christopherhildreth

Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying, “Everything popular is wrong”. I tend to think he was correct. The context we find ourselves in today’s world exists on the ebb and flow of popular thought. Information overload has helped to destabilize the prediction process of the masses. Where once we could statistically predict certain outcomes of certain situations, now we are hit with a sharp shift in the population’s attitude about a given issue or occurrence.

We saw early on in the Presidential primary coverage that exit polls and projected winners were going to be far more difficult to decipher than had previously been thought.

It seemed the country’s collective psyche was transforming right in front of us. Things we had been told were so by statisticians were proven wrong, and in an instant our perception of candidates and their ability to lead changed. Those who were the front runners and the supposed party candidates suddenly found themselves gasping for footing amid a flood of popular anxiety.

Is “everything popular…wrong”? In many cases it seems so, but we cannot be against something because everyone else is for it. We must be people who examine issues and look at the substance of a debate. We must weigh the information we have in front of us objectively.

Will we make mistakes? Most certainly, but they will be mistakes made not because we did not have courage enough to pour over decisions, but mistakes made for incomplete or inaccurate information. Our decisions define us as both people and as a nation. When we choose based on what we ourselves know and believe, we step into a realm that has been paved for us and trod over by many generations before. If we choose based on the tabloids, we take the sacrifice of those generations for granted and cheapen the cause of liberty in our age.

A lot has been said recently about the topic of Hope. It has been used by political figures to define either what they feel American people want or what American people need. I think the answer is both – we want and need hope. The human being was designed to live in an atmosphere of hope; to constantly be looking for the good positive and beautiful. The resource of this hope is not, I believe, a political figure. Although a person can embody a feeling of Hope, the action of believing and working for Hope lies in the person themselves.

Once Hope has been born within a person, there is not much that can cause it to go and leave. Hope is infectious and contagious – it passes from person to person with ease. Because we have a desire for it – Hope comes to us like a magnet.

It is true that Hope is a gift. A gift can be given and received; Hope has to be either given or received, if it is not it is simply belief. Hope is much stronger than belief; Hope goes beyond mere belief. Hope invades the person and pushes them to think further and do more. Hope energizes and invigorates a person to greatness and great things.

Hope lets us see how things can be and instead of dreaming with a big smile on our face, we are enable to make it happen.

May your day be filled with a passionate Hope both for yourself and for those around you.

The question of the positive or negative aspects of ego could result in conversations lasting for years. The interest in and the commentary on the ego could also fill a library. The essence of this post is to make the point that in one great aspect, the ego is responsible for dividing our interests and progression in the path toward God.

Most religious teaching talks of severing the relationship with the ego: literally dying to its needs. Only then, it is taught, can we truly find God; only then can we be unified with our fellow man.

I offer another thought – the ego has a purpose and place in the whole person. I would even go so far as to say that in trying to kill off the ego, you are trying to kill off yourself. It is true that the ego has a powerful pull on the direction, interests and ultimate actions of the person, but like all human functions it can be harnessed to produce positive growth for the whole being. Instead of using great amounts of energy to conquer the ego, use that energy to define and enhance its positive effects.

For me, we are a projection of our ego, so that when we diminish it’s life, we diminish our own vitality. However, when we seek to examine and augment the impact of our ego, we are, in fact, increasing the ego’s ability to combine and unify with others.