What have wisdom traditions taught about hope, and how do people keep it alive when the way ahead is unclear?
These passages speak directly about hope as a human practice: what it means to wait, to trust, to keep faith in a good outcome, and to steady the soul when it is cast down.
Common Ground
These traditions treat hope as an active posture of the soul. The Psalms answer a soul cast down with the instruction to hope in God, and describe waiting for the dawn with more longing than a night watchman. Proverbs names hope deferred as sickness and hope fulfilled as a tree of life. The Bhagavad Gita promises that even a little faith saves a person from the anguish of dread. The Book of Mormon binds faith, hope, and charity together and names hope as the thing that keeps despair away. Marcus Aurelius learned from his teacher always to hope the best and to trust that his friends loved him. Across these sources, hope is chosen and practiced, it rests on trust in something reliable, and it carries a person through the waiting.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
Christianity - The Bible, King James Version, Psalm 42:11
Read in the libraryI wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
Christianity - The Bible, King James Version, Psalm 130:5-6
Read in the libraryHope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Christianity - The Bible, King James Version, Proverbs 13:12
Read in the libraryHere shall no end be hindered, no hope marred, No loss be feared: faith--yea, a little faith-- Shall save thee from the anguish of thy dread.
Hinduism - The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter II, Edwin Arnold, 1885
Read in the libraryWherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity.
Christianity - The Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:20
Read in the libraryAnd if ye have no hope ye must needs be in despair; and despair cometh because of iniquity.
Christianity - The Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:22
Read in the libraryOf him also, to observe a constant tenor, (not interrupted, with any other cares and distractions,) in the study and esteem of philosophy: to be bountiful and liberal in the largest measure; always to hope the best; and to be confident that my friends love me.
Stoicism - Meditations, Book I, Marcus Aurelius, Meric Casaubon, 1634
Read in the libraryDifferent Paths
Christianity
The Bible makes hope an address to one's own soul and a form of waiting: the cast-down soul is told to hope, and the one who hopes watches for morning. The Book of Mormon binds hope to faith and charity as one living whole, and names hope as what stands between a person and despair.
Browse Christianity sourcesHinduism
Hinduism roots hope in faith: even a small measure of faith in the path is enough to lift the anguish of dread.
Browse Hinduism sourcesStoicism
Stoicism treats hope as a learned disposition of character: to hope the best and to trust the love of one's friends is part of a well-formed mind.
Browse Stoicism sourcesSources
All passages are drawn from public domain sources. Read them in full in the library.