Feel it all like a weight, soaked with the blood of centuries. Let it make you feel uncomfortable. Or (3) From a place of love, learn how to listen. Step back to make room for the voices of those who can’t afford to be hopeless, and also step forward into your best, most hopeful self. Or (4) All of the above.

A telos crisis is defined by the fact that people in it don’t know what their purpose is. When this happens, they become fragile. Nietzsche says that he who has a “why” to live for can endure any “how.” If you know what your purpose is, you can handle the setbacks. But when you don’t know what your purpose is, any setback can lead to total collapse

It was called existentialism. It argued—put roughly—that life’s only meaning is the one we bring to it, that its purpose is for us to determine, each for ourselves. And most importantly, it argued that in this absurd universe without purpose, meaning, or objective morality, in a world where nothing matters, the only principled alternative to suicid

I know salvation will be local, grassroots, and it will be magnified as more people wonder whether maybe they can help.