Secular affirmation offers what claims to be unconditional hope, but in every case it depends upon us granting ourselves affirmation based exclusively on our own will, which never fulfills for long. We either submit to the tyranny of technique (total work, perpetual self-improvement, success, etc.) or we declare ourselves to be good by personal fiat. Both strategies devolve into Resignation at some point, when total work breaks us or when personal affirmations are revealed to be hollow.
