Hope... The final frontier

I am an Atheist, I make no qualms with keeping this a secret, generally. I disagree with religion, and I feel that a lot of the time, we could be better off if we all shrugged off our primitive childish delusions of imaginary friends. While they were useful as children to enable us to grow better communication or logic skills (arguing with oneself builds the mind in places where there is only you, there have been numerous studies into talking to yourself and imaginary friends, it is not a sign of madness.) when your imaginary friend does nothing but that which you want them to, it kind of loses reason...

So I move on to the point of this here blog, the one I'm writing right now (blogception)

Hope.

This is the last bastion of religion. The one remaining trump card, the only reason why people hold onto tattered outdated scriptures and laws and beliefs. It's the very thing which makes it OK to do things without thought, and to do nothing when something is called for. But without it, how can we have hope?

Let me elaborate.

What is the point of having hope, when the only purpose it serves is to provide hope? Further this, what is hope?

Hope is either one of 2 things, it's requesting favour for the simple reason that you have requested it, or it can also be the comfort that you provide yourself with positive thought when you are stacked with unattainable odds.

If it is trusting that despite there being immeasurably large and negatively leaning probability that your chosen outcome will be the outcome, then how is this a logical decision? That's not to say that it is wrong to think that there is a chance, because to make a probability, there must be a chance of success, otherwise it is a law (a physical one, not a pesky 'enforced by men in uniform, because without enforcing there is not true standing for it' one, though I'll talk more about that another day) and laws cannot be changed because we just want them to. Unless you're religious, in which case the world does what you want, apparently. Besides, rare and incredible things happen all the time. look at the probability that there should be life, and yet, here we are.

Hope and luck are best buddies. They go together like butter and toast, or whiskey and coke. With a lot of luck, you can have whatever you hope for, or if you hope hard enough, you might get lucky. So it's pretty much fair to say that those who are lucky, (that is, those who probability fairs best) are the ones who benefit from hope. Not everyone then. So why does anyone hope? Luck and hope are more or less extensions of prayer. Prayer is a way to ensure hope, because even when your prayer wasn't granted, you can guarantee that there is something to be learned from it, just ask any priest! But surely, asking for favour just because you're 'well in' with the big guy is immoral? If every person was a good christian, and was nice to God and his son, then everyone would have their prayers granted, right? everything would be paradise. Which would be hell, ask any rational human being. Eternal joy is nothing to be wished for. Because we wouldn't appreciate the good without the bad to compare. Slowly, we'd begin to class some of the smaller, not as fantastic things as bad times, and we'd rediscover what it is to feel bad, but improperly. We'd base our comparison upon wasted things, like 'I wish instead I'd chosen strawberry icre cream instead of vanilla'. The idea of paradise is truly a loathsome concept. But that's not what this is about.

But as I've been reminded, it's not the only use for hope. It can 'influence' the outcomes of eventualities. Not literally, that would be weird. But in through the efforts of positive thinking. That wonderful irritation. There have been numerous studies on positive thinking, and the science proves it. Why it happens, that's another story. Though I would have to say that it's probably all down to 'thinking something good is going to happen, and you're probably going to make it happen... If you're a positive thinker person'. Not all people are. If we were, then it would be too easy. And there would be no place for comedy if everything went right. So it's not all bad. For a number of people, it can work. Not all the time, there will be failures, that should be kept in mind.

So, this has changed my conclusion. Instead of the original, full of nasty, seething hatred towards hopeful individuals, I get to offer people an actual nugget of proper, unbiased assistance. Hope, while being mostly useless and selfish, for the above outlined reasons, can actually come into useful sometimes, in the way that positive thinking can at times change the outcome. Of course, you should stay positive. But you shouldn't really rely on hope to make that happen. You should be confident, and rely on the truth to make you confident. If you don't have the confidence, or the truth isn't quite in line with you, don't lie. Don't go around going 'well, I don't really have what it takes, so I'm gonna just hope that I do it...' Go out there and just give it a shot. It's nothing about hope. As they say, the winner isn't always the best, it's sometimes the person who wants it the most.