We've never been wealthier in terms of materials and it's only getting better, yet we're still hopeless."The wealthier and safer the place you live, the more likely you are to commit suicide."

Paradox Of Progress

No matter what your narrative is, what you believe in, it'll have the same implications as all other beliefs:<ol><li>There is a potential for growth or improvement or salvation in the future.</li><li>There are ways we can nagivate ourselves to get there.</li></ol>These are the principles we all live by every single day. Though the narrative may change, the format remains the same.

The Phychological Carrot At The End Of The Stick

We make hope narratives whenever we go through difficulty. For example: "My grandfather died, so I must live to make him proud".  These narratives we create for ourselves give purpose when its running out. Narratives vary and can be anything from raising kids well to improving a golf swing.

Finding A Purpose

"To build and maintain hope, we need three things: a sense of control, a belief in the value of something, and a community."We need to believe that we're in control of our own fate, we need to know that there's some greater value we can strive for and we need support from other believers.If any of three are lacking, we lose them all.

Creating Hope

One day, you and everyone you love will die. And beyond a small group of people for an extremely brief period of time, little of what you say or do will ever matter. This is the Uncomfortable Truth of life. And everything you think or do is but an elaborate avoidance of it. We are inconsequential cosmic dust, bumping and milling about on a tiny blue speack. We imagine our own importance. We invent our purpose - we are nothing.﻿

It feels as though the world has some sort of greater importance, yet in the scale of the infinitely expanding universe, we are nothing but another cluster of atoms.You are the one who cares. You convince yourself that things matter in order to avoid the Uncomfortable Truth (the idea that our lifes are meaningless)

The Universe Does Not Care

"People flock to religion, because religions acknowledge this permanent state of unknowing and demand faith in the face of it."Religions remove the need to develop a personal manifesto. Your life will be figured out as long as you believe, and the Uncomfortable Truth will loose its power.

Why People Choose Religions

"Something needs to matter because without something mattering, then there's no reason to go on living."Hope is what keeps us going. If we have no belief in the future being better than the present, we spiritually die.There needs to be some source of hope giving us a reason to get up in the mornings - and if we can't find it, we'll create it.

Hope Is Necessary

Hope is fucked, but we need it more than ever. A book covering our world situation through a mix of psychology, philosophy and history.

religionandspirituality

Religion & Spirituality

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

books

Books

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of the international mega-bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck comes a counterintuitive guide to the problems of hope. We live in an interesting time. Materially, everything is the best it’s ever been—we are freer, healthier and wealthier than any people in human history. Yet, somehow everything seems to be irreparably and horribly f*cked—the planet is warming, governments are failing, economies are collapsing, and everyone is perpetually offended on Twitter. At this moment in history, when we have access to technology, education and communication our ancestors couldn’t even dream of, so many of us come back to an overriding feeling of hopelessness. What’s going on? If anyone can put a name to our current malaise and help fix it, it’s Mark Manson. In 2016, Manson published The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck, a book that brilliantly gave shape to the ever-present, low-level hum of anxiety that permeates modern living. He showed us that technology had made it too easy to care about the wrong things, that our culture had convinced us that the world owed us something when it didn’t—and worst of all, that our modern and maddening urge to always find happiness only served to make us unhappier. Instead, the “subtle art” of that title turned out to be a bold challenge: to choose your struggle; to narrow and focus and find the pain you want to sustain. The result was a book that became an international phenomenon, selling millions of copies worldwide while becoming the #1 bestseller in 13 different countries. Now, in Everthing Is F*cked, Manson turns his gaze from the inevitable flaws within each individual self to the endless calamities taking place in the world around us. Drawing from the pool of psychological research on these topics, as well as the timeless wisdom of philosophers such as Plato, Nietzsche, and Tom Waits, he dissects religion and politics and the uncomfortable ways they have come to resemble one another. He looks at our relationships with money, entertainment and the internet, and how too much of a good thing can psychologically eat us alive. He openly defies our definitions of faith, happiness, freedom—and even of hope itself. With his usual mix of erudition and where-the-f*ck-did-that-come-from humor, Manson takes us by the collar and challenges us to be more honest with ourselves and connected with the world in ways we probably haven’t considered before. It’s another counterintuitive romp through the pain in our hearts and the stress of our soul. One of the great modern writers has produced another book that will set the agenda for years to come.

Mark Manson (born 1984) is a professional blogger, entrepreneur, and former dating coach. Since 2007, he's been helping people with their emotional and relationship problems. He has worked with thousands of people from over 30 different countries. He regularly writes and updates his blog at: www.markmanson.net

Paradox Of Progress

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