INSPIRING WISDOM

Optimism and Hope

Judaism regards optimism as a virtue, and pessimism as a great weakness. Hope is a prevision of truth; it is a foretaste of the desired goal; it is the experiencing in advance, with the delicate antennae of the imagination, of that good which will come to pass. It consists of seeing that success before you, of seeing the fruits of that success... It is a prevision of that which you are striving for... This prevision, this hope, is accompanied by or actually creates, a sense of joy and elation within you, which makes everything at the moment good and worthwhile, even though you are still far from success. And this acts as a tremendous incentive to your strivings, it unleashes all your energies, it unlocks all your powers and abilities that need to be employed in the attainment of your goal. Hope gives life, hope sustains life, hope shapes our destiny in life. Every action of man is impelled by hope.

Fear is a tyrant, whose shackles must be broken, before it succeeds in breaking us, it is a poison for which an antidote must be found, to destroy before it destroys us... We do not realize that fear has turned our imagination and our reason into its allies to bring us under its sway despair leads you on the road to self-destruction, for it tells you to give in to calamity, to accept it as a permanent state, as the final outcome with which it is futile to cope. Not calamity, but despair is your enemy when calamity confronts you. Despair does not let you fight your problems...despair speaks with the voice of defeatism. Despair tells you to go on, give up, you haven't a chance, what is the use of struggling? Despair is a sickness of the imagination, it is a poisonous state of consciousness.

Hope is the inherent part of our being, despair is only a dark accretion... Man is born with hope, not despair. Whatever difficulties beset one, with optimism and courage they may be overcome... In Judaism, optimism is closely associated with faith; man should avoid worry and gloom because he must trust in God at all times and under all circumstances. God endowed man not only with hopes, but with the means also of actuating them... God did not create hope without power. Life should be faced with effort and with faith. ...it must be realized that hope is not fundamentally a reliance upon ourselves; nor is it fundamentally a reliance upon our fellow beings... Hope is fundamentally a reliance upon a power other than ourselves, it is a reliance upon some power, some force, that is operating in our behalf. That is why, when others fall away from us, when our own efforts have proved inadequate, we still do not give up hope for that power is at work... Optimism is significant of man's faith and peace, pessimism speaks of discontent and doubt.

A mind that broods commits a crime against itself... A pessimistic point of view, driven to a logical conclusion, will cause the individual to lose his interest in all the vital things of life. Giving up, saying it is too late, is giving up part of living. To give up hope is to shut out almost every voice of God, for hope, implanted within you through a Divine benevolence, is God's way of telling you that it is there, that good that you desire; it is waiting for you, ready for you, the reward of your labors and your strivings.

We begin too early in life to think that it is too late... So long as you have visions, imaginings of what you would like to attain, you have time to make these visions and images into reality... if hope leaves you then joy leaves you too; dejection, even despair, takes its place... Not only does the goal then seem unattainable, it actually becomes unattainable. There is no complete defeat where there is still hope. A setback is no calamity, provided you keep your hopes warm. With hope and with effort, all that has been lost will be regained. Hope makes one cling tenaciously to life... it fills (one's) life with richness and power; it lends content and meaning to everything (one) strives to do. Give hope a place in your heart. It will be a power for good unto you in all the circumstances of existence.

"It is far too late for me to change my ways; my habits are too strongly entrenched". Do you mean that...you surrender to a phrase, a formula, an illusion really? "To late" is an illusion, it's a phrase that has no basis in fact, it's a formula whose ingredients serve only to paralyze, not to palliate the woeful state you are in. Whatever you are seeking to bring about, in any field of your endeavors or relationships with others, you will keep on striving and you will be happy on the road to your goal, so long as hope walks beside you and keeps before you and within you a shining image of your goal. Whatever circumstances, keep your hopes warm, for the truth is that you will find your way in life... Do not be afraid to dream, do not be afraid to plan, do not be afraid to project splendid things for yourself in the future.