More than pursuing happiness, we want to know what our future holds. Of course, our desire is to ensure all euphoric surprises are tightly wrapped up until we arrive in the future. We are elated by the jolt of unease and unlived moments. But our millennium-old experiences made us accept, though grudgingly, that we can never quite figure out this dilemma: to know about the unseen episodes of our lives and be surprised at the same time when we reach there. Only with an assumption can we create our thriving future in our heads and strike out forcefully what we perceive—sometimes mistakenly—as a threat.
When we begin to live only in our heads with hypotheses, we isolate ourselves and lose sight of who we are. Unknowingly, we build walls to separate us, evade others, stay away from the environment, or resign to narcotics to numb pains from sorrows. We disregard our gifts, tarnishing innocence and overlooking blessings that could have been best in our interest.
Some are skilled at using a remedy to heal the imperfections in their minds. Others tend to discount this strategy since it indicates eggs in the moonshine. The advocates recognize this but treat it as an essential impurity, similar to what gold jewelers must use when making an ornament to give it a stable structure. But if we exploit it wisely and faithfully, our lives—a pandemonium of stumbles over unforeseen events—become bearable. The tool is called “hope.” We should mend our hearts with it and believe that someday our pain will be soothed away by good fortune, like monsoon rain rinses debris. Hope evolves into a consoling appearance when we are weak and can’t move but must. Perhaps a self-delusion, but it transmutes to compel us, even if only temporarily.
Appetence: (Noun – an eager desire or instinctive inclination; an attraction or natural bond.)