If there is one bad habit that we have with our language (we really have many) it is that we tend to trivialize words or phrases so that they lose the original power that they had. The word love is a great example. It has gone from "God is love" to "Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name." "Stress" has gone from a word describing a physiological reaction in the body to a ubiquitous phenomenon - "you stress me out," "I'm under a lot of stress," "this is a stressful job," etc. The word hope has turned into a poor substitute for "wishing." "I hope I win the lotto" is a typical use of the word and more importantly a typical representation of how our thinking has degenerated into wanting outside events to determine our happiness.
I think the real meaning of hope is much more complicated than just wishing for an outcome. In fact I probably will fumble at saying what I think hope is because it is deep, complex, and at its most profound it reflects a belief in ourselves, in life, and in our relationship to life. People who rise above seeing hope at the basic level of wishing for a favorable outcome, move to a sense that whatever is being experienced now does not have to stay that way. Obviously most people in very bad situations would like the situations to end no doubt, but the hope I write of reflects a sense that the outcome of the situation is not the decider of their spirit. Their engagement with life and the events they are facing as well as their belief in themselves and for many, though not all, their belief in some type of higher power become part of the mix of hope. There is a belief for those people who take hope at its highest level that they have the key for abiding all that is happening inside of themselves. Victor Frankl talked about it from his experiences in a concentration camp. James Stockdale talked about it from his experiences as a prisoner in Vietnam. Abraham Lincoln alluded to it during his experiences in the Civil War.
Hope reflects belief. Not the belief that faith reflects but a different type. Hope believes in the better, in the higher, in the possibilities. Hope rejects cynicism. People with this higher level of hope believe that though events might not work out they will not be defeated. "You might kill me, but you will not defeat me." Frankl and Stockdale both thought that not only would they survive their terrible situations, they would grow from them. They were in fact growing from them while they were there.
Explore what hope means to you both on a personal level with your own personal situations and on a bigger level. Think about it. What does hope mean to you? What is your role in the process?
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