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Hope springs eternal in the human breast. - Alexander Pope

Hope is the faith that, together we can make things better. - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Much has been written about the power of hope and opinion seems to be divided on its’ usefulness and value. Some see hope as something negative – leading to apathy and inertia.

Others point to ‘false hope’ attributing to it the means of making life bearable, other see in it quite the opposite, the devastating effect when a false hope is revealed as precisely that –false.

More often I believe hope is seen as something positive, it can keep us going and strengthen resolve when times are tough or uncertainty abounds. It can be a motivating and revivifying force.

Episcopal Priest and author, Cynthia Bourgeault points out that sometimes optimism can ensue from hope, ‘In our usual way of looking at things, hope is tied to outcome. We would normally think of it as an optimistic feeling – or at least a willingness to go on – because we sense that things will get better in the future’. However as we shall see below, hope and optimism have different qualities.

However, hope like love, is a quality that is multifaceted and not always easy to put into words.  I would like to consider here a few aspects of hope that I find particularly helpful and are perhaps not so commonly recognised. One aspect is described in the following quotation: Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. -Václav Havel, Disturbing the Peace (1986)

Here we see hope as something which is not connected to outcome but to something which seems right at an inner level. It brings with it a sense that we must be a certain way, or do a certain thing because it has intrinsic value in itself – regardless of the outcome.  It is a quality of being, even a way of life, going beyond positive thinking into positive living.

Today I hear many people expressing a sense of hopelessness about the many huge challenges facing our world, from climate challenges and loss of biodiversity to polarisation and growing inequality.

Havel provides a counter to this despair: even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance.

This is a crucial factor in what I think of as “participatory hope”.  This kind of hope is a quality of the heart. The deep heart which sees all things, connects all things, holds all things together in compassionate love. Hope can be both a call and the fuel for action.

“Hope’s home is at the innermost point in us, and in all things. It is a quality of aliveness. It does not come at the end, as the feeling that results from a happy outcome. Rather, it lies at the beginning, as an impulse of truth that shines forth. When our innermost being is attuned to this impulse it will send us forth in hope, regardless of the physical circumstances of our lives.” - Cynthia Bourgeault

In the words of peace activist, Fr John Dear, ‘to be hopeful, do hopeful things’.
There is a growing emphasis on the daily practice of expressing gratitude and how it can lead to a more fulfilled life, from religious teachings to the evidence- based insights from the field of Positive Psychology. A helpful practice might be to regularly reflect on what hopeful actions one can take no matter what the situation and then going out and doing them!