Remember that fabulous scene in Tolkein’s The Two Towers when Galadriel gifts Frodo a phial that contains the light of Eärendil’s star, saying to him, “May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out”? She knew Frodo would need light on the dark path before him, she knew he would need hope, to endure what he would endure. That phial came in very handy, as we come to find out later in the tale.
What is hope, really? Can someone else give it to us? Is hope the conviction that we will get what we want? Or the result of trusting that we can and will succeed in what we set out to do? Or the result of faith in our ability to manifest parking spaces?
While this kind of sweet hope is nice to have, it is not the capital “H” Hope that mystics of many traditions tell us is available. The mystics speak of Hope as an abiding state, the result of a shift from striving for happiness and fulfillment in the outer world, to turning our search within and discovering something much more satisfying than getting what we want.
In her book Mystical Hope: Trusting in the Mercy of God, non-dual Christian theologian Cynthia Bourgeault tells us how one Christian saint found hope:
In the medieval legend The Voyage of St. Brendan, Brendan sets out to search for the Land Promised to the Saints. But for seven years he keeps missing it – keeps sailing around in circles. He can find it only when something is reversed inside him. Instead of looking outward for landfalls and destinations, an inner eye opens within Brendan that can see the luminous fullness of the Land Promised to the Saints always and everywhere present beneath the surface motions of coming, going, striving, arriving. To find our way to that visionary world, that fulness at the heart of everything … this is the journey straight to the wellsprings of mystical hope.
Given our human family’s current circumstances, as we stand here at the brink of another possible war with global consequences, Brendan’s voyage offers us instruction. In order for our human family to stop sailing in the circles of an old, collective developmental stage, a reversal is needed. A discovery of mystical Hope might come in handy.
Our minds will never arrive at agreement over how things should go, who should have what, who should be in power, etc. But it is possible for us to co-exist in a state of mutual respect and good will. This can only come about when we stop seeing each other as either for or against our own Hope. When we see that Hope is at the foundation of who and what we are, an aspect of our existence no one can ever take away, we stop glorifying and vilifying.
Our optimism is good and necessary. It will be the thing that carries us into a more humane future. While I am not suggesting we stop exercising optimism, I am suggesting that we stop sailing around in circles. What our world needs right now, even more than our optimism, is a rising tide of real Hope, giving us the capacity to hold a broader and wider space for the growing conflicts.
This kind of Hope will be there whether or not we get what we want. It’s the kind of Hope that can withstand the onslaught of malevolent forces. A Hope that will take us through our failures, as well as our successes. A Hope that will be there when there is nothing else to “get” from this life. Hope that will accompany us in our last breath. Hope that can guide us in times of extreme sorrow.
If you’re wondering how to access this kind of Hope, maybe Bourgeault’s very readable book might offer you inspiration. Her work is positioned firmly within the Christian tradition but informed by Eastern and nondual traditions as well.
May Light be there for each of us when we most need it in the months and years to come.