Do you agree?

Question

“I think by now I have made it fairly clear that I am not very happy with the word "hope." I don't believe in people just hoping. We work for what we want. I always say that one has no right to hope without endeavor, so we work to try and bring about the situation that is necessary for the country, and we are confident that we will get to the negotiation table at one time or another. This is the way all such situations pan out— even with the most truculent dictator.
- Aung San Suu Kyi -

A_delphic_oracle: Yes, that is what hope should be. Hope without action is useless, action without hope is empty. We should have both, we should follow the middle path.

Answer 1

Hope is the contemplation of a good end when the means is unsure. It is more energizing than despair, which makes all effort seem useless. Hope enables helpless people to survive, but it is not a solution. The next step is for people to realize what they can do to bring this end about. But it must eventually be done or hope becomes a harmful delusion.

Compare Marx's quote: "Religion is the opiate of the masses." He was indicating that piety enabled the lower classes to endure their suffering by offering hope of a future life, but that hope did not improve their existing condition. Thought and talk can direct our efforts, but they can't be substituted for them.

Aung San Suu Kyi has less reason for hope than most people. She suffers BECAUSE of her efforts. Her efforts seem futile in light of the power set against her. Yet she persists. Obviously she regards hope as a delaying tactic used by the powerful against the powerless. There are other meanings but this one suits her. She's of the school that says the impossible just takes longer.

Answer 2

No matter how you work for something and try for some goal you can die in an instance, their might be an aneurysm right now growing in your brain and you don't even know until one day you just collapse and die. No matter how you take the pill, you still are not in control of everything and therefore you only believe that things will work out the way you plan just like everyone else before you and they didn't achieve their goals because they could not control the outcome and they expired before they accomplish it. We have hope only in the future because you cannot predict it or purpose it.

Answer 3

My high school football coach didn't like his players even mentioning the word "hope". He used to say that Hoping is for the people in the stands.

I never knew he was spreading the Dharma. I doubt he knew either. You never can tell who the true Buddhists are, the dharma isn't interested in 'isms.

Answer 4

Hope can have different meanings. To me, hope means having a positive outlook AS work is being done toward the goal. Hope is good. People in dire straits need it, to have a reason to keep trying.

Answer 5

As Boethius says in consolation of Philosophy:
Put hope to flight and banish fear.

If you use the right kind of hope it can be helpful, but hope and fear are two obstacles that stand in the way of a libertating and true lifestyle.

Answer 6

I'd have to agree. Just sitting around hoping something will happen will not make it happen. I can't sit and wish I would win the lottery... I have to at least buy a ticket.

Answer 7

I agree that we have to work for what we hope for, it will not just appear out of thin air.

Answer 8

I think people must have hope, but hope is never enough.

Answer 9

I agree. Likewise with just praying. Unless there is really NOTHING you can do.

Answer 10

what do you think prayer is if not hope? btw i do agree.