"Something needs to matter because without something mattering, then there's no reason to go on living."

Hope is what keeps us going. If we have no belief in the future being better than the present, we spiritually die.

There needs to be some source of hope giving us a reason to get up in the mornings - and if we can't find it, we'll create it.

We make hope narratives whenever we go through difficulty. For example: "My grandfather died, so I must live to make him proud". 

These narratives we create for ourselves give purpose when its running out. Narratives vary and can be anything from raising kids well to improving a golf swing.

"People flock to religion, because religions acknowledge this permanent state of unknowing and demand faith in the face of it."

Religions remove the need to develop a personal manifesto. Your life will be figured out as long as you believe, and the Uncomfortable Truth will loose its power.

No matter what your narrative is, what you believe in, it'll have the same implications as all other beliefs:

1. There is a potential for growth or improvement or salvation in the future.
2. There are ways we can nagivate ourselves to get there.

These are the principles we all live by every single day. Though the narrative may change, the format remains the same.

We've never been wealthier in terms of materials and it's only getting better, yet we're still hopeless.

"The wealthier and safer the place you live, the more likely you are to commit suicide."

"To build and maintain hope, we need three things: a sense of control, a belief in the value of something, and a community."

We need to believe that we're in control of our own fate, we need to know that there's some greater value we can strive for and we need support from other believers.

If any of three are lacking, we lose them all.