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11.5
A review of the concept of hope
 
  The word hope originates from Old Frisian (hopia) Old Dutch (hopen) and Old English (hopian) with generally the same meanings as today. In the English language, the principle meanings of hope are ascribed as:  
 
1. To entertain expectation of something desired; to look ( mentally) with expectation.
2. To trust, have confidence
3. anticipate; to suppose, think, expect (1632)
 
11.5.1 The 'expectation' of better days  
  In a world where there has been so much cruelty and actions have at times seemed absurd, it has been a great marketing and political strength of organized religions to make detailed promises of a better day, a better time to overcome the present status of their followers. So long as the promises remain enticing and relevant and so long as they do not make to clear a promise in timing, these promises and expectations of "better days" can and do have had a strong impact on attracting people to join and maintain subscription to a religion.  
  In Buddhism, we have the hope that one day, through dedication we will be like Buddha was- enlightened and be free of pain and of evil;  
  In Christianity, we have the hope that one day we will go to heaven, that one day there will be a better state on earth, that one day there will be no more evil, that one day we will be physically reunited with our bodies etc etc.  
  In Islam, we have the hope of Heaven and the hope of justice against our enemies and all those that have hurt us.  
11.5.2 The focus of the inquiring mind away from the present into the future  
  Hope is essentially an emotive promise directed towards some anticipated future event. It is designed to take the inquiring mind away from the present into the future.  
  From a religious point of view, by the faithful projecting their hopes and aspirations into the future, the religion and the religiously aligned states have historically had a powerful weapon against which the failures of the present may be excused, for the anticipated benefits of the future.  
  In terms of maintaining power, hope has been one of the most successful tools for maintaining power the world has seen. Instead of unrest and riots, at many times of humanity, when religion has had a strong grip on societies, traditional civil unrest has been curbed.  
  It is only when the populace has lost hope, has lost belief in their religious and political faith that the people in power have had to worry.  
11.5.3 The important inbuilt assumptions of hope  
  What makes hope a particularly powerful word are the inbuilt assumptions of it.  
  The first key implication of hope is the assumption that today's world (physical life) is worse than the future world (spirit, heaven etc). In other words, the best you feel today can never compare to the feeling of tomorrow.  
  More specifically, hope implies that physical life is less than spiritual life, thus damning those that share a religious hope to believing that life is nothing compared to a life as a spirit in a state of heaven.  
  The second implication of hope is curious. Hope is not a promise of a better future, but the anticipation and expectation that it might be. In other words, while hope places a higher value on the future, the future is not guaranteed.  
  Thus, people who go to church, perform their duties as members of a religion are still not given clear unambiguous signs of guaranteed better life. In most cases, religious leaders state there is always room for more improvement.  
  Thus the implications of hope, provide a universal elevator for all people, no matter whether they are pious to their religious beliefs or not, to consider they should really strive more to be better in preparation of the possibility, not guarantee.  
11.5.4 Hope and the seeds of ego  
  As we saw in the chapter on ego, ego's goal is to project our minds away from the present towards focusing on the past or future. As we also discussed, the only way to tackle ego is to tackle it with tools than enable us to address a framework for the present.  
  In both cases, hope on analysis fails. Hope is by definition, based on desire and anticipation of a better future- both concepts being key tools of ego in fogging our perception of the present. By pushing our perspective away from the present, there is no way that hope can be considered an aligned virtue of UCA and ME.  
11.5.5 If there I no hope, then what is there  
  One of the pervading strengths of hope and desire, argued by ego, is that without hope there is nothing to live for. Worse, ego often offers up only depression and darkness as the alternative to a life without hope.  
  Let us then answer each implication of hope systematically:  
 
(a). UCA tells us that the greatest expression of ALL is life, is what we are now.To be human is to be more, not less. It is nothing to be ALL. In other words,how we live our lives now is more important than the progression of our minds after physical death.
(b). Secondly, we are part of UCA, part of the absolute and the absolute. A state of heaven ( or hell if we choose to think that way) is not a maybe, it is a fundamental law of everything that we have discussed in the book UCA and self so far. There is no possibilities, maybes- it is- it will be. Because we are and will always be part of the ALL and the perpetuation of mind beyond death is guaranteed as a fundamental law, we should not give it a second thought or doubt- our focus should return to addressing the present moment;
(c). The only thing that prevents us from feeling what it is like to be ALL, to be connected is ourselves, is ego. For to feel ALL is to feel as much of the present moment as possible. That is why hope is so destructive to our ability to sense the now moment. If we feel sad, pain, uncomfortable, it is only our perspective and judgments that make it so.
 
  In answer to ego's original question- without hope what is there? the answer is simply life, life as a human being and life as a universal human being, the expression of something much greater than a localized vision of heaven- the living realization of what and who we are in as many present moments as we choose.  
11.5.6 Hope is definitely not an aligned virtue  
  Given all that we have said, hope cannot be considered an aligned virtue. If anything, the concept of hope and the placement of it as a positive makes it one of the more dangerous concepts to entrapping the conscious mind away from the present moment there are.  
  There is no benefit, nor can something by definition be called an aligned virtue that takes the human mind away from the present.  
     
 
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