Objective Hope - Passover Edition

I wrote those words two years ago — before the current President was elected, and you know the rest.

I had lost my wife of 38 years the year before, so I was treading water in the hope department. I had discovered the idea of Objective Hope from my philosophic mentor, J.G Bennett.

“It is the dawning in us that a higher power is favorable to us… and this is an extraordinary thing when it really begins to happen to us. Nothing else cures the loneliness of the human being. It is with this that we become aware that we are not alone. This is a joyful feeling or a thankful feeling.

“It is not really possible for our ordinary self to have true hope. But when you know there is cosmic hope, that we have our place in this hope, you begin to be aware that there is a higher power that cares for you and me.” ~ J.G Bennett

Oh, lovely… cosmic hope.

I won’t rehash the insanity, but I did come away reassured that the truism still holds after witnessing 70+ years of crises:

Humanity manages to muddle along — somehow.
~Me

The problem is we imagine what this looks like — expecting the rollercoaster to land in placid waters and into the tunnel of love. This is not Objective Hope.

Objective Hope comes with several caveats — the most important, to abandon Expectation, what Rumi called “the red death.”

“Objective, conscious hope has nothing to do with expectation, thinking tomorrow will be better than today... real hope has no negative.” ~ J.G Bennett

Ordinary hope means, “I want to change my circumstances for something better.” This is what Bennett means by ordinary hope being born from a negative.

It seems illogical for hope, to to have no negative, no comparison.

But, for the most part, we navigate life by our emotional radar — always drawn to the movie, restaurant, vacation, lover, treatment that will help us feel better. But what if we are reading these feelings incorrectly?

I stumbled upon Aura Vibin, an Evolutionary Astrologer on Threads who redefined our emotional signals:

Once you realize your emotions are portals to your next level self, you’ll never want to numb them again or shame yourself for feeling them in the first place. Emotions are information, divine feedback, and signals telling you where you’re in alignment and where you are not:

Aura Vibin continued:

Most people treat emotions like problems to get rid of instead of messages to listen to. So when they feel fear, jealousy, sadness, shame, guilt, anger, or grief, they try to distract themselves, numb themselves, scroll, drink, overwork, overeat, avoid, or pretend they’re fine. But emotions don’t disappear when you ignore them, they just get louder until you listen.

An emotion is basically your body and subconscious mind trying to communicate something to you. ~ Aura Vibin

I know what you’re thinking: Nice idea. “Pay no attention to that emotional quicksand — it’s just a signal from your unconscious.”

Objective Hope (and objective emotions) demand a ruthless curiosity to look under the hood and ask “What makes me tick? I’m not trying to generate a flood of difficult feelings. They must be coming from somewhere.

If they are signals, how can we observe them objectively?

There are new buzzwords that define today’s spiritual path — wholly different from when I was a young seeker. The new lexicon borrows from quantum theory, ideas about manifestation, frequency, and the collective field undergoing an upgrade.

One key to understanding Objective Hope is the word Sovereignty. Here’s a new lexicon description:

Direct Divine Connection: Acknowledging a personal, direct connection to the Source, removing the need for external intermediaries or gurus to interpret truth.

Reclaiming Power: Recognizing and stopping the habitual “outsourcing” of personal power, worth, and validation to others, institutions, or societal “programs”.

Authentic Embodiment: Living as an “alchemist,” where one’s inner state consciously shapes reality through deep self-worth and spiritual alignment, rather than through fear-based control. ~ Josephine Hardman

Jung described Sovereignty as Individuation — burning away the superficial to become oneself. Previous traditions called this Self Realization. I see life as a narrative where Individuation is the purpose of the Story.

Yes, life is hard, but the strengthening life offers creates an inner fiber that is Objective Hope itself. As we used to say in my Sufi days — “Hang onto the rope of God.” A cliche— but what if there was an actual rope? A rope not defined by circumstances, but a steady inner intention.

Daily life goes round and round, but the triangle in the center is outside of time. It is the rope of God, formed from purpose and intention. It strengthens by “living as an alchemist” — integrating the outside shocks.

Like anyone with a functioning feeling apparatus, I was anxious when Trump warned, “‘a whole civilization will die tonight.’

My son texted me from California: “In these scary times, I just wanted to tell you that I love you Dad. ❤︎”

I thought of the 9/11 passengers on flight 93 making calls to loved ones — and here we are.

This is a clunky segue, but it’s the actual reason I wanted to write tonight, Everything previous was spontaneous. (Sorry, it jumped around, but what a delight to tap into the creative realm and rip — F**k you AI!).

Passover is my favorite holiday — people around the table, a ritual telling of the story, a narrative from subjugation to liberation, with food, wine, music, pathos, and laughter. The scriptwriter in me goes all out — creating a palpable journey of transformation for everyone at the table.

My parents didn’t have the wherewithal to create a Passover. My mother (with a degree in Dietetics, could barely boil an egg).

My Seder instinct came from my Sufi days — night after night, big meals with the ever-performer Reshad taking us into uncharted realms.

In every setting or event, this question, “Did the energy go through?” carried mystical significance — our singular concern. Through visualization and holding the space for the play to unfold, I learned to sense how the “beginning, middle, and end” of every undertaking transformed the energy. This is called The Octave.

The Passover seder has this same esoteric function. My Haggadah begins:

We open the deepest places of our hearts to soften and free ourselves from oppression, and to find the courage to face our Pharaohs.

Objective Hope describes our courage to face our Pharaohs. I found this news clip today encouraging:

Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll… said in a statement to The Washington Post that “I have no plans to depart or resign as the Secretary of the Army.” ~ Washington Post 4/7/26

Yes, facing the Pharoah.

I wish our leaders had more than one gear in their gearbox (the bully gear). Without any understanding of dialogue, diplomacy building trust, and allowing the energy to go through, we seem to be in an intractable place — for now.

I created a 11-minute video to launch the Seder — in effect, to face my Pharoah as a Jew and understand this War. It begins with the stirring music of Exodus as impoverished Jews arrive in Palestine after World War II — ironically deemed “illegal immigrants” for defying British rule. The video ends with threads of Objective Hope as the people of Gaza create a makeshift Iftar dinner amid Netanyahu’s genocidal ruins.

Thank you for reading. Substack hasn’t worked out for me after several years of trying, but I feel an obligation to the people who generously subscribed. So, I will stay at it because staying engaged is another way to exercise Objective Hope.
~ Bruce

Here’s the video that will begin my Seder: