Hope

One of the sacred cows of our culture is the concept of hope. Day and night we are told to be hopeful.
But what is hope?

Let’s use an analogy.

Assume that you have arrived in the world and have no idea how the solar system works.  Let’s say you arrive during the day. Its all bright and sunny and you enjoy the day.

Then, at 6 p.m. it starts to get dark. You don’t like the darkness and you get worried. Then your favorite motivational speaker tells you not to worry, to keep hope alive. You hope throughout the night for a brighter day.

Then at 3 a.m. you start seeing some light. Your hope is increased. As it dawn’s, you get excited and by mid-morning you say surely, hope is a good thing, the day has finally come.  

So, for the rest of the day, you are joyful.

Then at 6 p.m. it starts to get dark again. You are gripped by fear and worry as you anticipate the scary night. Then you remember that you hoped and morning came. So, you start hoping again. You hope throughout the night until light comes in the morning.

Eventually you start believing that hope brings sunlight. It causes things to happen. So, you start hoping whenever you get worried.

Basically, hope is when we try to feel good about our worries. It is worry with lipstick.

Essentially, our lives oscillate between three emotional cycles: Joy, Worry and Hope.

Now, imagine another person in a similar situation, but the person understands how the solar system works. She understands that as the earth rotates in its axis, at some point it faces the sun(day) and away from the sun (night).

Does she worry when night falls?

Does she need hope?  

Life is life

Fabio