My blog...a glimpse into the meanderings of my mind.

Hope?

Ever stop to think about hope? Tis an interesting line of thought...

Let us frist start with the dictionary, and establish what the common usage of said "hope" is.

hope (hp)

v., hoped, hoping, hopes. v.intr.

1. To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.
2. Archaic. To have confidence; trust.

v.tr.

1. To look forward to with confidence or expectation: We hope that our children will be successful.
2. To expect and desire. See synonyms at expect.

n.

1. A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment.
2. Something that is hoped for or desired: Success is our hope.
3. One that is a source of or reason for hope: the team's only hope for victory.
4. often Hope Christianity. The theological virtue defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God's help.
5. Archaic. Trust; confidence.

idiom:

hope against hope

1. To hope with little reason or justification.

[Middle English hopen, from Old English hopian.]

hop'er n.

It, hope, obviously is an inanimate substance, that is, if substances can be considered inanimate and substances. Otherwise, hope is something never to be handled, felt or seen, through human senses. Yet, if hope truly is "desire and expectation rolled into one," then there must be some way of perceiving it.

Ah! Now the wheels begin to turn inside your head as you struggle to see things in the manner in which I do. Consider this, if something is incapable of being perceived then it follows that it is incapable of being defined. An accurate definition never contains the word being defined, and must, by nature of being "accurate" correctly and coherently sum up what it's defining. That being said, let us establish this sinple principle: definition, by default, requires perception.

Now, "the rub" lies with the ghastly term "perception." Simply put this "perception" comes from the use of the senses...sight, sound, taste, feel, and mind. Perception in the mind covers a vast realm of philosophical matters that need not be brought up here or at this time. It will suffice to say, that "true perception" lies solely in the mind, and the senses are but an extension of that perception. For our use we will deem that when an object was been "perceived" it has been grasped by the mind. Thus since it has been perceived, it can be defined.

Moving on to hope, we establish that though intangible, it exists as something to be perceived, thus enabling us, and others before us to create, and refine an adequate definition. I doubt that any of us would disagree with the statement that "the common usage of the word 'hope' today is that of 'expectant desire'." With that in our minds let us consider the validity of having hope.

The question at hand, "Is having hope really worth it?" or "Does hope truly help?", follows an interesting line of thought. Hope is "expectant desire." In other words, a desire of some sort exists, and you truly expect it to be fulfilled. Desire truly implies a want of some sort. Yet by default, no one ever gets all that they want, there is no possible way that every person could have everything they want, all the time. It is physically impossible. Thus it would follow that not every hope that one has will be fulfilled.

That brings us back to the question: "why should i hope if it's only going to be left unfulfilled?" The answer to that question varies from person to person. Those who tend to be optimists would reply that you should always "hope against hope" for the next time could prove better. Then the comes the reply from the pessimisstic side of the camp saying that you should give up hope for you will always be let down. What about those who take the middle ground? They tell you that it all depends on the situation at hand, and that only you can decide.

Where does this leave us? It leaves us with the ascertaition that hope, and the value of hope must lie within the individual. That which would be hopeful to me, could be ordinary to someone else. Does it pay off to "keep your hopes up"? That too must be answered solely by you. Since hope remains intangible, it also remains very subjective. Many elements of what some could consider hope lie deep beneath the surface of their personal understanding. And remain there.

posted by CEM @ 11:00 PM 0 comments