Some of my best days are days in which I struggle. Sometimes the struggle is physical, sometimes spiritual, but always the struggle screws with my understanding of myself and others.
Today is no exception to my past experience with struggling. I am struggling with what I used to think was a simple tag line to my blog – “The Power and Promise of Hope.” Because of reader feedback as well as some wonderful friends who allow me to think out loud, I am beginning to understand simple words and simple thoughts are nothing of the sort.
I assumed that if I blogged about hope, everyone who read my blog would have had enough experience with the quest for hope to resonate with my blog postings. That’s where my struggle began.
I have discovered four different levels or contexts in which to describe my tagline – “The Promise and Power of Hope.” Until there is awareness of which level I am accessing, I can go nowhere with my posts. So here are the four basic contexts I use as I attempt to make sense of my ever evolving conversation and dialogue concerning HOPE.
- There is MY hope -this is the sense of hope I carry with me that helps direct my life. (i.e. My hope is the slow leak in my tire doesn’t get worse).
- There is OUR hope – this is the sense of hope I share with other persons in my circle of friends and acquaintances. (i.e. Our hope is for an end to the violence in Chicago).
- There is THE hope – this is the sense of hope shared by cultures and societies at large. (i.e. The hope that all humankind will be treated with dignity and respect).
- There is HOPE – this is the sense of the universal hope that is the foundation for all our words, thoughts, acts, and deeds. This is the universal function of HOPE leading to thoughts of universal proportions and a universal sense of belonging to something magnificent and pure. It is the hope when realized, that leads to a sense of eternal significance. (i.e. It’s not the outcome of hoping for a new bicycle or of winning the lottery. This sense of HOPE completes the soul’s greatest longings).
This contextual framework works for another value/virtue I ponder that has also caused great dispute among members of my writing group – TRUTH.
- There is MY sense of truth.
- There is OUR sense of truth.
- There is THE truth.
- There is TRUTH.
Let me deal with points 3 and 4 concerning truth. This is where most of our group’s discussion begins. I maintain there is a widely agreed upon definition for THE truth (Point 3). In the group we all think there is one Truth which operates at varying levels. (i.e. Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely). But there is no agreement concerning the concept of one Truth (Point 4), immutable and ever consistent – a truth that transcends objectivity or convenience. This is where my struggle begins.
No sane person thinks too long or too hard about Hope or Truth or Beauty. No sane person dwells for long on the origin of a handful of values or virtues that have co-existed with humankind since the beginning of time. Since the beginning of the awareness of personal relationships and matters leading to organizing, educating, and governing groups of people there has been a need for ultimate, unchanging truth.
That’s my struggle. I choose to believe there are timeless values and timeless virtues that are meant to unite us as we engage the world.
It’s not enough to say that I have hope. Unless I incarnate that sense of hope, first to friends, to the world, and finally in everything I do, say, or think, hope never gets to claim its ultimate purpose – its power and promise. The same with Truth. The same with Faith.
The timeless values or virtues that have been offered to us by generations before us will die with us unless we make a compelling case for their survival. Universal values and virtues will have no reason for surviving unless they guide all that we do to enrich the lives of others. Accomplishing noble purposes is the obligation for who have the luxury and blessing to struggle with ideas, rather than having to struggle for a place to sleep and a meal to eat.
But that’s another struggle of mine. Let me leave you with this thought – a good day is one in which you live by values and virtues that have the potential to transform the lives of those who struggle. That transformation may have to start with your own struggle.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Nice thoughts Jon, you caused me to ponder all these things today.
Thank you Cindy. I appreciate your taking the time to read my post. Later today I will return the favor of reading your blog. We bloggers/writers have got to support each other. We folks of faith also have to witness our unity.
I like your point that no one can keep thinking about the BIG PICTURE ideas constantly. Everyone comes up with a personal, workable definition and pushes on. When I used to teach high school English, I’d repeat constantly that a writer had to narrow down an essay to a specific point. Otherwise, a writer ends up rambling or dancing on the head of pin, thinking something hugely brilliant has been said, but to us it sounds like: In the world, there is air. Yep. There sure is. Keep tackling this.