This concerns me deeply. Hope is the least discussed of the cardinal virtues, but the older I get, the more I feel that it is by far the greatest. Faith? I'm not sure it exists at all. (That's a separate discussion.) It seems to me that Hope is greater than Faith, because Hope has room for doubt. It may be impossible for me to summon unshakable belief in God, but somehow I can trust that, before the game is over, All Manner of Thing Will Be Well.
Whether or not we matter in the universe is a question of Love, and Hope makes Love possible. If we help others, we matter. The kindnesses we commit trigger kindnesses in others, in a sort of cascade that roars off into the future in ways we cannot anticipate, ultimately drowning out the self-limiting mechanisms of evil. So whatever becomes of the universe at the End of All Things, we will have had a hand in it. *We* are the ones taking notes. Whether or not there is Anyone there to read it, the universe is the record of our passing. Let us therefore write generously, and well.
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timeasmymeasure
The Greatest Virtue
Date: 2011-12-28 08:19 pm (UTC)Whether or not we matter in the universe is a question of Love, and Hope makes Love possible. If we help others, we matter. The kindnesses we commit trigger kindnesses in others, in a sort of cascade that roars off into the future in ways we cannot anticipate, ultimately drowning out the self-limiting mechanisms of evil. So whatever becomes of the universe at the End of All Things, we will have had a hand in it. *We* are the ones taking notes. Whether or not there is Anyone there to read it, the universe is the record of our passing. Let us therefore write generously, and well.