Nature and Origins of Hope

Definitions of hope abound. Hope is the general tendency to construct and respond to the perceived future positively (Nunn, 1996). Hope is not merely cognitive, but conative (i.e., an inclination to act purposefully), and therefore implicit to motivation (Hershberger, 1989). According to Miller (1992), "Hope is an anticipation of a future which is good and is based upon: mutuality (relationships with others), a sense of personal competence, coping ability, psychological well-being, purpose and meaning in life, as well as a sense of the 'possible'" (p. 14). For Melges (1982), hope consists of an overall positive attitude toward the personal future, similar to optimism but entailing a more active yearning for a positive future outcome. Snyder and colleagues (1991) offer the following definition: "Hope is a positive motivational state that is based on an interactively derived sense of successful a) agency (goal-directed energy), and b) pathways (planning to meet goals)" (p. 287). While a few theorists posit hope as an emotion, many of these also incorporate cognition into their models.

Capps (1995) suggests that images of hope arise from our experience of life as transitional. They involve movement, i.e., are kinetic. As kinetic, they are also identified with sounds and are often associated with music - music has a unique association with hoping. Hoping involves an imaginative projection, envisions the not-yet or the yet-to-be. Erikson (1964) posits that hope is the first, most basic, and yet the most lasting virtue. Moreover, hope is the ontogenetic basis of faith. What begins as hope in the individual infant is in its mature form faith. For theologian Jurgen Moltmann (1975), humans are creatures of hope, looking beyond the present and into the future. While Capps suggests that hope arises from a sense of deprivation, perhaps this is too narrow a view. Hope, it would seem, arises whenever one looks to the future and envisions something in it that is of value, the not-yet. This fundamental mark of humanness - looking to the future - is also a characteristic of psychological health. This characteristic cannot be over­emphasized, but neither can the role of relationships in fostering hope. Hope is grounded in relationality. The future always involves someone or something else. If we cannot form a meaningful connection with someone or something external to ourselves, hope is imperiled.