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.