IS HOPE UNREALISTIC AND A MADE UP FEELING OR is it LOGICAL?
Hope typically brings light to a circumstance and looks at the glass as half full. For example, when you have a moment of sadness or someone you care about gets hurt, you would hope that you or they would get better. Although hope can be said or used negatively, the general feeling of hope, most would say, is positive. I tend to believe that hope is a rational and logical feeling. Like Frances Bacon came up with the scientific method, hope is just as rational. Hope can actually relate to some rational steps like in the scientific method. In the midst of a tough time, you could evaluate the circumstance, look at options and alternative courses, and the choose the one that seems positive and hopeful. For example, if your friend was in the hospital and theoretically had a 10% chance of dying and a 90% chance of living, you could choose to look at the circumstance with no hope and see sadness and death, or you could look at it with a hopeful attitude because you choose to remain hopeful because scientifically there is no need to worry. This can remain true in many different circumstances. No matter the circumstances or even the science, there is always room for hope. Science can assist in providing you more comforting and reassuring hope, but you can still find hope in any circumstance.
The French philosopher, Voltaire, was seen as a person who had a tendency to pick apart, or criticize many different parts of the church. There are people today who are similar to Voltaire who look to the negative and pick out the parts they don't like about something or a circumstance. I think that even if you see all the shortcomings all the time, there is still hope but you don't notice it. It all depends on your perspective and the way you look at things. You can be like Voltaire and criticize, or look for the hope. When you look for the hope that comes from God, you look at life with a glass half full and you won't be caught up in all of the worries of life.
I think that having faith in God also provides a person with more hope. Since God is one that heals, brings restoration, and is a provider, people of faith often look to Him for help which inspires hope. There isn't a circumstance or future that God is not apart of and that generally gives a person a more positive outlook on life. Also knowing that our time here on Earth is temporary and that we can have an eternal life with God, puts more hope in awful and heartbreaking circumstances. Hope is a logical way of thinking and a great outlook on life. Instead of someone worrying about the temporary sadness and horrible events, one can hope for a better and brighter future.
I have read bits and pieces of an essay that refers to hope as an active term. They say it can be a "'response of the creature to the Infinite Being'" (Marcel 1962). I really like this way of viewing hope because It also shows how hope is not part of the human nature. Not something that we can create. Hope shows a natural response to a greater being. Hope can be thought as a concept that is the greatest, it is very big and has meaning deeper than we realize. This points to the greatest being, God, similar to the ontological argument. The essence of hope is something greater than we could fathom. We have feelings of hope, and as Christians, eternal hope. Eternal hope has many aspects involved that we could only guess. We do not have a full understanding of what this could mean as there are many possibilities.
Hope can be very simplistic like "I hope I get an A on this test". It can also be a mindset and attitude which affects our everyday living. Living as a person who finds their hope in God and in the greatest imaginable being, changes how we view circumstances. Troubles here on Earth quickly become very temporary and we focus on what greater things are to come. The unknown can allow us to choose to live in a state of hope, or fear. These two terms can contradict each other. Hope is positive and allows you to live in the freedom that believing in God gives. Fear scares us into living too safe of a life and very attached to what is materialistic. Although, you can also have hope as a fearful person. If someone is sick and you are afraid for them to die, you could say "I hope they live" as a response. This reaction I think points to a greater being who is all knowing who we instinctively pray to. Hope can be seen in many different ways, but it is ultimately something so unimaginably great and fuels a person with freedom and positivity.
The French philosopher, Voltaire, was seen as a person who had a tendency to pick apart, or criticize many different parts of the church. There are people today who are similar to Voltaire who look to the negative and pick out the parts they don't like about something or a circumstance. I think that even if you see all the shortcomings all the time, there is still hope but you don't notice it. It all depends on your perspective and the way you look at things. You can be like Voltaire and criticize, or look for the hope. When you look for the hope that comes from God, you look at life with a glass half full and you won't be caught up in all of the worries of life.
I think that having faith in God also provides a person with more hope. Since God is one that heals, brings restoration, and is a provider, people of faith often look to Him for help which inspires hope. There isn't a circumstance or future that God is not apart of and that generally gives a person a more positive outlook on life. Also knowing that our time here on Earth is temporary and that we can have an eternal life with God, puts more hope in awful and heartbreaking circumstances. Hope is a logical way of thinking and a great outlook on life. Instead of someone worrying about the temporary sadness and horrible events, one can hope for a better and brighter future.
I have read bits and pieces of an essay that refers to hope as an active term. They say it can be a "'response of the creature to the Infinite Being'" (Marcel 1962). I really like this way of viewing hope because It also shows how hope is not part of the human nature. Not something that we can create. Hope shows a natural response to a greater being. Hope can be thought as a concept that is the greatest, it is very big and has meaning deeper than we realize. This points to the greatest being, God, similar to the ontological argument. The essence of hope is something greater than we could fathom. We have feelings of hope, and as Christians, eternal hope. Eternal hope has many aspects involved that we could only guess. We do not have a full understanding of what this could mean as there are many possibilities.
Hope can be very simplistic like "I hope I get an A on this test". It can also be a mindset and attitude which affects our everyday living. Living as a person who finds their hope in God and in the greatest imaginable being, changes how we view circumstances. Troubles here on Earth quickly become very temporary and we focus on what greater things are to come. The unknown can allow us to choose to live in a state of hope, or fear. These two terms can contradict each other. Hope is positive and allows you to live in the freedom that believing in God gives. Fear scares us into living too safe of a life and very attached to what is materialistic. Although, you can also have hope as a fearful person. If someone is sick and you are afraid for them to die, you could say "I hope they live" as a response. This reaction I think points to a greater being who is all knowing who we instinctively pray to. Hope can be seen in many different ways, but it is ultimately something so unimaginably great and fuels a person with freedom and positivity.
Is personality an innate idea?
Innate ideas align with concepts that root from the philosopher, Plato's point of view. The concept of a blank slate originates from ideas that can be based off of Aristotles train of thought. Personality is hard to decipher as either an innate idea, or something you can learn from experience as your blank slate becomes not so blank. It is hard to fully grasp either one of these ideas because if personality was totally an innate quality, then there is not much freedom in how God designed us as we thought. But, if we were completely blank slate and learning from experiences it wouldn't totally make sense either. If two people, hypothetically, were genetically the same and they grew up the exact same way, would they have the same personality? I don't think they would, which could explain why personality could fall somewhere in-between these two extremes. It could be like the golden mean of circumstances.
Could a person be born with some innate personality that is brought out or displayed more based on different experiences that they encounter throughout life? Or could they possibly develop together? How this folds and works together is beyond me and my understanding. But, I have become somewhat comfortable with the idea that a person could possibly be given a set of strengths or personality traits that are just more dominantly shown through circumstances which reveal them. This could explain why people feel like who they are can change as they get older, because they have experienced more. Could it possibly be that all their underlying traits constantly remain the same but are just expressed at different times when called upon? Either way, there is a balance in which a person through experience can reveal more, or develop a personality which could already have innately existed.
Could a person be born with some innate personality that is brought out or displayed more based on different experiences that they encounter throughout life? Or could they possibly develop together? How this folds and works together is beyond me and my understanding. But, I have become somewhat comfortable with the idea that a person could possibly be given a set of strengths or personality traits that are just more dominantly shown through circumstances which reveal them. This could explain why people feel like who they are can change as they get older, because they have experienced more. Could it possibly be that all their underlying traits constantly remain the same but are just expressed at different times when called upon? Either way, there is a balance in which a person through experience can reveal more, or develop a personality which could already have innately existed.
Helping can actually be hurting
A dance party. That’s how we celebrated the end of the week spent in Mukono, Uganda. There I was, surrounded by dozens of little children, many of whom I danced with and had also given gifts, specifically stickers. It was our last day on our mission trip with these kids; hot, sweaty, playing, and dancing, but they had to go back to their normal lives again, whereas we were headed back home. Throughout the week and with further reflection months later, I realized that what we consider “helping” and good intentions might be hurting them more than assisting. Think about it: we shower them with love and gifts, giving them something to look forward to everyday that we are there, and then suddenly we leave them until the next group of missionaries passes through. This led me to think: how could we still support the school and community without leaving a damaging impact?
I’ve always been passionate about helping people, getting involved in my community, and leaving things better than I found it. It's how I was raised, but could years of participating in two week long trips actually be harmful? And what is my true intention behind going? I have high aspirations and hopes for my life that have always been centered on my love for people. I’ve been taught by going to Uganda, that gifts were an easy way to say “hey, I love you” without using words. Now upon more reflection and gaining knowledge about ideas from Schopenhauer, I realize how much meaning we put into gifts. It shows the materialistic side of human beings, relying on gifts as one way to communicate love. This flows into the different stages of life presented by Kierkegaard. Gifts and need for earthly love is categorized in the aesthetic stage. Then we continue to develop until we reach the religious stage where we don't place as much value in things like gifts, although they are appreciated. Maybe choosing to not overwhelm them with small treasures and glimpses of what we have to offer, will make it easier for them when we leave. Leaving long term impacts such as educational tools or lessons, may be more effective in cultivating change. I have found that it is also important to think before taking action. To ask myself: “Is what I am doing going to negatively impact someone else or is it beneficial, if it is negative what can I do to make it positive?” and “what is my underlying intention in giving this child yet another gift?”. These are necessary questions to ask yourself because people always leave influence on one another. Many people, including myself, have aimed to serve others in order to get something out of it. It could be to get that good feeling or to truly want to impact a community for the better. Looking back on mission involvements in years past, made me wonder what I can do better moving forward to actually have a beneficial impact, but also to look at my true motives behind going. It is important to make a two-week, planned, joyful experience worth it for both you and the ones you’re serving. Rethinking my intentions and trying to leave a helpful impact on a community is important to think about when attempting to change lives and leave where you were better than you found it.
My experiences in Mukono, Uganda have left me meditating on my own actions and overall impact on mission trips like these in order to change the way I operate and function within a community. Moving forward, I hope to continue to strengthen my ability to help people in ways that would be the most effective and beneficial, while also focusing on my intentions and reasons behind why I choose to participate in such circumstances. The time I spent in Uganda changed the way I thought about developing countries, opened my eyes to significant injustices, but most importantly, it began to change the way I thought about my actions and impact that I leave wherever I go. The dance parties, constant singing, and hilarious jokes are something I will never take for granted. The information I acquired and change of thought that occurred simply altered my view on helping others.
FUN VIDEO LINK:
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Video Link:
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