Ancient Word of the Day: Adsum

From Latin: “Adsum” – be here now

The life, in a form, that we all live.

Adsum abandons hopelessness and blind hope and even rational hope.

Hope is that virtue by which we take responsibility for the future and a quality that gives our actions special urgency.

Adsum means to ‘act in hope’

The singular virtue of acting in hope has nothing to do with the likelihood of a specific outcome, it has simply to do, in this moment with participation in the renewal of the earth, however that will manifest. Mature hope involves a willingness to allow that brokeness and beauty sometimes intertwine.

~ Lyanda Lynn Haupt, Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science Nature and Spirit.

It is important to say what hope is not. It is not the belief that everything was, or is, or will be fine. We live in an extraordinary time, full of vital, transformative movements that could not be foreseen. It is also a nightmarish time. Full engagement requires the ability to perceive both.

Rebecca Solnit, hope in the dark.

For the coming year of 2024 I vow to act in hope for a better future. To find hope through action and to cultivate hope and peace through my actions for animals and for other people.