“The capacity for hope is the most significant fact of life. It provides human beings with a sense of destination, and the energy to get started.” Norman Cousins, American journalist
I’ve been thinking a lot about hope lately, particularly since almost every headline for the past two months has brought me feelings that are anything but hopeful. Simultaneously, I’m aware that there are people I care about who find the news headlines very hopeful.
I’ve been holding that contradiction for awhile now, which has brought me to an awareness of how closely a sense of hope is tied to our values. When we experience events that are in line with our values, we feel hope. The less the world around us reflects those values, the more faint our sense of hope.
One of the first researchers on the subject of hope, C. R. Snyder, identified that hope requires three components: goals, pathways and agency. Our values provide us with the first component—goals. Regardless of what my personal values are, I will make choices and take steps to make those values a reality in the world around me.
This is what differentiates hope from optimism. Optimism is essentially the belief that “things will get better”. Hope, on the other hand, is the conviction that one can act to make things better. When that which I value in society is not a reality, and is being eradicated more dramatically on a daily basis, my optimism takes a hit. I see that things aren’t getting better, and I feel disheartened.
There is no value judgement in this response. I believe it’s actually healthy in that it keeps us connected to what we believe to be important. It is because we see our values being eroded and disregarded that we feel the heartache. As I wrote last week, taking time to mourn what is being lost is vital to our soul-work.
From the mourning, then, can arise a realization that there is no magic solution. No one is coming to change the course of what is unfolding. The forces of white supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy (WSCP) are, and always have been, focussed on their own survival. They are desperate.
However, if I’ve cultivated practices of soul growth, I will have an awareness that there is something I can do to make a difference. While I can’t change the political direction of a country, I can participate in actions which bring my values into the world immediately around me.
This brings together the other two ingredients necessary for hope—pathways and agency. Pathways refers to specific actions that can be taken to achieve positive change. Agency refers to knowing that I have the power to participate in those actions.
This is exactly what the forces of WSCP don’t want us to know. They want us to believe we are powerless and helpless. They want us convinced that because they have the most money, the loudest voices, and the positions of greatest power, we have no choice but to surrender to their machinations.
Please notice that I refer to “the forces”. While there are individuals whose voices are speaking, they are only giving voice to the forces that have been at work in our society for centuries. Alongside them are also forces of love, freedom, and dignity at work, and we can choose to be the voices for them.
As long as we recognize that it is up to each of us as individuals to create the kind of world we want to live in, then we will look for the pathways to create that world. In looking for those pathways, we remind ourselves that we can make a difference.
I also believe it’s critical to remember that hope grows its roots in small actions. The bigger, louder and more frightening the forces of WSCP get, the more necessary it is for us to focus on the small actions we can take to make a difference, whether it be to our individual mental health, the well being of the community immediately around us, or for the greater society. For example, I titrate my news consumption so I don’t get overwhelmed by the ecacophany. I have specific actions that I engage in weekly related to people I care about who are being much more adversely affected by world events than I am. I have also chosen one “big cause” to support with my finances and my attention, realizing if I try to attend to everything that matters right now, I will collapse into overwhelm. All of these keep me connected to Hope, and a remembering that while I can’t make the whole world better today, I can make a difference to myself, and to the people in my immediate circle.
The words of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu have never rung more true for me. “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that will overwhelm the world.”
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