Hopelessness has forever gotten bad press. It provokes dread in those of us who want a better future than the past. We attribute it to people who suffer ignoble misfortune and injustices.
There is however a kind of hopelessness that is productive and critical to a future different from the past.
We need to lose hope in the power of colonization to restore sustainability to war torn and impoverished regions. We need to lose hope in endless consumerism as the prime cause of personal and collective happiness. We need to lose hope in defensive institutions to inspire new possibilities of innovation and community. We need to lose hope in the status quo that works for the few at the cost of the many.
When we lose hope in these ways, it gives way to new vision and commitment to a new future.
