The Power Of Hope

Discussing the power of Hope, as resilience, as a force that keeps us going in the face of great change.
Why we cannot surrender to hopelessness. It's not about spiritual bypassing, but about creating a life where we take back our power.

Transcript

If you don't create the reality that you want to live in,

Someone else will.

And that someone may not have your best interests at heart.

This is one phrase that I learned some years ago from a very wise teacher that I used to have.

We are constantly bombarded by narratives that shape how we see the world.

Narratives that tell us that humanity is doomed.

That corruption is inevitable.

That evil always wins.

That the end is near and there is nothing we can do about it.

The zombie apocalypse.

Narratives.

We are terrified of the future and with good reason.

This is the narrative of despair.

This is on purpose.

This is manufacturer consent to make you accept a future where those in power do with us and with the planet whatever they want.

And it's usually not good.

And its core is a very important part of Western culture.

It's a culture that seems to have signed a pact of decay and death.

It's a culture that has already accepted its own sentence.

If you're reading or hearing this and you believe that the end of the world is inevitable.

If you believe the apocalyptic collapse of humanity and that that is our own and only possible future.

Then you have been touched by the narrative of despair.

Then you have accepted a destiny that honestly we shouldn't accept.

But that's okay.

We all have at some point.

We all have agreed to this narrative.

We all have believed in this narrative.

Because from a young age we are all immersed in a Hollywood saturated media that shows us mass destruction and cruelty and inhumanity.

And that normalizes the abnormal.

Stories like Game of Thrones become symbolic mirrors of how we see ourselves.

Of how we see the world as dark,

Violent,

Broken,

Beyond repair.

Hollywood,

Which once held the power of storytelling magic,

Now often acts against life.

And don't get me wrong,

I love a good movie.

I really do.

Or a good show.

I just actually like shows that teach me hopefulness and not hopelessness.

I am very careful with the kind of things that I feed my mind with.

Because I want to live in a world where kindness prevails.

Otherwise,

We are taught that if there is no better version of the future,

Then why should we even try to make it happen?

This culture of despair teaches us that evil is always smarter,

Faster,

Better,

More ferocious.

Inevitable.

And maybe there might be a chosen hero to fight it back,

But it's that messiah that usually comes when everything is lost already.

They never teach us that the power actually lies in the collective.

That the power actually lies in normal,

Everyday folk.

They teach us that we have to wait for that one chosen person to come.

And that teaches us hopelessness,

But also teaches us a lack of accountability as human beings.

That teaches us that,

Like this woman I heard the other day who owned a fracking business,

When she was asked about her concern for global warming,

She said,

I don't think that that's a problem because,

You know,

God is great.

If the world was actually in danger,

God would stop us from destroying it.

So yeah,

It's going to be fine.

That's the narrative.

The narrative of why try to make things better?

If they were actually in danger,

Somebody big and mighty will come and save us.

Otherwise,

Just keep messing around with everything and everybody and with the world and with the ecosystem.

That's the freaking narrative.

And it's dangerous,

Because it doesn't teach us accountability,

Because it doesn't invite us to do better,

To be better.

This worldview teaches us that the soul's corruption is natural,

That resistance is futile,

And that those who fight back won't be enough to dismantle the systems of oppression.

Can you see how dangerous that idea is?

So when we witness injustice,

We don't act,

We internalize it,

Normalize it.

We believe that evil is going to win anyway,

That there are more of them,

Because the world is just like that,

Because that's how it's always been.

I remember one day I quoted an Argentinian songwriter and poet that I really love called Facundo Cabral,

Who said,

Don't let them,

Don't let them fool you,

Because there's more good people than bad people.

For every bullet that is shot,

There are a hundred kisses that are given.

It's just that a bullet is louder.

And when I shared this quote,

I got millions of people angry at me,

Saying,

No,

No,

No,

No,

You have the numbers wrong.

Of course that's mistaken.

There's more,

More bad people out there in the world.

And I was like,

No,

Actually,

No.

I really believe that there are more acts of love and kindness in the world,

But evil is louder,

Because that way we buy into the idea of despair.

That's why we are bombarded again and again with these scenes in the news and in TV and in the movies,

To numb our response,

To teach us passivity.

Because if we believe it collectively,

We create it collectively,

Because our perception of reality as individuals is powerful,

But our perception of reality as a collective can really change the world.

But there are other stories,

And these are my favorite ones.

There are stories like The Lord of the Rings,

My favorite movie,

And book,

Of course,

Where the light,

Where kindness,

Where goodness triumphs,

When it's inevitable that goodness will prevail,

Because good people choose to act every single day.

Because it is people like Sam the Hobbit,

Who carried Frodo when the burden of the ring of evil,

If you haven't seen the movie,

You have to see the movie to know what I'm talking about.

I won't go into more detail because you won't shut me down and this video will turn eternal.

But it's people like Sam who helped his friend Frodo carry the burden,

The responsibility of the world,

When it became too much for him to carry alone.

He said something like,

There's still good in this world,

Mr.

Frodo,

And it's worth fighting for.

When I share this,

I always get very excited because I really believe that there's still goodness in the world,

And it's worth,

My English has been a little bit rusty,

And it's worth fighting for.

I really believe that from the depth,

From the bottom of my heart,

Of my soul.

We cannot believe that injustice is somebody else's problem,

That suffering is inevitable,

Beyond change.

We cannot buy into the doctrine of despair.

It's like when this commercial war started between China and the USA,

There was this Chinese functionary,

I don't know exactly his name,

Unfortunately,

That said,

China has been here for 5,

000 years,

And it will be here for the next 5,

000.

5,

000.

And then I was shaken because that opposes strongly the vision of the West that has been promoting an apocalyptic vision of the world,

That has been promoting a Mad Max kind of war,

Where we run out of resources and are fighting one another,

Living in the dirt,

Living in another dark ages,

While you have Chinese movies and fiction looking more like a Star Trek,

Depicting a war,

A world of people moving together with technology to make the world a better place,

To create a better future,

To live for the next 5,

000 years.

So,

My question is,

What version of the world are you choosing to live,

To encourage,

To co-create?

And what do you want to nourish as a reality?

Because we are going to create those realities together.

The thing is,

I want a reality that I enjoy living.

I want a reality where kindness and goodness prevail,

Where Indigenous people are seen and respected and loved,

And they can live freely in their lands,

Where they can nourish the heart of the land,

Where our generosity,

The generosity of Indigenous people around the world,

Is not seen as a sign of weakness,

But as a gift that is to be cherished and taken care of from the lenses of a protector's heart.

Because at the end of the day,

It's like we are living in a spiritual war,

A war of imagination,

Where whatever we choose to believe in becomes the seed of our future.

This is why now more than ever we must build a bridge of hope,

A bridge of goodness and radical faith.

We must be warriors of hope.

We must be careful of that which we believe in,

Of what which we use to nourish our minds with.

And that doesn't mean that we become spiritual bypassers.

Please don't.

Because that's not the message.

That means that we choose to have hope in a better future and act on this hope to make the changes that the world needs.

In Islam,

Hope and resilience are names of God.

In Mexico,

We have a saying that says,

Plant a tamarind for your grandkids.

You will not see it.

You will not eat the fruits.

You will see it.

You will not eat the fruits.

But it is your grandkids who will enjoy the tamarind that you just planted.

So yeah,

Plant tamarind trees for your grandchildren,

Even if you never get to taste the fruit.

That's hope.

And that's the narrative of hope,

A narrative that can birth a new world that doesn't pretend that things aren't hard right now,

But that knowing that they are hard,

Chooses to change the world like Sam and Frodo,

That the everyday folk act on changing the narrative,

On creating a better reality.

Believe in this,

I have created two small guided meditations to help to plant tamarinds together,

To create an energy of love and hope.

And these meditations are here to help you anchor these energies into your life,

To remind you that we don't need to have to settle for a dark reality where evil wins.

We don't get to do that.

We want to create a better world.

And if we want to do that,

We must first believe that there's a better possibility,

That there's a chance to change.

Because yeah,

The world might be cruel and unjust,

But we know it doesn't have to be that way.

We know we get the power to change it.

We must build it together.

It takes work,

It takes effort,

And it starts with hope.

We are anchors for this new world.

We are the guardians of a reality where love and action become fierce love.

Where fierce love can defeat the paralysis of despair.

So I would invite you to listen to these very brief meditations,

One or the other,

You don't have to listen to both,

And to start incorporating that into your daily practice.

Just be an anchor for love,

Be an anchor for hope,

And refuse to admit that the world has to be cruel.

Let us embrace fierce love.

Let us invite hope into our lives,

And be warriors of hope together.