In response to the question "anyone got any hope":
Some will pooh-pooh this as way-too-woo-woo. But:
My hope is that there is some underlying purpose to all of this that is transpiring … some purpose to our national nightmare. And within that hope is where I choose to live. It’s not a matter of believing This is so. I don’t know what is … or is not … so. It’s a matter of how I choose to live: In despair or in hope. That choice is for each individual to make.
Whenever I’m faced with a choice … in this case, ‘twixt despair and hope … one question guides me: Which of my options gives me something to work with? Despair throws up its hands and says: What’s the point? Give it all up. I can’t work with that. Who could? I can work with hope. I can work with the possibility that there is some underlying purpose to all of this. So how can I feel hopeful … in spite of all that’s happening around us?
I’m not a religious person; I sometimes envy them that solace. But I have had experiences, which make it clear: Realms do exist beyond the day-to-day scope of my five senses. I cannot choose when those experiences come. My only way of attracting them is to remain open for those experiences to enter … at their discretion.
And of course, I recognize that (as with everything): I may be mistaken about all of this.
‘Tis a topsy-turvy world out there,
Where up is down and foul is fair.
Where love is hate … and hate is great.
Where criminals evade Just fate.
Where lies are truth, to willfully-blind,
And oft, real truth is hard to find.
We’re told each day: We must believe
The ones who try to so deceive …
The huckster Trumps and Huckabees,
Who parrot views from Fake Fox News,
Where lies are truth, to willfully-blind,
And oft, real truth is hard to find.
~~~
Another world … that some can see.
Is one that’s been revealed to me.
A world that lives beyond five senses,
Where secret realms leap o’er defenses.
Where “impossible” is revealed
In hidden place, now unconcealed.
Where truth is truth, to the new-unblind.
It shows itself and frees one’s mind.
The Seeker asks: Can it be found?
An answer comes: Just look around.
Open self; then let it flow …
But first, there is one thing to know:
In their music, Jefferson Airplane tells us, “Go ask Alice.”
But wherever Alice goes, she seeks answers.
I say: No. Don’t ask Alice. Ask the Queen, instead.
"I'm just one hundred and one, five months and a day."
"I can't believe that!" said Alice.
"Can't you?" the Queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes."
Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Still, no matter …
How much you may try to maintain,
Sometimes efforts are only in vain …
Instead of, then, clutching at straws
Take a deep breath, step back, and give pause.
When all else fails,
When life has you in tatters,
When wind forsakes your sails,
Embrace what truly matters.