cabin fever with the snow storm out there today.
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INSISTENCE IN A CHRISTIAN WORLD IS DISAPPOINTING. SO BACKWARD AND CHILDISH TO INSIST THAT ONE WHO DOESN'T WORSHIP THE SAME FACE OF GOD THAT YOU DO, IS DOOMED,DAMNED AND DIABOLIC. AS A NON CHRISTIAN I WAS RAISED TO RESPECT OTHERS' RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL BELIEFS AND OPINIONS. THE PERSONA OF JESUS CHRIST WAS INTERESTING AND ATTRACTIVE TO ME . ALL WAYS KNOWING IN MY OWN SOUL THAT "GOD IS GREAT" MEANS BEYOND THE ABILITY OF ANY MORTAL BEING TO UNDERSTAND, EXPLAIN,OR DESCRIBE;MORTAL BEINGS DO NOT HAVE THE CAPACITY TO KNOW THE NATURE , DESIRES AND DESIGNS, OF THE INFINITE. BEING A NATURALLY REVERENT PERSON, WORLD THOUGHT AND RELIGION WAS A DIVINE SMORGASBORD OF THE FACES OF GOD THAT COME TO ALL BEINGS, ILLUMINATING THE THOUGHT AND CULTURE OF THE VAST HUMAN EXPERIMENT. I NOTICE THAT THE CHRISTIANS ARE THE MOST BOORISH AND AGGRESSIVE ABOUT WANTING OTHERS TO AGGREE WITH THEM. IN GENERAL, THE "PEOPLE OF THE BOOK", AS A GROUP, SEEMS PARADOXICALLY INSISTENT ON THE DEFINITIONS OF THE NAMES AND ATTRIBUTES THAT ARE ACCEPTABLE;PARADOXICAL BECAUSE THESE ARE THE GROUPS THAT INSIST THAT THEY WORSHIP THE ONE AND ONLY GOD, BY DEFINITION THE UNKNOWABLE AND UNNAMEABLE FIRST CAUSE. THESE GROUPS SANCTION THE MOST BRUTALITY IN THE NAME OF THE"ALL THAT IS". CONTRARILY , PAGANS WHO WORSHIP THE DIVINE IN THE WORLD AROUND US SAY GOD IS ONE, RECOGNIZING UNITY IN MULTIPLICITY. PLEASE! NO MORE HATE JUSTIFIED BY DEFINING THE UNDEFINABLE. LET'S MOVE FORWARD .A NEW WORLD.
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I believe that when Jesus left he left his peace with us and this world will see no peace until his return. We only have inner peace when we spend time in prayer with
God & we only get to be at that place because of Jesus. If you do not have Faith or the Love and Forgiveness of God thru Jesus..Your are just faking it!!!History, not new prophets...dime a dozen...
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