Eric Bishop's Webpage

The more things we are hopeful about, the more threats we have to our peace. There is no hope without fear. In so far as we hope for something we are afraid it won’t happen. We won’t get the job, we won’t get the loving partner, we won’t get the glory, our plans and idealisms will fall apart - we will just end up unhappy.

These hopes are deeply intertwined with our schemes and day dreams.

All such fantasies are a result of a false image of ourselves that we must maintain. The first thing to know is you need not try to be strong, smart, charismatic, or talented. Trying is useless because all you know are fake, performative versions of these qualities. You put on an act and hope no one will see thru you.

You can be nothing. Now you’re free. There is nothing you have to do to maintain that sense of ego surrounding your self-image once you have deconstructed fantasy. The vanity metrics cease to be a measure of your happiness.

The more you cling to such things the more you confuse yourself into thinking that the struggle to fake positive qualities is something you must maintain. “Well nothing has worked out so far and I’m miserable, so maybe I need a new job, a new city to live in, a new style to show myself how much I’ve changed.” No, stop. All of your neat solutions become consuming problems for you. Now you’re tied to them.

People are afraid more of abandoning their hopes and fears. From adolescence into their whole adulthood, they have been consumed by the pretense of making it in this world. When you get rid of the false, you make room for the true.