“Cohen’s argument is not a pep talk that promises losers that ‘the only way is up.’ That way of thinking plays into the same unhelpful binary: By optimistically imagining a win on the horizon, we are still acting out our fear of loss. Instead, salvation lies in humility, which Cohen describes as ‘the consequence of an awareness that truth doesn’t belong to us.’ Like loss, humility is characterized by an absence: of pride, self-regard, entitlement. This absence humbles us when we lose, and when we win—as Cohen writes, ‘Humility reminds us of the large portion of arbitrariness that determines any personal success or failure.’”
