Life can be troubling, especially during periods of heated social conflict.

Politicians and the media are no help. Most now devote themselves to fomenting hatred and division.

Schools are no help. Most now devote themselves to replacing knowledge with superstition.

Giant corporations are no help. Most now just want you to shut up.

Here are some comforting thoughts. They have the merit of being true:

• “Prediction is difficult, especially about the future.”
  — Nobel laureate physicist Niels Bohr (often attributed to baseball player Yogi Berra)

• “What future bliss, [God] gives not thee to know, But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.”
  — Alexander Pope, “Essay on Man”

• “Most things are neither as good nor as bad as they seem at the moment.”
  — Traditional wisdom

• “A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation.”
  — Isaiah 60:22

Check out my new book Why Sane People Believe Crazy Things: How Belief Can Help or Hurt Social Peace. Kirkus Reviews called it an “impressively nuanced analysis.”