Understanding Hope
We live on hope, without hope life will not be acceptable to us because the present does not satisfy us fully, Is it a good thing that the present is not acceptable to us? Or should we mold our psyche in such a way that the present becomes acceptable to us?
Spirituality demands that we should accept our present fully and be fully content with what we have, and give up any desire to see things differently. That’s how we transcend our worldly concerns and experience inner peace and divine bliss. However, we are also hardwired to experience Nirvana ultimately and until we experience that our psyche will not rest in peace.
Giving up hope can a positive mental attribute – otherwise we keep living in future and ignore the present. We can’t live in future but only in present and too much hope for future is too distracting.
Socrates and saint Meera gladly accepted poison because they were looking at the future and were convinced that their future was going to be better than their present. Things would have been difficult for them if they had only thought of the present, and not future.
Jesus always gave hope to his disciples for a better life in heaven, and would ask them to wait for the judgement day which made their trials and tribulations on this earth more bearable.
By living with the thoughts of Impermanence are we not denying the importance of the present or dismissing it, and shifting our attention to the future.
By hoping that bad things are temporary we live in the future, but fearing that good thing are also temporary we start living in the present to make the most of our present and appreciate it more.
Most people get bored with the nature of their work/ jobs and look for different types of work, promotions, increased earnings etc. however, Kings and prime ministers don’t get bored with their status and role – but they do get bored by the size of their empire, assets, strength of their political party and are constantly trying to expand it.
Hope and being optimist can make people arrogant, fearless, detached from their reality. An optimal dose of pessimism is good for one’s mental health as one becomes more tolerant, accommodating, cordial etc.
I saw one of my teacher as the finest person I had met and a gentle soul, but after a few sessions he told me that he was diagnosed with cancer and he had to give up his life ambitions. I’m not sure if the diagnosis made him a better human being or was he already such a nice person.
