Monday, December 7, 2009

Despair

We have talked about many prisons in which mankind feels caught, which engulf human beings, and sequester us. Perhaps, there is no human bondage which so overwhelms us that we feel in it in our bones as despair.
Despair is when we give up hope in life. When we don't see tomorrow as even plausibly better than today, when a motivation to live ceases.

I am not speaking here about depression. I am not speaking about anxiety. I speak about despair. When death seems more inviting than life, you are despairing.

Human despair arises in the lack of pattern, coherence, or meaning in life. Human despair also arises in the lack of guidance and hope. When there is nothing to ultimately look forward to except what is predictable, observable, and inevitable, there is despair. Left to ourselves, all we can look toward is aging, sickness, and death.

Well, the good news is you don’t have to be left to yourself.

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