How spirituality gives us hope
When I was at my lowest point the most dangerous moments were when I felt hopeless. When we feel hopeless the parts of our brains that help us make good choices get turned off. We ‘go mad.’ We have all seen this end in the most devastating consequences. For me it meant escaping life through substances, not wanting to engage in anything meaningful, bitterness and anger, and suicidal ideation. Hopelessness kept me stuck, unable to move forward, and in an endless spiral of pain.
We can see this playing out in the collective too. If you look at what is happening in the world and feel like you are on an unreal ‘alternative timeline’, you are not alone. In the absence of any beautiful vision for humanity we are acting out of desperation. An ‘insanity of humanity’.
Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler noted in their book ‘Abundance: The Future is Better than you Think’; “Over the last few hundred years, we humans have covered a considerable stretch of ground. We’re living longer, wealthier, healthier, safer lives. We have massively increased access to goods, services, transportation, information, education, medicines, means of communication, human rights, democratic institutions, durable shelter, and on and on.”
So why are we more scared than ever before?
We are biologically primed for pessimism. From the earliest days of our existence this is what kept us safe. Assuming the worst helped protect us from danger, so this response is buried deeply in our brains. As Dr. Marc Siegel noted in ‘False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear’; “Statistically, the world has never been safer. Many of us are living longer and more uneventfully. Nevertheless, we live in worst-case fear scenarios. We worry more than ever before. The natural dangers are no longer there, but the response measures are still in place, and now they are turned on much of the time. We implode, turning our adaptive fear mechanism into a maladaptive panicked response.”
Spirituality is how we change this response. The ‘spiritual emotions’ are found in the same part of the brain as our fear response. Things like love and compassion. And hope. Spirituality is also about how we experience connection with all other things. Unity consciousness is term used to describe this. Unity consciousness gives us our internal motivation to do good, strive for universal justice, and practice respect. These internal motivations are an antidote to fear. And they can exist even when we don’t know if things will be ok.
Czech statesman, author, and dissident Václav Havel wrote “Hope is a state of mind. Either we have hope, or we don’t. It is a dimension of the soul, and it’s not essentially dependent on some observation of the world or estimate of the situation. It is an orientation of the spirit, and orientation of the heart. It transcends the world that is immediately experienced …Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success. Hope is rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.”
Havel’s definition points to the idea that hope is not a belief that something will turn out well. But the certainty (and peace) that comes with doing something good regardless of how it turns out. An ‘orientation of the spirit.’
This orientation is what gives us meaning. Research shows that people who have meaning in their life report more of the ‘spiritual emotions’ that can be found in the deep parts of our brain. They report higher levels of satisfaction and happiness. The research showed meaningfulness helps older adults in residential care settings or people that are grieving. I have seen this in action when I work with clients in aged care or prisons. This research even showed that meaning in life can help us adapt to medical conditions like chronic pain.
“The human brain cannot sustain purposeless living. It is not designed for that. Its systems are designed for purposive action. When that is blocked, its systems deteriorate, and the emotional feedback from idling these systems signals extreme discomfort and motivates the search for renewed purpose, renewed meaning.”
Eric Klinger, 2013
Hope is essential, and meaning gives us hope. Spirituality was the pathway out of my own hopelessness and fear, towards meaning. It was a long journey of small hand holds that helped me climb from the bottom of the hole I had put myself in.
I would love to help you find hope through spirituality. The handholds include acceptance of change and impermanence, connection, acting based on what is important to us and so much more.