Have you ever been in a situation where you have felt hopeless? Has anyone told you not to get your hopes up? Then please read on…
There is nothing in life that is not based on hope. We say good night and see you later, we plan our day, we take medicine, go to school, shovel snow, heck we open our eyes in the morning…. all on the basis of hope. The driving force of life is, in fact, is hope.
If what I say is true, then that brings up the idea of false or real hope. By definition all forms of hope are hypothesis. They are estimation of what we think may happen in the future. Hope is never present or past oriented. And, as all hypotheses go, the likelihood of a hypothesis being true is the frequency of by which the guess or hypothesis occurred in the past. That is, if something has happened again and again before, it’s likely to happen again in the future and thus hope is born. Hope then is a bridge that connects the past to the future—otherwise known as the present. Based on this thinking hope a probability-based experience.
Statisticians, logicians and realists among us would agree and say, therefore, that real hope is that which is more likely to happen and false hope is that which has very little to zero chance of happening—again based on past experience. They might call false hope “a fantasy”— with a derogatory tone to their voices. I argue, though, that hope that is realistic is called expectation. I expect to get paid when I work. I expect to be full when I eat, etc because those are highly likely cause/effect relationships. I expect darkness in the night. Is is possible that these things can suddenly change? Maybe, in that case I will be either surprised or frustrated. But hope is different and more profound.
I know I sound pessimistic when I say that hope, to me, is always false. But its falseness is what creates the majesty and power of hope. Hope creates joy and excitement of reaching the impossible or improbable. It creates the ignition for striving for far-off ideas and occurrences, and in so doing it fuels life’s true achievements. In that sense no hope is false hope just as no thought is almost a thought or love an almost love. And, all hope is false because it has to connection to any guarantee. Those who are averse to hope and stick to the notion of false hope are protecting against disappointment and discouragement. I, on the other hand, would rather live with hope and be disappointed again again than live with no hope and in the false safety of hopelessness. I get my hopes up, I dream of better things and “know” —really hope—from darkness comes light. I am deluded in thinking all or many, or for that matter any, of my dreams will absolutely come true but these dreams give me the energy to keep on living. I expect nothing from life. It owes me nothing. But the gifts that I have received are plentiful because I hoped for them.
Hope along with me. I would love to get your feedback. Comment below.