On certainty vs. hope

[yuretz73]

I am thinking about a very important :) philosophical question: what is fundamentally better, a phantom hope of victory, or a certainty of defeat? Because when you are still unsure of the outcome, you are absolutely convinced that certainty, however dire, is going to be much better than the indefinite state. But once you know that all is lost, you

Comments

[yuretz73]

Yes, but defeat itself is the greatest dissapointment!

[yuretz73]

Huh! But it has also been said "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities." Of course, when David wrote this, his main hope was in vain, his son still died despite all prayers and penitence...

[yuretz73]

Well, we know nothing of eternity, so it really not for us to say. Perhaps it is like in that Harry Harrison's story: "It may be hard for the first thousand years, but by then you'll get used to it."