Hope is the great "as if" we live by. We all need some central 'as if' in our lives. Take the abused wife needing to live life 'as if' there's some good in her husband. The religious zealot living life as if right and wrong were prescribed by the scripture; and "as if" the scripture itself, was the unequivocal translation of God's will. The middle aged man who ignores all the outward signs of aging, desperately attempting to regain his lost youth, he lives life "as if" he was going to be young forever. the compulsive gambler who forever lives life "as if" he will somehow recoup all his losses with the next roll of the dice. Perhaps the greatest "as if" of all is that there is some benevolent omniscient force above us who takes a very personal interest in our lives.

We all need hope. Whether we admit to ourselves are not, this is the presupposition almost all of us share. Without it the world becomes a very dark hostile place indeed. Martin Seligman, one of the most pre-eminent psychologists of the last century in the field of depression, maintained that preserving hope in our daily was critical to mental stability. Without it we fall into despair. Ironically, it is also the very thing that keeps us trapped. Examples of this abound:

On the other hand if we have the experiment, if empiricist, a modern man, and rational thinker. He eschews religion, dismissing it as a crutch for the ignorant and for the weak to them the universe is giant clockwork, interminable chain of cause and effect. For them there is a scientific explanation for everything. In time all that is knowable will be known.

Interestingly, for over a century the frontiers of science have penetrated well beyond the linear grid Descartes introduced some four centuries ago. Max Planck in quantum physics, Albert Einstein in the theory of relativity, and heads and burned with his discovery of the inextricable link between the observer and the observed, making scientific objectivity in its purest sense, a myth. All this is to say, that the person who describes himself as scientific and objective today, is no more so than the religious fanatic in the middle ages. What they also share with them is their absolute disdain for those who do not subscribe to their views.

Of course, to live beyond "as if", is probably impossible. Without some belief into moral, and some degree of the lead in causality, it would be next to impossible to undertake any project, or plan anything. Even setting up a lunch date for the next day requires certain assumptions. So in the end there is nothing wrong with as if so long as we know that it is not reality. In this way of the canal ourselves the luxury of choosing the as its that suit does best. On first reading, this might appear arbitrary, but when you think about it for a moment our lives are circumscribed by as "if" 's, of one kind or another, so they might as well be to our liking.

Is it possible to get past 'as if'? That is to say, is it possible to live beyond hope?