Advent Post 2017, #14
I am a bit behind on these and transitioning from carols to thoughts.
One of the advent candles stands for hope (the first). Hope is often conflated with emotion, but it is more than that and only contains, not is, human emotion.
Hope in the Biblical sense is grounded in knowledge, therefore cognitive with emotional effect.
I saw Star Wars the other day (The Last Jedi) and one of the themes of the movie is hope. Hope in what is not clear; hope that the Resistance will win over the "empire" (not called that in this film) seems to be the desired outcome, although realistically (and this is a plot hole) they have been fighting the "empire" or "first order" for years and don't seem to get much traction despite seeming wins. No matter. My point is that the hope in this universe is futile because there is no basis for it. The only hope they have is that there will be someone to keep fighting, new bodies to pour into the fight, but not an end to it.
Vaclav Havel says of hope: Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism (which I might add, is the emotion). Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well (which I might add, we can never really know due to the law of unintended consequences and our limited knowledge in time and circumstances) but the certainty that something makes sense, no matter how it turns out.
Biblical Hope means there will be an end to strife and struggle that will make sense.
"Something makes sense" means that in hope we have submitted our worldview to that of another where our perceptions and ideas may be proven wrong. To hope is to believe there is a rationality underneath and beyond our rationality. "Hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul . . . the little bird that kept so many warm," wrote Emily Dickinson.
One of the advent candles stands for hope (the first). Hope is often conflated with emotion, but it is more than that and only contains, not is, human emotion.
Hope in the Biblical sense is grounded in knowledge, therefore cognitive with emotional effect.
I saw Star Wars the other day (The Last Jedi) and one of the themes of the movie is hope. Hope in what is not clear; hope that the Resistance will win over the "empire" (not called that in this film) seems to be the desired outcome, although realistically (and this is a plot hole) they have been fighting the "empire" or "first order" for years and don't seem to get much traction despite seeming wins. No matter. My point is that the hope in this universe is futile because there is no basis for it. The only hope they have is that there will be someone to keep fighting, new bodies to pour into the fight, but not an end to it.
Vaclav Havel says of hope: Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism (which I might add, is the emotion). Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well (which I might add, we can never really know due to the law of unintended consequences and our limited knowledge in time and circumstances) but the certainty that something makes sense, no matter how it turns out.
Biblical Hope means there will be an end to strife and struggle that will make sense.
"Something makes sense" means that in hope we have submitted our worldview to that of another where our perceptions and ideas may be proven wrong. To hope is to believe there is a rationality underneath and beyond our rationality. "Hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul . . . the little bird that kept so many warm," wrote Emily Dickinson.
Hope is definitely not
the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will
turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless
of how it turns out.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/vaclav_havelH
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/vaclav_havelH
Hope is definitely not
the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will
turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless
of how it turns out.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/vaclav_havel
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/vaclav_havel
Hope is definitely not
the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will
turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless
of how it turns out.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/vaclav_havel
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/vaclav_havel
Comments