Implication of Personal Despair in Planetary Despair

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Introduction

The following argument is an effort to acknowledge the extent of personal despair, both amongst those whose suffering is widely acknowledged and amongst those who endeavour to respond to it. The relationship of this sense of personal despair to despair about the developing condition of the planet is then explored.

The argument here is that the very heavy investment in "hope", especially in public discourse, is increasingly serving as a narcotic to dull such pain and to distract from acting in a more healthy manner in response to it. This was evident in the period of the recent financial crisis (Credibility Crunch engendered by Hope-mongering "Credit crunch" focus as symptom of a dangerous mindset, 2008). The phenomenon could be understood as having been brought to a head with the hope projected onto the United Nations Climate Change Conference (Copenhagen, 2009) and the despair experienced by those who had expected a legally binding agreement to emerge from that process (Insights for the Future from the Change of Climate in Copenhagen, 2010).

This need for "hope" also takes the form of a need for expression in a "positive" mode and a deprecation of any "negative" expression. Its issues are consistent with the 'bright-siding' deprecated by Barbara Ehrenreich (Bright-sided: how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America, 2009) -- and what might be termed 'globallooning' (Globallooning -- Strategic Inflation of Expectations and Inconsequential Drift, 2009). As previously noted, such 'positive thinking' fails consciously to recognize the "unsaid" (Global Strategic Implications of the 'Unsaid', 2003; Being Positive Avoiding Negativity: management challenge of positive vs negative, 2005). This is curiously echoed in the recent recognition of the significance of both "dark matter" by astrophysicists and the secrecy systematically cultivated by the Catholic Church regarding sexual abuse of children (Beyond the Standard Model of Universal Awareness: being not even wrong? 2010). The latter being a source of immense despair for many.

One response to the hope-mongering by Barack Obama (The Audacity of Hope: thoughts on reclaiming the American dream, 2006) has been a criticism of the "apotheosis of co-optation" by Eamon Martin (Obama and  The Audacity of Despair, CounterPunch, 5 August 2008).

The question addressed here is what reframing is possible through acknowledgement of the extent and nature of despair. The argument for a more balanced approach, reconciling positive and negative feedback loops in a cybernetic sense, is consistent with the methodology of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential. It follows from an earlier exploration of the intimate relationship between individual physical health and the health of the planet (Cognitive Implications of Lifestyle Diseases of Rich and Poor: transforming personal entanglement with the natural environment, 2010).  However, whereas, as conventionally understood, so-called lifestyle diseases do not typically include the sense of existential despair and associated depression, this possibility is highlighted here -- as possibly indicative of clues to the radical nature of cognitive reframing that is called for at this time.

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