Return to Brainsarefun Homepage
Go to the Brainsarefun Index of All Solutions and Research Results

The Yes! Book List
developing a literature of hope

from Rory Donaldson 

When I woke up this morning the man on the television told me to give up. 
Everything he told me was about the futility and desperateness of life. 

Buddha replies with calm urbanity, “You are mistaken, Professor Nietzsche, in thinking my ideal a purely negative one.

“True, it includes a negative element, the absence of suffering, but it has in addition quite as much that is positive as is to be found in your doctrine. Though I have no special admiration for Alcibiades and Napoleon, I, too, have my heroes: my successor Jesus, because he told men to love their enemies; the men who discovered how to master the forces of nature and secure food with less labor; the medical men who have shown how to diminish disease; the poets and artists and musicians who have caught glimpses of the divine beatitude. Love and knowledge and delight in beauty are not negations; they are enough to fill the lives of the greatest men who have ever lived.” Bertrand Russell

 the ultimate reality = freedom does exist

The optimistic existentialist

 focusing on a glimpse of  real and human potential
an awareness of the ultimate reality

 
Shelley saw in "Prometheus Unbound"

To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
To defy Power, which seem omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope till Hope itself creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;
This, like thy glory, Titan! is to be
Good, great, beautiful and free;
This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory!

Our literature, philosophy, music, films and TV programs are full of expressions of hopelessness and despair. And surely if we examine our own attitudes, most of us will admit to finding it much easier to believe in failure than in success. After all, it's much easier to justify apathy by assuming that a cause is hopeless than it is to battle it out with a sense of what is possible. John Morgan

 There is something inside of me that hungers for triumph and conquest. The Literature of Hope assures us that it’s possible.

EFFORT, FOCUS, CONCENTRATION, PRACTICE, PATIENCE, FORGIVENESS… 
This is what the literature of hope extols.

It is about those stories that champion an optimistic life. Letting others in on the secret. The purpose and the focus quell the existential “pessimistic” habit that wants to dominate – cementing another brick in the wall.

This is my major interest: “Existing” isn’t enough for me. “Existing with quality” is what I’m after.

What do we read to hold before us what Whitehead has called "the habitual vision of greatness?" Robert M. Hutchins, The Great Conversation. (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1952).

 We should impart our courage, not our despair. Thoreau, Walden

A Walk in The Woods, Bill Bryson

Cannery Row, Steinbeck

Chasing the Hawk, Andrew Sheehan

Chi Kung, Way of Power, Master Lam Kam Chuen

East of Eden, Steinbeck

Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Wolfe

Endurance, Shakelton

Four Minute Mile, Banister

G.K. Chesterton

Going Lite, Ray Jardine

Going the Distance, George Sheehan

Gospels of Jesus Christ

Hardcore Zen, Brad Warner

Huckleberry Finn, Twain

King Arthur, tales from the Roundtable, Andrew Lange

Love, Leo Buscaglia

Never Cry Wolf, F. Mowat

On Happiness, Alain

POGO, Walt Kelly

Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Kiosaka

Robin Hood, Roger Green Lancelyn, et al

Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe

Roy Masters

Self Reliance, Emerson

Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis

Swiss Family Robinson, by Johann Wyss

The Art of Loving, Eric Fromm

The Books In My Life, Colin Wilson

The Courage to Be, Paul Tillich

The Education of H*Y*M*A*N* K*A*P*L*A*N*

The Gay Genius (The Life and Times of Su Tungpo), Lin Yutang, The John Day Company, New York, 1947.

The Importance of Living, Lin Yutang

The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James

To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain

Treasure Island, Stevenson

Tuesdays with Morrey, Mitch Albon

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe

Walden, Thoreau

Wisdom of Milton Erickson

Your Own Worst Enemy, Ken Christian (www.maxpotential.com)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig

 
I am searching for a literature that leaves frustration and boredom behind, replaced with renewed hope and strength. This is writing/reading that helps me explore what to do with my life, rather than just telling a horror story or championing the futility of existence.. It assists me to arrive at the Yes! that combats the everlasting triviality and sameness. This literature shines a light on the unthinking pessimist in me who paints life as meaningless, poor entertainment, a waste of time. I am more than a passive observer unable to influence my life or destiny. In fact, every day is filled with infinite possibilities just as soon as I take the time to concentrate, to praise the Lord, to appreciate.
 
“American psychologist and philosopher Abraham H. Maslow (1908-1970) coined this term to describe nonreligious quasi-mystical and mystical experiences. Peak experiences are sudden feelings of intense happiness and well-being, and possibly the awareness of "ultimate truth" and the unity of all things. Accompanying these experiences is a heightened sense of control over the body and emotions, and a wider sense of awareness, as though one was standing upon a mountaintop. The experience fills the individual with wonder and awe. He feels at one with the world and is pleased with it; he or she has seen the ultimate truth or the essence of all things.

 “Maslow's work has been called groundbreaking because it concerned the spiritual yearnings of humankind and focused a scientific interest on mysticism. Such an endeavor had been absent since the work of psychologist and philosopher William James at the beginning of the twentieth century.

 “Maslow described peak experiences as self-validating, self-justifying moments with their own intrinsic value; never negative, unpleasant or evil; disoriented in time and space; and accompanied by a loss of fear, anxiety, doubts, and inhibitions.” A.G. Hefner, Peak Experiences.

Happiness? Try:

The Pursuit of Happiness

Health and Happiness at 100

Creative Brain

Towards a Psychology of Being

Laughter

Flow

Love

 - end -

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: TITLE © April 2001 by Rory Donaldson. All rights reserved. In order to help reverse the tide of academic failure and optimize success, individuals may copy brainsarefun solutions for non-commercial use at no charge. Contents may not be sold or repackaged in any manner without the written permission of Rory Donaldson. Since all material is copyrighted, please ensure that this entire copyright notice and contact information continues to be attached to each article you download. Mr. Donaldson appreciates the feedback. Additional solutions may be viewed and downloaded at no charge by logging on to brainsarefun.com. Titles are being updated, edited and added regularly. To view most recently added titles you may click here.

Suggestions and comments encouraged, email: roryd@brainsarefun.com.

This document may be printed directly from your browser or cut into your word processor for additional formatting.