Hope
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Introduction
Review Of Literature
Hope In Mythology
Hope In The Judeo-Christian Tradition
Hope In Adversity
Psychoanalytic Perspectives
Psychosocial Perspective
Existential Perspectives
Cognitive Perspectives
Conclusion
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Written by Gerard J. Blue, M.A.
Introduction
"As long as I breathe, I hope."
—Latin proverb (Vande Kemp, 1984)
Hope has been seen as a basic and essential force in life, influential in our confrontations with adversity and our dreams for the future. Its definition and value have been described from various perspectives throughout history, with the emergence of two main themes. The first reflects the popular notion that hope is a confident belief that desired circumstances will be attained in the future. The second theme defines hope as arising from a favorable, honest assessment of coping ability in the present. Two instruments have been developed, each called The Hope Scale (Erickson, Post, & Paige 1975; and Snyder, Harris, Anderson, Holleran, Irving, Sigmon, Yoshinobu, Gibb, Langelle, & Harney, 1991), which seem to measure hope according to these definitions, respectively. It is noteworthy that in testing with the former, it has been found that chronically-mentally-ill adults seem to manifest a decrease in hope with advancing age. This relationship has not been noted in conjunction with the latter scale. Thus, there is evidence in the literature that a determining factor in the measurement of hope is the conceptual framework used to define it.
Just about any "person on the street" can readily describe the impact that hope (or a lack of it) has had on their thoughts, moods, actions, and general sense of well-being. Yet, while hope is a recognizable, visceral feeling to almost everyone, it is difficult to include the many qualities and paradoxes of it in one coherent statement. Aware of this context, the following definition of hope, developed by Miller and Powers in their essay, "Development Of An Instrument To Measure Hope," in Nursing Review (1988), represents a significant contribution. It integrates essential contributions from a wide range of religious, philosophical, and psychological writings. Nonetheless, this definition remains easy to understand, which is fitting for a description of this basic force in life. Hope is seen as the following: "... anticipation for a continued good state, an improved state, or release from perceived entrapment. The anticipation may or may not be founded on concrete, real world evidence. Hope is anticipation of a future which is good, based on mutuality (relationships with others), a sense of personal competence, coping ability, psychological well-being, purpose and meaning in life, and a sense of 'the possible.'"
More poetically, the mystic Merry Browne, in her essay "Memoirs of a Mystic" (2004), defines hope as: "...a deep-seated desire for a more perfect world: An instinctual, inner knowing that life is meant to be much more than the present existence. Hope is a prayer waiting for an answer."
Historically, hope has been defined with various and sometimes contradictory meanings. Its significance has been addressed from the perspectives of religion, mythology, philosophy, and the various traditions within psychology. Through the ages, the great thinkers have paid considerable attention to hope because it is a fundamental and basic issue in human life. It seems to play a decisive role in our confrontations with adversity and our dreams for the future. Every person alive has some meaning, feeling, and above all, experience associated with the concept. Even a person who claims to be hopeless has a profound sense of what it is that they lack. As a basic force in life, hope is neither complicated, nor is it easy.
In order to understand hope, one must recognize a theme salient to the literature on hope. In sum, true hope encompasses both a confident belief in future well-being and the awareness of present choices and actions based on personal values, freedom, and integrity. The future-oriented aspect is what most people cite as their definition for hope, and what keeps them going. However, hope is not merely a state of expected wish fulfillment. It can be argued that a pleasant hope for the future is first conceived in the grueling moment-to-moment moral choices one is required to make. When the carrot at the end of the stick cannot be seen, there remains a force which keeps one moving in the right direction. It is an enduring, dynamic process, focused and realized in the immediate present, through the action of willful choosing.
Review Of Literature
Many scholarly journals are utilized in this course, many are covered in this review and all are peer-reviewed. Journals not covered include Journal Of Genetic Psychology, Journal Of Personality Assessment, Journal of Clinical Psychology and The University Of Chicago Magazine.
Journal Of Religion And Psychical Research. Marry Brown's "Memoirs Of A Mystic" is published in Journal Of Religion And Psychical Research, a scholarly quarterly dealing with religion, psychical research, and related topics, published by The Academy of Religion and Psychical Research, an academic affiliate of Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship International.
Psychoanalytic Review. Burton's article "Hope And Schizophrenia," (1973) comes from the Psychoanalytic Review, a journal published by The National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (NPAP). From the publishers, "Founded in 1913, The Psychoanalytic Review has been, historically, and continues to be, opposed to dogma, rigidity and exclusionism. While maintaining the highest standards of scholarship, it is the only established journal that is committed to a psychoanalytic exploration of, not only the clinical domain, but also the realm of general culture. NPAP is proud to publish the Review as a public representation of the NPAP philosophy of openness, critical inquiry, and psychoanalytic scientific humanism.
Bulletin Of The Menninger Clinic. Many articles from the Bulletin are used in this course, including Karl Menninger's "Hope" and Pruyser's "Maintaining Hope In Adversity." The Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic offers a psychodynamic perspective on the application of theory and research in outpatient psychotherapy, attachment theory, developments in cognitive neuroscience and psychopathologies, as well as the integration of different modes of therapy. This widely indexed, peer-reviewed journal has been published since 1936 by the Menninger Clinic. Topical issues focus on critical subjects such as disordered attachments, panic disorder, trauma, and evidence-based interventions.
Nursing Research. This journal, published by The Eastern Nursing Research Society and the Western Institute of Nursing for over 50 years, covers issues of health promotion, human responses to illness, acute care nursing research, symptom management, cost-effectiveness, vulnerable populations, health services, and community-based nursing studies. J. F. Miller and M. J. Powers' article, "Development Of An Instrument To Measure Hope," is used in this course.
The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association, publishes original papers in all areas of personality and social psychology. It emphasizes empirical reports but may include specialized theoretical, methodological, and review papers. The journal is divided into three independently edited sections: Attitudes and Social Cognition, Interpersonal Relationships and Group Processes, Personality Processes and Individual Differences. "The Will And The Ways: Development And Validation Of An Individual- Differences Measure Of Hope," by Snyder, Harris, Anderson, Holleran, Irving, Sigmon, Yoshinobu, Gibb, Langelle, and Harney is included in this course.
The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Vol. II. (1962) Edited by Buttrick, George Arthur. This four-volume dictionary composed of a series of articles. According to the title page, the work is an encyclopedia identifying and explaining all proper names and subjects in the Bible and the Apocrypha.
Erik Erikson, author of Insight And Responsibility was born in Germany in 1902. He immigrated to the USA in 1933, and taught at both Yale and Harvard Universities. Known as "the father of psychosocial development," Erikson emphasized society's influence on the development of the psyche. His theory is grounded in Freudian psychoanalysis, and its focus on unconscious roots of personality. Erikson is famous for his theory that there are eight states in the life span. Each stage must be resolved before the next may be dealt with. Erikson published Childhood and Society; Young Man Luther; Insight and Responsibility; and Identity: Youth and Crisis.
Viktor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning, is an account of Frankl's experience in a concentration camp during the Nazi Holocaust. Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist observed that survivors were those who could envision a future for themselves and meaning in their life, despite their suffering. He developed logotherapy a psychological treatment designed to help patients find a meaning in one's life and their by improve mental. The Viktor-Frankl-Institute is a non-profit scientific society for Logotherapy and Existential Analysis in Vienna, Austria.
Joining Hands: Politics And Religion Together For Social Change by Rober Gottlieb. From the editor, "Gottlieb, a humanities professor, concedes his own leftist politics and religious perspective as he takes to task liberals and conservatives, the religious and the secular, and social thinkers and policymakers in this absorbing look at the merger of religion and politics in tackling social issues. He notes the widespread view in developed nations that political life should be secular and the historic antagonism between religion and politics. But Gottlieb sees 'profound shifts in economics, political culture, technology and political life' that are creating 'the prospect of religion and politics remaking the world together.' Religious leaders cannot actualize their own moral teachings without some political understanding of the world, he asserts. Gottlieb considers the philosophies and approaches of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Reinhold Niebuhr, the Dalai Lama, Oscar Romero, and other theologians, social activists, and political commentators in confronting raging social and moral issues. He explores the values religion and progressive politics bring to their respective spheres and their potential to offer a common vision in addressing a range of issues, including human rights, the environment, globalization, and world poverty."
Embracing The Spirit: Womanist Perspective On Hope, Salvation And Transformation edited by Emilie M. Townes is a collection of essays, of which "My Hope Is In The Lord," by Diana Hayes is used in this course. A sequel to Emilie Townes's A Troubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil and Suffering, Embracing The Spirit contains essays by leading womanist theologians, interweaving a concern for matters of race, gender, and class, as these bear on the survival and well-being of the African-American community. In Embracing the Spirit the emphasis is not on evil and suffering, but on 'hope, salvation, and transformation' for individuals and their communities.
Gabriel Marcel, (1889-1973) was a drama critic, playwright, musician, and philosopher of what he termed "Christian Existentialism." Of his numerous philosophical publications and some thirty dramatic works The Existential Background Of Human Dignity and Homo Viator: Prolegomenes A Une Metaphysique De 1'esperance (Man The Wayfarer: Introduction To A Metaphysic Of Hope) are used in this course. In 1949 and 1950 Marcel gave the Gifford Lectures in Aberdeen, which later appeared in print as The Mystery of Being, and the William James Lectures at Harvard in 1961-1962, which later appeared as The Existential Background of Human Dignity.
Donald Woods Winnicott (1896-1971), author of Therapeutic Consultations In Child Psychiatry was a pediatrician and psychoanalyst. Winnicott treated psychically disturbed children and their mothers developing such concepts as the "holding environment," and the "transitional object," (parent's know it as a security blanket). He had a major impact on object relations theory, which focused on familiar and inanimate objects that children use to stave off anxiety during times of stress. His theoretical writings emphasized empathy and imagination.
Hope In Mythology
Hope entered the world of Greek mythology with a shroud of paradox surrounding its meaning. Because Prometheus stole fire from the gods, Zeus sent Pandora and her famous box into the world to deliver revenge. Driven by curiosity, she disobeyed his order and opened the box, unleashing a myriad of hardships on humanity. When Pandora managed to slam the lid shut again, hope was the only thing still captive inside.
Menninger in his article "Hope," in Bulletin Of The Menninger Clinic (1987), said that this raises an intriguing question. Is Pandora's box meant to suggest that hope is what we cling to in order to withstand misfortune? Or, on the other hand, was this meant to suggest that as part of Zeus's revenge, hope is the greatest hardship of all? According to Menninger, the ancient Greeks held a world view in which destiny was unchangeable. There is evidence in literature that in their fatalistic belief system, hope was a cruel illusion driving men to great lengths yet impotently failing to satisfy. Aeschylus referred to it as "the food of exiles," and Euripides called it "man's curse." The heroine of Sophocles' Antigone declared, "We are of the tribe that hates your filthy hope, your docile, female hope; hope, your whore-" (cited in Menninger, 1987).
Evidently, some of our ancestors in western civilization held definite, strong, and negative opinions about hope as a means to coping in life. Such a perspective is consistent, however, with a mythology that denied human efficacy in the world. That view demanded stoic fatalistic acceptance.
Hope In The Judeo-Christian Tradition
The spread of Judeo-Christian thought engendered a revolution in one's relationship with the Godhead and resulted in new attitudes about hope, according to Menninger in the article "Hope," in Bulletin Of The Menninger Clinic (1987). The Old Testament is a chronicle of a very dark and challenging period in Jewish history. These circumstances provided the context for a new religion and for a declaration that steadfast faith in God is rewarded. In The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible (1962) edited by George Arthur Buttrick, four aspects of hope were identified in old Testament writings:
- Trust in God, which led to a commitment of one's cause to the Lord, holding fast to him and living in serenity and peace under his protec-tion. Although hope tends no longer to have this connotation, this definition highlights the intimate relationship between hope and faith, which is deeply rooted in such reliance and trust.
- A ready eagerness to take refuge in the Lord from one's foes and to rely on him for speedy deliverance.
- The confident expectation of future gladness which creates the possibility of present rejoicing. This attitude of anticipation and expectation serves as the occasion for eschatological hope.
- A patient and courageous waiting for the Lord to bring his salvation, bringing endurance in the face of present adversity.
This analysis of hope, in the biblical context, high-lighted hope's nature as involving present and future rewards resulting from a deliberate and active choice (a life of faith). In this view, hope is associated with feelings of serenity, peace, gladness, and joy. This reward is guaranteed in the future and is a sustaining force in the face of present hardship. The immediate implication is that the decision of faith is, in its certain outcome, a reason to be hopeful, and in hope, joyful.
Make no mistake, however, as to the level of commitment this notion of hope requires. When a person is said to have "committed his cause to the Lord," it presupposes a capacity to constantly choose meaningful actions according to a set of values. The Old Testament promise of salvation is predicated on the notion that God, like a good mother, will care for his faithful children. Biblical hope means to wait faithfully and patiently for the figurative breast of Providence, while acting according to God's law. Such a concept of hope clearly parallels that of Erikson's psychosocial perspective as described in Insight And Responsibility (1964).
Other aspects of biblical hope also figure prominently in this review of philosophical and psychological perspec-tives on hope. The recognition of hope as involving expected positive affects and a cognitive appraisal of the means to that end is common to research by Snyder, et al. in Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology (1991), Staats in Journal Of Genetic Psychology (1987) and Journal Of Personality Assessment (1989), and Stotland in The Psychology Of Hope (1969). The idea that hope demands free and responsible ongoing action according to a set of values is emphasized in the existential perspective articulated by Frankl in Man's Search For Meaning (1959) and Marcel in Homo Viator: Prolegomenes A Une Metaphysique De L'esperance (1944) and The Existential Background Of Human Dignity (1963).
Hope In Adversity
Hope is the necessary companion of humans during adversity. When faced with extreme prejudice, violence, and pain, hope makes the difference between those who survive and those who perish. Viktor Frankl observed the impact of Nazi concentration camps on human life and the role of hope, in Man's Search For Meaning (1959). The concentration camp experience emphasized an awareness of suffering as part of the human condition. Frankl observed the reactions of himself and his peers to this extreme reality. He noted which people were ultimately able to survive, and at what price. Ultimately, the survivors were people who accepted their circumstances as a challenge to inner freedom, as a challenge to one's ability to remain true to deeply held values and faith. Each action and each thought which was recognized as originating in free will and dignity provided encouragement. The single most influential factor in rising to meet such a challenge, in Frankl's view, was faith in the future. He related several stories about fellow prisoners who were sustained by hope but died immediately upon relinquishing it.
Even the (Nazi) camp doctor associated a sharply increased death rate following Christmas, 1944, with the prisoners' abandonment of a naive hope that the holiday would bring liberation. Close reading of Frankl's account reveals that he is pointing to existential hope, in agree-ment with Marcel's criteria in The Existential Background Of Human Dignity (1944). Mere optimism did not suffice in the concentration camp: "Once the meaning of suffering had been revealed to us, we refused to minimize or alleviate the camp's tortures by ignoring them or harboring false illusions and entertaining artificial optimism. Suffering had become a task on which we did not want to turn our backs" (Frankl, 1959).
The "hoping" that Frankl describes is a fundamental orientation toward life based on confident acceptance: "We had to learn ourselves, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us." This perspective implies that the hoping person bears trust in his ability to accommodate life's demands, to rise to the challenge. That, in itself, is inspiring to hope.
African Americans (particularly women) have also learned to utilize hope and spirituality to overcome adversity. In her essay, "My Hope Is In The Lord" (1997), Diana Hayes quotes St. Augustine: "Hope has two beautiful daughters, anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to work to make things other than they are." Hayes goes on to explain the wisdom of African American women, who live with hope on a daily basis, and "as the bearers of many burdens, have also been, most importantly, the bearers of culture. It is as the givers of life and the teachers of the future that they have suckled their children with the passionate anger and courage which sustained the hope that always dwelled within them, despite and through it all." Hayes credits the church community with providing the support to hope and role-models from "a long line of strong Black women who lived what it means to be womanist—to be bold, daring, audacious, and outrageous... it is these women who have nurtured and sustain the Black community through all of its ups and downs..." Augustine's anger and courage of hope provides the impetus for activism, and these activists find that through their very actions, they are again provided with the energy-sustaining hope.
In his book, Joining Hands: Politics And Religion Together For Social Change (2002), Roger Gottlieb describes the power of politics as, "not simply a way of understanding how society controls our lives, or of the mass structures of injustice, or even of large-scale movements of change. It is a way of coming to terms with loss, moving beyond the self, and finding meaning in the midst of a difficult fate." The link between spirituality and activism provided the catalyst for hope, for, "without spiritual resources, we will not be able to endure the pain that openness [to the world] produces. Without politics, our spiritual lives will be escapist and superficial... The message is simple: to remake the world we need simultaneously to remake ourselves, and we stand little chance at remaking our selves without at least the attempt to remake the world. The spiritual journey beyond the confines of the individual ego, the political journey toward fundamental social change- either one undertaken without knowledge of the necessity of the other has scant chance of success." While this can be an overwhelming process, Gottlieb assures us that all we need to do is start, anywhere. By actively improving our own small worlds, we gain the hope that the larger world can similarly be improved, which in turn gives us the energy to live our lives in accordance with our hopes.
Psychoanalytic Perspectives
Freud did not emphasize the process of hope in his system of psychology. The human condition was seen in deterministic terms, driven by instincts and even a powerful destructive tendency. Such a perspective did not leave much room for hope, and as Horney in Nuestros Conflictos Internos (1973) stated, "-the philosophy which underlies it is essentially pessimistic."
Witness Freud's discussion in The Complete Psychological Works Of Sigmund Freud (1915) on narcissism. In it he addressed the formation of an ego ideal, a self-concept "-possessed of every perfection that is of value." Freud did not recognize the ego ideal to be a potentially-beneficial goal in life. Quite to the contrary, the ego ideal was seen to be a narcissistic act of repression, replacing infantile narcissism with a socially-acceptable form: "What he projects before him as his ideal is the substitute for the lost narcissism of his childhood in which he was his own ideal-The formation of an ideal heightens the demands of the ego and is the most powerful factor favoring repression-"
He even argued that this mechanism could be at the root of paranoid symptoms such as "being watched." That could be the case if one's conscience became overly critical in its comparison of the true ego and the ego ideal. While the ego ideal is not synonymous with hope, this negative evaluation of it appears to similarly indict any concept of hope which includes a positively distorted image of potential reality.
On the other hand, in The Complete Psychological Works Of Sigmund Freud (1905) Freud seemed to endorse the role of hope as essential to the practice of good medicine: "There are many ways and means of practicing psychotherapy. All that lead to recovery are good. Our usual word of comfort, which we dispense so liberally to our patients, 'You'll soon be all right again,' corresponds to one of these psychotherapeutic methods."
He declared: "[The] state of mind, in which expectation is colored by hope and faith, is an effective force with which we have to reckon, strictly speaking, in all our attempts at treatment and cure. We could not otherwise account for the peculiar results which we find produced by medicaments and therapeutic procedures."
After several pages of persuasive testimony about the transcendent role of expectation in "miracle cures," and advice on ways to enhance the process through hypnosis, Freud concluded that, "Then, as now, the physician's personality was one of the chief instruments for bringing the patient into a state of mind favorable for his recovery... It is from this attempt that modern mental treatment has taken its start."
While the founding father of psychoanalysis apparently abandoned his early enthusiasm for hope as an element in treatment, others have integrated it into a neo-Freudian structure. Within a standard psychodynamic model of the unconscious, Burton, in the article "Hope And Schizophrenia," which appeared in Psychoanalytic Review (1973), argued that in the tension between eros and thanatos, hope is the force in favor of life, it is "a bridge between reality and magic..." This implies that "the prototype of all hoping... is immunity to death." With hope highlighted as a significant function of the ego, it emerges as an important and useful clinical issue. Burton's hope is seen as a heightened expectancy which transcends the objective probability of an event.
This implies that hopeful expectancy is not completely based on reality. Nonetheless, such a distortion is vital because it "energizes life projects which would never ordinarily be undertaken to begin with" and there-fore, favorably changes the probability of an event occur-ring. As a distortion of reality, hope is seen as an adaptive mechanism to offset realistic consciousness of human hardships, so as not to fall into constant pessimism.
Psychosocial Perspective
Erik Erikson in Insight And Responsibility (1964), prominently addressed the issue of hope in his psychosocial theory of development. He stated, "Hope is both the earliest and most indispensable virtue in the state of being alive." It is the earliest virtue to develop because it is born in infancy when a mother reliably provides warmth, food, and comfort. This experience fosters the first organization of perceptual stimuli ("mother") into an object with enduring qualities in the "thing world." If her care is sufficient, this first object engenders a favorable expectation for "things" in general. Erikson emphasized this interpersonal basis of hope. He described the reciprocation of smiles between an infant and its caregiver as causing a desire in the parent to be responsive; to confirm and inspire further smiling (and hope) through loving care.
Erikson's view thus holds that site for the development of hope is a powerful and benevolent entity which will work in one's interest. This perspective provides some understanding of hope. It should be noted that successful development of life is dependent upon the fulfillment of previous tasks and virtues. This highlights the crucial importance of establishing hope during infancy as a basic and indispensable trait.
If hope is, in fact, established as a basic quality, Erikson saw it as having resiliency in maturity which can accommodate specific disappointments. A person learns to imagine what is possible and transfers his hopes to better prospects. Increased success with this discriminating process verifies that hopefulness is useful, and thereby inspires further hopefulness.
Thus, it can be seen that Erikson saw hope as a trait underlying and inspiring human activity in a broad fashion. It is not merely something which is turned on and off situationally. Hope is an approach to life. This formulation is reflected in his definition: "Hope is the enduring belief in the attainability of fervent wishes, in spite of the dark urges and rages which mark the beginning of existence."
It is noteworthy and consistent with the idea that hope is rooted in infancy, for many adults assume a helpless and child-like posture in the act of prayer; an expression of faith which for the faithful, engenders hope. Erikson's discussion of hope is in substantial agreement with Burton in his essay "Hope And Schizophrenia" in the Psychoanalytic Review (1973) and Winnicott in Therapeutic Consultations In Child Psychiatry (1971) on the point that unrealistic hope, or an exclusive condition of hopefulness, is maladaptive. Such hope could only be fulfilled by "a paradise in nature, a utopia in social reality, and a heaven in the beyond." Thus, reality demands and psychosocial theory postu-lates that the next essential virtue in development is "Will," which serves to temper hope through "increased judgment and decision in the application of drive." Finally, Erikson in Insight And Responsibility (1964), asserts that a hopeless person "regresses into as lifeless a state as a living organism can sustain" foreshadows empirical work by Beck in The Prediction Of Suicide (1974) on the relationship between hopelessness and suicide.
Existential Perspectives
Existential philosophy/psychology contributes to the understanding of hope through a rigorous definition of what it is (and what it isn't). The French existentialist Gabriel Marcel in Homo Viator: Prolegomenes A Une Metaphysique De L'esperance (Man The Wayfarer: Introduction To A Metaphysics Of Hope) (1944), distinguished hoping from wishing, doubting, certainty, and optimism. Marcel's first point is that it is essential to view hope not as a noun that is possessed, but rather as an active process of being: the verb hoping. In this context, it is possible to describe the phenomenology of hoping and develop the previously mentioned contrasts.
Hoping is seen as distinct from wishing, desiring, or other forms of expectation. The latter usually point to specific desired objects or circumstances, such as a particular Christmas present, a sunny day, a raise in salary. True hoping does not focus on objects; it is concerned with global or existential conditions. The existential theologian Paul Tillich addressed this distinc-tion in his essay "The Right To Hope" (1965) in The University Of Chicago Magazine, stating that "Hope is easy for the foolish, but hard for the wise. Everybody can lose himself into foolish hope, but genuine hope is something rare and great."
True hoping is an act of faith within a confrontation with ever-present issues of isolation, freedom, meaning, and death. Marcel in The Esistential Background Of Human Dignity (1963) suggests that wishing is an expression of the ego's desire for satisfaction, while hoping is a state of willing and humble responsiveness to the demands of existence: "But what I realize is that the subject of 'I hope' excludes all claims... It is as if hope were situated in another dimension of which it could be said that it is that of humility and patience, a patience which is perhaps a profound and secret characteristic of life... it is the act by which the temptation to despair is actively overcome." Mere wishing is contrasted with hope by a greater degree of egotistical self-absorption. It is argued that people are often actually declaring a state of wishing when they casually say "I hope that..."
In a similar fashion, Marcel noted that statements of certainty or doubt are frequently couched in an overly self-assertive (or egotistical) tone which tends to discount others' opinions, leading to conflict. Statements of hope reflect a humble acknowledgment of uncertainty, leaving the door open to amicable dialogue. The stance of unwavering optimism is similar to certainty in terms of prideful ego-involvement, and is further distinguished from hope in its degree of distortion of reality. Like a person in a manic episode, the optimist discounts disconfirming evidence and tends to argue that his perspective is superior in utility ("If only others would see things my way"). The hoping person accurately recognizes obstacles, yet maintains a confident belief that there is value in their existence. When it is argued that true hope requires an accurate appraisal of reality, this discussion points to Pruyser's observation in the essay "Maintaing Hope In Adversity," in Bulletin Of The Menninger Clinic (1987), that hope only arises when one is aware of the tragic circumstance of life. There is no need for hope in a situation that is already seen as ideal. "In first have some sense of captivity, limitations and sorrows of the human condition, in firsthand experience." This is exemplified in Viktor Frankl's previously discussed experience of Nazi concentration camps, as described in his book Man's Search For Meaning (1959).
Cognitive Perspectives
Ezra Stotland, in The Psychology Of Hope (1969), focused his analysis on the expectancies that people hold regarding their goals. From this perspective, hope is seen as related to an interaction between the subjective importance of a goal and the perceived probability of attaining it. According to his interpretation of an array of clinical and experimental research, a goal perceived to be highly important and likely to be attained stimulates selective attention, thoughts, and actions which enhance the actual likelihood of attaining that goal. This condi-tion is characteristic of hope.
Conversely, a goal which is seen as important, though remotely attainable, leads to increased anxiety and dimin-ished purposeful activity. In this case, people tend to devalue the subjective importance of the goal in an attempt to relieve the anxiety. A goal-attainment expectancy of low importance and low probability is said to be character-istic of hopelessness. Stotland argued that the psychiatric pathology is associated with hopelessness, and effective treatment must involve enhancing the patient's perception that his goals are attainable.
Following the lead from Stotland's line of reasoning, an instrument to measure hope was developed called The Hope Scale (1975), by Erickson, Post, and Paige and administered to students, psychiatric inpatients, and psychiatric out-patients. The Hope Scale featured a list of 20 normative goals common in U.S. society. Subjects rated each goal according to personal importance (I) and probability of attainment (P), and scores for mean importance and mean probability were derived. The MMPI was also administered, and scores for numerous scales were correlated. In general, correlations of P with MMPI scales suggest that low P is associated with a variety of physical, emotional, and interpersonal difficulties.
At the same time, it was found that the group with the highest I scores were psychiatric patients under 30 years of age. Stotland (1969) hypothesized that such a condition of high importance and low probability would produce high anxiety and impaired problem-solving behaviors. Erickson, et al. (1975) found support for this prediction, and suggested that their observation of decreased I scores among older psychiatric patients was indicative of an attempt to reduce anxiety. These data also seem to illus-trate Burton's assertion in the essay "Hope And Schizophrenia" in Psychoanalytic Review (1973), that the extreme apathy often characteristic of chronic schizophrenia is the result of the failure of magical thinking.
It should be noted that The Hope Scale of Erickson, Post, and Paige (1975) is theoretically based on a concept of hope that defines it according to an individual's perceived importance and probability for future attainment of particular normative goals. Within this conceptual framework, The Hope Scale lends support to Stotland's (1969) theory. However, hope is a larger topic than this. Hope is not merely sustained through wishful attitudes about the future. Hope is the product of a present-oriented and active process. From this perspective, the Erickson (1975) scale does not sufficiently assess hope in all its dimensions. Therefore, conclusions based solely on it may be inaccurate.
Another instrument to measure hope, The Hope Scale (1991) by Snyder, et al., focuses on perceptions about the coping process itself and therefore seems to address concerns raised by the existential perspective. In The (Snyder) Hope Scale, the concept has two aspects: 1) Agency (goal-directed determination) and 2) Pathways (planning of ways to meet goals). These aspects of hope are reflected and measured on eight items in the scale. The researchers cite an impressive array of validational data which seem to support this construct of hope as meaningful and this instrument as accurate. In general, this study concluded that higher levels of hope are associated with the perception of having more options in bypassing obstacles (pathways) and the where-withal to do what it takes in coping (agency). This type of hope was associated with more challenging goals, higher performance, confidence, a positive tone, and resilient mental health.
Conclusion
These exercises are not definitive, but can help you in determining just how hopeful you really are. There is no particular goal for the tests, but the subjects in which you have a low number, or low expectations, these might be a good places to start working on how hopeful you are in life. Even a positive person can find places where hopefulness is low, and bitterness might be present. There are hidden pockets of consciousness, even in the healer. If you are lucky enough to find these pockets of "dark consciousness" you can work with them. One of the most common areas of lack of hope in metaphysically inclined people is hopefulness for the healing of the world, humanity and the earth itself. It is of utmost importance to develop hope for humanity, or all is lost indeed!
Finding hope in life is, in a way, the juice behind positive thinking. Without hope, positive thinking is impossible, and a positive attitude will be out of reach. As you know, a positive attitude creates the reality you have always wanted. Find the places where you have little hope of a positive outcome in having the things you need or desire, having a healthy in body, mind and spirit, and having fulfilling relationships. These are holding you back from having a great life. Work with them and help others to find more help through your example. Your attitude and outlook on life speaks much louder than any words you can ever say. Hope is a sure sign of the presence of God, and is a sure sign that you are someone who is qualified to heal and teach others. Develop your hopefulness, cultivate it and help it grow. Remove old programming that might be hindering it, and move into a hopeful attitude. Let hopefulness be your signature tone and attitude, and see how your life changes.
Exercise 1
Erickson, Post, & Page The Hope Scale (1975)
RATING THE IMPORTANCE OF VARIOUS GOALS TO ME
Write a list of goals. After each goal, rate from 1-7 according to how important that goal is to you at this point in your life:
- "I don't care if this happens or not."
- "I do care about this, but only very little"
- "This is not very important to me."
- "This is moderately important to me"
- "This is very important to me."
- "There are only a few things more important to me."
- "This is one of the very most important goals in my life."
Here are a few goals that you might have, but add your own:
- Have enough money for basic needs.
- Be seen as attractive in my looks, dress, and grooming.
- Have a good relationship with my father.
- Have good emotional health.
- See my children turn out well.
- Have good bodily health.
- Have a satisfactory leisure life.
- Have a satisfactory sex life.
- Have a good relationship with my children.
- Get enough education.
- Have a nice car.
- Have enough good friends.
- Have enough money to do the things I want.
- Have others feel that I am a worthwhile person to have around.
- Have a good relationship with my mother.
- Have a nice house or apartment.
- At the end of my life, be able to say it was good that I lived.
- Get married and have a good relationship with my spouse.
- Obtain a good job and keep my job.
- Have a good relationship with my other close relatives.
Exercise 2
Erickson, Post, & Page The Hope Scale (1975)
RATING THE PROBABILITY OF REACHING VARIOUS GOALS FOR ME
Rate each of the goals above from 0 to 100 according to the probability that you will someday achieve it. For example:
| 0 | = "There is absolutely no chance of this for me." |
| 25 | = "Not very likely, but it might happen." |
| 50 | = "About a half-and-half chance of this for me." |
| 75 | = "There is a very good chance of this for me." |
| 100 | = "I have already achieved this or definitely will in future." |
Exercise 3
Snyder, et al. The Hope Scale (1991)
MY WAYS OF COPING WITH LIFE
Read each item carefully. Select the number between 1 and 4 that best describes you and put that number in the blank provided. Match each with a number:
1=Definitely False, 2=Mostly False, 3=Mostly True, 4=Definitely True
- I can think of many ways to get out of a jam.
- I energetically pursue my goals.
- I feel tired most of the time.
- There are lots of ways around any problem.
- I am easily downed in an argument.
- I can think of many ways to get the things in life that are most important to me.
- I worry about my health.
- Even when others get discouraged, I know I can find a way to solve the problem.
- My past experiences have prepared me well for my future.
- I've been pretty successful in life.
- I usually find myself worrying about something.
- I meet the goals that I set for myself.