The Lie of Hope

 Hope is the essential fuel of life; it is what keeps us crawling. As humans, we are vessels of endless desire. A student craves high marks; a lover craves their partner; the poor crave wealth. We are constantly striving for something—anything—that might offer a sense of fulfillment.

Desire is the ground upon which Hope is built. We believe the lie that 'once I achieve this, I will be happy.' But is it true? We struggle, compromise, and fight to obtain a car or a relationship. The pursuit makes us feel alive, yet when we finally grasp the object of our desire, the satisfaction is fleeting. Days or weeks pass, and a new emotion takes hold: boredom. The mind immediately begins seeking something else.

As Schopenhauer noted, life is a pendulum swinging backward and forward between Pain (the suffering of wanting) and Boredom (the emptiness of having). True, lasting happiness is an impossibility; it is merely the fleeting moment when the pendulum swings across the center.

It is strange that the very thing you once craved eventually bores you. This reveals a harsh truth: the object itself never held the power to fulfill you. It was your Will that projected value onto it. The time between desiring and obtaining is the only time we feel truly alive, because that void creates a sense of purpose.

Desires are ruthless. Fulfill one, and two more take its place. In relationships, we see this tragedy play out clearly. Lovers fight society and family to be together, convinced their union will bring eternal joy. But once the conquest is over, the excitement fades. The 'essential oil' of hope dries up, and you are left staring at the reality of the other person, wondering why the magic is gone.

The nature of the Will is that it can never be satisfied. It is a hunger that eats itself. 

So, what is the solution to this ruthless cycle of hunger?

To find the answer, we must look East, to the wisdom of the Upanishads. We must understand the origin of existence itself. It is true that you were born of desire—the biological desire of your parents manifested your form. But while the body is a product of the Will, the You that dwells within is something far greater.

The ancient seers realized that the Absolute—the Infinite Universal Consciousness—manifests itself through us. It dons the costume of the body and uses the mind to perceive the world. At the source, we are all One. The Separation is the illusion.

If you understand that whatever you perceive is merely a projection of consciousness, you realize that the world is actually within you, not outside of you. And here lies the cure to suffering: When all is Unity, whom is there to desire?

Desire creates a distance between 'I' and 'Want.' But if you are the Universe, you already possess everything. You are not your thirst; you are the water.

We must ask the ultimate question: Who is it that desires? Who is it that feels empty? If you observe the desire, you cannot be the desire. You are the Witness—the silent, formless awareness that watches the pendulum swing but does not move with it."

We desire because we have forgotten our fullness. We act like beggars sitting on a box of gold, begging for pennies, not realizing we are already rich.The Will to Live relies on Maya—the illusion of separation. It tricks the wave into thinking it is separate from the ocean, so the wave fights other waves to survive. Once the wave realizes it is water, the fear and the desire to 'win' vanishes.