This painting is titled "Hope".
What does "hope" sound, look, or feel like?
"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without words - and never stops at all", so wrote Emily Dickinson.
Some say it is a cognitive motivational system, a forward motion towards positive outcomes. (As we interpret "positive" to be)
Others consider hope a naïve and "Pollyanna-ish" approach, lacking of a true appreciation of the "reality of things".
It is now obvious to me how complex this issue is. Perhaps "hope" belongs in the realm of qualia?
Often this term is referred to as the phenomenal properties of experience;
"Qualia are the subjective or qualitative properties of experiences". What it feels like, our subjective conscious experiences of pain, joy, wonderment, the smell of a flower et cetera.
Before we attach a word to an experience; ....let's say someone takes you to a concert to hear some music you are totally unfamiliar with. You have no idea who Sibelius is and the word "Triste" is not a familiar term to you. When the music starts pure experience flows through you and before you know it, suddenly a sense/experience/feeling of sadness engulfs you. Qualia?
When we are hoping for something what do we mean?
A few suggestions: Hope is the state which promotes the desire of positive outcomes related to events and circumstances in one's life or in the world at large, the feeling that what is wanted/desired can be had or that events will turn out for the best. Or as Richard Rorty puts it: "Hope assumes a metanarrative, a story that serves as a promise or reason for expecting a better future."
We buy lottery tickets in the hope of winning regardless of the odds, we support our favourite sports teams in the hope of them winning, we raise our children to the best of our abilities in the hope of them achieving happiness, we work hard in the hope of good outcomes, and so on.
Is there a difference between expecting and hoping?
We buy a lottery ticket in the hope of winning, we usually don't expect to win.
Perhaps hope is something we individually create from within and depends on our own thoughts, dreams, goals, and or our desired outcomes?
Expectations on the other hand often involve others and while they are also internally created, expectations are often infused with judgement and critically based on comparing others actions with our own. (Usually to the detriment of the other)
What about wishing? To use the lottery ticket again; no amount of wishing to win the lottery is possible if you don't buy a ticket. When we hope for something, we believe there is a possibility for the desired outcome to come true. (You bought a lottery ticket) When we wish for something, "I wish I would win the lottery, but I haven't bought a ticket yet" it often hovers in the realm of fantasy.(=the improbable, impossible, imaginary)
Why is hope important?
In 1991 positive psychologist Charles R Snyder and his colleagues came up with something called "Hope Theory". According to their theory hope consists of agency and pathways. A person who has hope has the will and determination along with different strategies to achieve their goals.
When we have hope we are likely to approach problems and difficulties with a "can-do" attitude, and with strategies at hand to accomplish our goals.
According to psychologist Shane J Lopez and his colleagues who conducted three meta-analyses(contrasting and combining results from different studies), hope leads to better performances in most areas and an increased sense of happiness overall.
Lopez also suggests that there are four core belief's that hopeful people share:
"the future will be better than the present, I have the power to make it so, there are many paths to my goals, and none of them are free from obstacles".
Hope is not only the belief that there is a better future but also includes the action to make it so.
Viktor Frankl, in his powerful book "Man's Search for Meaning" writes: “Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.” (And he would know something about that, he survived 4 years in a concentration camp) He also writes: “Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.”
When my son was going through a very turbulent time as a teenager, I hung on to hope. Hope that we would weather the turbulence and "land safely". Meanwhile I read books and books on how to understand the teenage mind, how to communicate effectively, and how to stay sane myself through it all. On one occasion when I came home from work I found all the doors wide open, wet towels thrown on the floor, the TV blaring, but devoid of people. I waited until nightfall then decided I had to do something, so I called a friend and asked him to come with me to search for my son. I had no idea where my son where, but I hoped that my intuition would led me to find him. It did. As on cue, we drove straight to the petrol station where he was, drunk as a skunk, but unharmed. My hope of bringing him home safely was fulfilled.
The Dalai Lama says: "Choose to be optimistic, it feels better", perhaps one can also say "Choose to be hopeful, it feels better".
What about "false hope"?
If by false hope we are meaning a "hope that has no knowable chance of coming to fruition", then my question is, is the term perhaps not an oxymoron and wishful thinking would maybe be a more apt term? If the outcome we hoped for does not come to fruition this time, perhaps it will next time? I am pretty sure that those who sell lottery tickets count on us following that line of thinking....:)
Choose to be hopeful, it feels better.
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