Pandora trying to close the box that she had opened out of curiosity. At left, the evils of the world taunt her as they escape. The engraving is based on a painting by F. S. Church. Continue reading In Hope Lies All Possibilities →

Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, and orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons. Hope … is not the same as joy … but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.  ~  Vaclav Havel  Continue reading A Defense of Hope →

I read an interesting column in the Guardian the other day in which Oliver Burkeman, argued that what is often called hope is really deception—hoping for things that are virtually impossible. Continue reading The Case Against Hope →

All my life I struggled to stretch my mind to the breaking point, until it began to creak, in order to create a great thought which might be able to give a new meaning to life, a new meaning to death, and to console mankind. Continue reading Hope and Meaning for Non-Believers →