Something to Believe in...

Todays Hope Stream post will be on what I feel is another cornerstone of both hope and happiness and that is, as the title suggests, having something to believe in.

It really doesn't matter that much what it is, it could be the scientific method, your deity of choice, the inherent goodness of people, your own self worth, the free software movement, socialism, whatever. I think the only requirement would be that it is something that is going to lead to a better something else. A better you, a better world, a better society, a greener planet, again whatever.

The combination of the two. Something to believe in and the hope it engenders is a very powerful thing.

Let's take the example of RMS, he believed in a world where software was free from the restrictions of the proprietary for-profit model. He had hope (I'm assuming) that other people would feel the same and that there would eventually be a shift as this was clearly, in his belief, the way things should be.

The change that this hope and belief wrought wasn't fast. We are 30 years on and his hope is not fully realized but the software world is a much better and richer place. Freedom respecting software is readily available to millions of people with the click on a mouse. Multitudes of people now share his belief and his hope. Through these 2 simple things RMS has created real and lasting change in the world.

This is just one example. This pattern is repeated all over the world and through out history. Rosa Parks, Gandhi, Muhammad Yunnus,Idle no more, The Famous Five, Terry Fox, Rachel Carson, Joel Burns, Peter Higgs

Belief and its related hope brings about real world changes and more often then not for the better. So in your quiet pondering today ask yourself "what do I believe in.. What hope springs from that belief?" Then take steps to make that a focus in your life. If you have a busy and hectic life put reminders of your hopes/beliefs where you'll see them daily and thus be reminded of them. Talk to people about them. Find other that share them. Make time to spend with them to strengthen, define, and refine them.

It is my belief that people with something to believe in and the hope that that engenders are happier healthier people and that a world with more of them will be a happier healthier world. It is my hope that people will be inspired by my little "Hope Stream", not everyone to be sure and not by every posting, but some and over time more and that the things they take away from it will make them and thus the world happier and more hopeful.

I dare to dream. Come and join me.

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