[Buddha-l] Hope

[Joy Vriens]

Hi Weng-Fai,

You wrote:
Following the interesting discussion on faith and beliefs, I would like to
hear what people think of HOPE... Obama sells it, religions and TV ads
peddle it, so is it just wishful thinking? An act of desperation? A panacea
or an aspirin for suffering?

Faith, belief, hope are all factors of motivation. Hope is a desire and
search for a future good. The loftiness and realisability of the desired
good reflects back on the hope. If the desired good is unrealistic the hope
is likely to be wishful thinking. But the loftiness of a desired good can
make up for its lack of realism, e.g. if it is realised partially but still
producing something good.

Peace on earth is a very lofty good and unrealistic... Yet, I wouldn't call
it wishful thinking, because it is more like a long term project people
subscribe to. It is something that can be kept in the back of one's mind and
that will continually have some influence on our decisions. The downside is
that hope often works on the long term and can calm and
soothe the impuls and need of immediate action and the anguish related to
that. It is like a postponement. We desire something, but the conditions
aren't favourable, we are not ready for it yet or don't feel up to it right
now etc. etc. In that case hope helps us to get rid of a gnawing
uncomfortable feeling.

Another more passive and unrealistic form of hope can help when one feels
quite powerless and the only thing one can do is to wait for the desired
good to happen or come along all by itself. In that case hope seems to me
merely to be like an anaesthetic and is perhaps meant to remain unfulfilled.


Sometimes the desired good needs to be totally lofty and unrealistic so it
will never be realised. Hope is a sort of suspension, a way to create a void
of taking action, of making decisions. And one interesting byproduct is the
acceptance of the current situation... A sort of cleverly crafted wu wei
without having to let go of desire. Pure Land theories seem to work with
this principle IMO. The problem of that sort of hope is that it comes with
highs and lows. Periods of strong belief, and happiness, and periods of
intense doubt, unhappiness.

Joy