In the Weave of Time– At West End Gallery
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.
–Václav Havel, The Politics of Hope – Disturbing the Peace (1986)
The words above from the late Czech President Václav Havel make an important distinction. People often mistake hope for optimism, but they are two separate entities, as Havel indicates.
You can have hope without optimism, but I don’t believe that optimism exists without hope. You hope that whatever happens makes some sort of sense, that you come away with an understanding, even it is not the outcome you desired.
Optimism is a firmer belief, well beyond the vague belief for the future held in hope, that things will turn out as you desire. It is a riskier bet than hope, one that sometimes doesn’t pay off.
The best, of course, is to have hope find its way into becoming optimism.
Maybe hope is that tadpole that becomes the frog that is optimism?
There’s a lot going on in the world right now that tests our ability to have either hope or optimism. I have no conviction that anything in the near future will make sense or give me better understanding.
As the always interesting Havelock Ellis wrote in the 1920’s: The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum.
I hope for the hope that my tiny tadpole of hope somehow makes its way to becoming that frog.
You know something? Call me crazy, but I am kind of optimistic that it will.
Does that make sense of any kind?
I hope it does, but I am not optimistic about that.
This doesn’t sound pessimistic, does it? It’s not meant to be. Besides pessimism is a whole other creature than hope or optimism. Altogether different species and genus.
It deserves discussion but don’t get me started on it, okay?
Oh, well. It’s way too early on a Sunday morning and I haven’t been getting much sleep lately so who knows what sort of illogical gibberish will emerge from my keyboard. It surprises even me sometimes.
Let’s have a song for this week’s Sunday Morning Music. It’s a new song from Lucinda Williams called The World’s Gone Wrong. I know that sounds neither hopeful nor optimistic. But I think you have to take a clear-eyed view of things before you can have either hope or optimism. Neither have much power for those folks who wear blinders.
Redtree Times 