I’m not a Schopenhauer fan. Too bleak. Too down-on-the-world-as-is. But the guy used a term that captures the mood of our times: “Hopeful uncertainty.” He also wrote that humans have “an unshakeable certainty that we are the doers of our deeds.” Now the question for you is this: In this time of hopeful uncertainty as a virus stalks like a lion on the Serengeti while the herd of Wildebeest trudges by, do you think or even feel you are in control? Are you the lion or the Wildebeest?
And if your answer concerning control is “no,” “somewhat,” or “yes,” is it an answer you wish to further qualify?
NO: I’m unavoidably part of a human herd incapable of seeing the lion in the grass. Viruses are too small to see; they remain viable in places I cannot identify by my senses; and they operate 24/7. Only luck prevents me from being the lion’s victim.
SOMEWHAT: I’m aware of the dangers and have taken precautions that are reasonable, but life must go on, and I must go across my personal Serengeti in necessary daily migrations for food and water. I’m driven by the circumstances of my environment, by my subjective needs, and by my personal history of choices, but I can choose to walk a different path to avoid the potential attack by the lion. All of us can only hope that reason is a guide to certainty.
YES: I have total free will to act and to take responsibility for my actions. I am not dependent upon my previous life choices. I can also risk as I choose because I can reason about my alternatives. When one action seems better than another, I can take it; when necessity is worth encountering danger, I can choose that necessity. And if I choose, I can disregard reason entirely and act on feeling.
Yet, in each of the three, you can’t escape the fundamental hopeful uncertainty (or uncertain hope) of the times. Hope is always uncertain; certainty is always “hopeful.”
Have you noticed, however, that some act as though hope is a certainty?
And if your answer concerning control is “no,” “somewhat,” or “yes,” is it an answer you wish to further qualify?
NO: I’m unavoidably part of a human herd incapable of seeing the lion in the grass. Viruses are too small to see; they remain viable in places I cannot identify by my senses; and they operate 24/7. Only luck prevents me from being the lion’s victim.
SOMEWHAT: I’m aware of the dangers and have taken precautions that are reasonable, but life must go on, and I must go across my personal Serengeti in necessary daily migrations for food and water. I’m driven by the circumstances of my environment, by my subjective needs, and by my personal history of choices, but I can choose to walk a different path to avoid the potential attack by the lion. All of us can only hope that reason is a guide to certainty.
YES: I have total free will to act and to take responsibility for my actions. I am not dependent upon my previous life choices. I can also risk as I choose because I can reason about my alternatives. When one action seems better than another, I can take it; when necessity is worth encountering danger, I can choose that necessity. And if I choose, I can disregard reason entirely and act on feeling.
Yet, in each of the three, you can’t escape the fundamental hopeful uncertainty (or uncertain hope) of the times. Hope is always uncertain; certainty is always “hopeful.”
Have you noticed, however, that some act as though hope is a certainty?
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