What does it mean to have hope?
HOPE can be defined as the desire for something combined with an anticipation of it happening. In short, hope is the anticipation of something desired. To hope for something is to desire that thing, and to believe, rightly or wrongly, that the probability of it happening, though less than one, is greater than nought.
Jesus taught us that hope is contagious. He suggested that we are each the best chance of spreading hope in the world by:
+++ Modeling hope and treating others with the kind of love, compassion and kindness you want for yourself.
+++ Caring enough to support others who are in need of help.
+++ By becoming a Super-Empowered, hopeful individual who believes the future can be better than today, and you can make it happen, despite the obstacles in your way.
THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
In Plato’s Protagoras, Socrates says that the statesman Pericles gave his sons excellent instruction in everything that could be learnt from teachers, but when it came to virtue he simply left them to ‘wander at their own free will in a sort of hope that they would light upon virtue of their own accord’. This usage of 'hope' suggests that hoped for things are partly or even largely outside our personal control.
Even though hope involves an estimation of probabilities, this rational, calculative aspect is often imprecise—indeed, it is often
unconscious. When we hope, we do not know what the odds, or at least our odds, might be, but still, choose to ‘hope against hope’. This combination of ignorance and defiance, this 'hoping against hope', is integral to hope.
One opposite of hope is fear, which is the desire for something not to happen combined with an anticipation of it happening. Inherent in every hope is a fear, and in every fear a hope. Other opposites of hope are hopelessness and despair, which is an agitated form of hopelessness.
What would happen without hope?
We can live a month without food, 3 to 4 days without water, but not a single second without hope. ... If there is no hope we will lose the feeling of being alive. When spouses lose hope, they give up on their marriage, parents give up on their teens. When people lose hope, they lose their ability to dream for the future.
After all, how we think about the future - how we hope - determines how well we live our lives.
GOD BLESS YOU.
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