Hope - Haiti Observer Blog

Hope is a concept with many meanings.

In psychology, researchers define hope as an emotion that arises when expectations are not being met, or seem like they will never be met. But if one can find reason to hope, or a new way to fulfill those expectations, then hope is renewed. As psychiatrist Alfred Adler once stated, "We cannot think, feel, will, or act without . . . a goal."

Goals are object-oriented, whether material (a new car), or abstract (becoming an astronaut). To achieve a goal, we need willpower. We will goals through mental energy (imagining the process and desired end), sustaining the intent to achieve the goal.

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Desperation is a condition that occurs when hope dies.

When a great need has gone unmet, catastrophe looms, or destruction appears inevitable, then desperation arises.

Desperation may force us to use whatever sound or unsound options are available to end the pain of despair. If options prove ineffective, desperation becomes prolonged and thinking contracted. The feeling that no real solution exists makes one hope in vain, a forlorn hope.

Desperation causes unrealistic thinking and a move away from, rather than towards hope. Without consideration of realistic options because they involve risk, discomfort, or fear of the unknown, one lives in a more or less perpetual state of hopelessness.

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Hope and optimism are two sides of the same coin. Hope fuels optimism, but the reverse is not always true.

Hope arises when one sees a way out of a perceived hopeless circumstance. It allows one to escape the feelings of powerlessness and the sense of being trapped. But before hope can happen, one must accept the situation.

To resist the fact of one's current predicament only reinforces the sense of hopelessness and despair. But acceptance can also be an obstacle to hope, if in accepting the hopeless situation, one gives into despair and thoughts of suicide.

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Two ideas of hope exist: secular and religious

Secular hope, asserts whatever we desire we can achieve through faith in ourselves; the second that our desires will be achieved through our faith in God.

Religious hope issues from the promises given by God to His followers in the Bible, and to all believers in God's promises for us.

Secular hope and biblical hope begin with a yearning within us for something good and pleasurable. In secular hope, desires can be achieved through a belief system (are we worthy of this good); directed thinking (a plan put into action); and opening up to opportunities and possibilities (how we will achieve the desire).

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