Krista Tippett: I wonder if Maria’s ideas about hope and cynicism, and hope and critical thinking — even the way she brings in the word ‘soul’ together with hope — I wonder whether any of this challenges you or intrigues you. Maybe some if it surfaces assumptions about hope that you’ve brought into this course or some of the aspirations you have for delving into the subject.

As you move through your day, notice in yourself when you have a cynical reaction and ask, is there a way that you are protecting yourself with that reaction? And what shifts if you let that go? Do you have any experience, however small and ordinary, in that language of Emily Dickinson of hope inspiring the good to reveal itself?

Consider these words of Maria Popova: “To live with hope in times that reward cynicism and in many ways call for cynicism is a tremendous act of courage and resistance.”