Hopefulness is the warrior emotion that keeps the devil down in the hole.

An interview with the artist Nick Cave on The Late Show is floating around social this week and a clip of the last few minutes caught my attention. I don’t follow Nick or his work but I get the sense that he’s ruffled a few feathers in his life. The loss of two sons seems to have awakened a new type of person, one who is remorseful of the past but finds hope in the future. And that’s what I want to share here, the idea of “hope as the warrior emotion” as Nick put it.

Here’s the transcript of what Nick shared. If you prefer, watch the video.

Valerio from Stockholm [asks], “Following the last few years, I'm feeling empty and more cynical than ever. I'm losing faith in other people, and I'm scared to pass these feelings on to my little son. Do you still believe in us human beings?”

So, this is the [reply] that I wrote.

Dear Valerio,

Much of my early life was spent holding the world and the people in it in contempt. It was a position both seductive and indulgent. The truth is I was young and had no idea what was coming down the line. It took a devastation to teach me the preciousness of life and the essential goodness of people.

It took a devastation to reveal the precariousness of the world, of its very soul, and to understand that the world was crying out for help. It took a devastation to understand the idea of mortal value. And it took a devastation to find hope. Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on earth.

Hopefulness is not a neutral position. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like, such as reading to your little boy, or showing him a thing you love, or singing him a song, or putting on his shoes keeps the devil down in the hole.

It says the world and its inhabitants have value and are worth defending. It says the world is worth believing in. In time, we come to find that this is so.

Love, Nick.

I’m ready for hope—all of the hope—and listening to this mans's newfound perspective rejuvenates my energy on the search for more.