Hope occupies a place on the spectrum of confidence ranging from despair to radiant assurance. Despair implies that hope has vanished. Radiant assurance is beyond hope, which implies a degree of uncertainty.[1]
This reflection on our attitudes toward the future begins with a look at our consciousness of the past. Edmund Husserl distinguished (1) explicit remembering from (2) retaining the past as a receding dimension of the present. Reading or hearing a sentence, we retain but do not consciously recall earlier words as we perceive later words. Thus explicit, active memory is distinguished from retention.
Husserl described a parallel distinction about our consciousness of the future: there is (1) a definite, conscious act of expecting or predicting a future event and (2) a tacit “protention,” a dimension of the present that does not explicitly predict or hope for anything. Reading or hearing the beginning of a sentence, we protend the completion of the sentence with a vague sense of its grammar and content. Or imagine a boy who goes out one day and meets an older boy, and they get along wonderfully well. Because of the protentions and hope launched by their day of friendship, when evening comes and the the younger one must return home, it would be a shock if the older boy said, “Good-bye. I won’t be seeing you anymore.”
Radiant assurance is a present experience: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” The taste of divinely good Presence also includes protentions without any future boundary, since the experience of radiant assurance does not phenomenologically involve this body of flesh. It is conceivable that death could end a wonderful relationship with the spiritual Friend, but such an end would violate the momentum of friendship already begun. There are no quantitative limits on the dimensions of the present “moment,” the now.
Radiant experience can significantly modify our sense of past and future. A radiant experience of forgiveness refreshes the sense of self and modifies memories associated with shame and guilt. Remembering the radiant experience re-awakens the retention, as though the retention persists as an underground river, ready to surface at any time. The sense of self as restored nourishes faith and hope for our future.
Radiant assurance can encompass the future. Isaiah II seems to have known, in Babylon, that the Jews in captivity there would be released to return to Jerusalem. People report near-death-experiences and visions of the heavenly life to come. Experiences of radiant assurance regarding life after death or our planetary future erase all doubt about destiny. But most of us live with a measure of uncertainty and rely on hope to bolster courage.
On the spectrum of certainty, hope can lean either way. When hope is weak, fear and discouragement hamper constructive responses to uncertainty. When hope is nourished by radiant assurance, then the experience of uncertainty gets transformed: one way is to contemplate possible outcomes, prepare vigorously for each of them, and heartily to embrace the uncertainty. Another way is to channel the energy of radiant assurance into efforts to bring about the desired outcome.
Effort at the level of optimal performance has been described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as “flow.” In the paradigm case, an athlete of high skill faces a high challenge, at the level that calls forth his best. “The main dimensions of flow—intense involvement, deep concentration, clarity of goals and feedback, loss of a sense of time, lack of self-consciousness and transcendence of a sense of self, leading to an autotelic, that is, intrinsically rewarding experience—are recognized in more or less the same form by people the world over.”[2] A figure skater does not know whether some competitor will score higher; but her experience of flow brings its own radiant assurance along with it. Flow is neither an assurance of victory nor a guarantee against a fall. But optimal performance does not get distracted by worries about competitors, but enters into the flow of excellence cultivated by thousands of hours of training.
Confident of something good in our future, we can savor it in advance. In savoring, the uncertainty that calls for hope is increasingly supplemented by assurance.
[1] My publications on courageous willing, teleology, philosophies of history, and peace contribute to the mosaic of reflections on hope: https://sites.google.com/a/kent.edu/jwattles/home/publications.
[2] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “The Future of Flow,” 364-83 in Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Isabella Selega Csikszentmihalyi, eds. Optimal experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988), p. 365.
Photo credit http://mrg.bz/O78iGx HandReach by penywise
This is such a comprehensive treatment of hope and what lies beyond-Radiant Assurance- that I thought I would share this poem that I hope captures the essence of my interpretation. I Hope you find this useful and that this provides additional insight.
Trust A Little Bit More
What’s a gal to do,
Or for that matter a guy,
When trouble comes
Barging through the door?
When it comes in blazing like guns of colts,
Disrupting the peace and calm, and destroying
The tranquility like lightening bolts,
Shocking and stunning the mind just like before.
Trust a little bit more.
What’s a fellow to say
When words won’t pray
And thoughts are seized
And caught in a cold freeze?
What’s he to do with the morning’s gray
When the clouds are thicker than the light
Can pierce, and dark is the lay,
And in it begins to creep, a little fright.
Trust a little bit more.
When your hopes and dreams go up in smoke,
And your energy and strength just went broke,
And you can’t find your way
Because your heart is broken today.
Trust a Little bit more.
When confusion and turmoil becomes king
And you can’t get your arms around the thing,
When the struggle turns uphill
And you scream, what is your will?
And he responds: “Go through my son”
For my will must be done.”
And your mind strains the strain
Trying to see with your brain.
Trust a little bit more.
And while you are adjusting to that old tune,
A brand new one causes you to swoon,
And you must somehow get up
To take care the little Butter Cup.
Trust a little bit more.
How long this gonna last,
When will it recede into the past,
Setting you free of it for good?
But the spirit says you should
Trust a little bit more.
What can be done to close the shutter
Of uneasiness that continues to spread
Over your entire being, as your soul flutters
While Truth seems like a flimsy thread?
Trust a little bit more.
When friends and foes alike seem the same
As they both cause unbearable pain,
And you twist and you turn,
Your hopes dashed by an disappointing urn.
Trust a little bit more.
And you walk and pace the floor
Trying to find a clue, a little insight,
You even walk through the door,
Desperate to take flight.
Trust a little bit more.
But you end just where you begin,
For a circle is just like that.
You just go round without end,
And it don’t matter how long you spat.
Trust a little bit more.
And your vision has long become blurred,
And what you got you can clearly see,
Not what you wanted, not what you preferred
But its distress and unrest for thee.
Trust a little bit more.
While you wait the passing time
And while you study the crime,
There is a little thing called hope,
That will pull your desperate rope.
Trust a little bit more.
There is faith that is also true
That will uplift your spirit
And even carry it for you
And cause despair to remit.
Trust a little bit more
After all its an exercise in worthiness
A way of testing your merit,
To see if you can endure the mess.
And an eternal life inherit.
Trust a little bit more.
Besides you are not alone.
Hope is never gone,
For he is faithful and true.
He will never leave you blue.
He fights with you and as you.
His might knows no rest,
And he passes every test.
And you little one can too.
Trust A little bit more.
It rains on the outside,
But never on the inside,
Where he and soul are one,
And experience of truth is fun.
There is also beauty too,
And that you can do
Even while you feet trudge
Through the earthly sludge.
Trust a little bit more.
And his goodness you can’t beat
You just can’t find a better treat.
He’s rock steady, the eternal support.
Of him thee is an excellent report.
Trust a little bit more.
And his love, Oh his lovely devotion
That stirs deep spiritual emotions.
It is all embracing and enhancing
And never will it cease its motion.
Trust a little bit more.
It will carry you and ferry
You beyond the confines of time and space
It will comfort you and make you merry,
And you will see him after this race.
Trust a little bit more.
And when you stand on Paradise
Within in his personal embrace
You will know the real merchandise
As you worship him face to face.
Trust a little bit more.
Perfection you will have won
And trouble will be gone
His will having been done
And you will marvel, no pun.
Just trust a little bit more.
I can and I will
Be still.
Dr. Perry
Poems sometimes present themselves in a visual form that symbolizes their message. Your long, long poem symbolizes the long, long time of your suffering. Long-time readers of this weblog will take note and take heart, for who knows what lies ahead? In one way, Jesus goes before us, so that the potentials that are ours to actualize acquire an extra gleam that helps us recognize the divine will. In another way, pilgrims go before us (again like Jesus) to show us how to endure when it’s our turn for testing. What we can give you is recognition and respect, love and an occasional prayer. Thank you for sharing.
This is such a comprehensive treatment of hope and what lies beyond-Radiant Assurance- that I thought I would share this poem that I hope captures the essence of my interpretation. I Hope you find this useful and that this provides additional insight.
Trust A Little Bit More
What’s a gal to do,
Or for that matter a guy,
When trouble comes
Barging through the door?
When it comes in blazing like guns of colts,
Disrupting the peace and calm, and destroying
The tranquility like lightening bolts,
Shocking and stunning the mind just like before.
Trust a little bit more.
What’s a fellow to say
When words won’t pray
And thoughts are seized
And caught in a cold freeze?
What’s he to do with the morning’s gray
When the clouds are thicker than the light
Can pierce, and dark is the lay,
And in it begins to creep, a little fright.
Trust a little bit more.
When your hopes and dreams go up in smoke,
And your energy and strength just went broke,
And you can’t find your way
Because your heart is broken today.
Trust a Little bit more.
When confusion and turmoil becomes king
And you can’t get your arms around the thing,
When the struggle turns uphill
And you scream, what is your will?
And he responds: “Go through my son”
For my will must be done.”
And your mind strains the strain
Trying to see with your brain.
Trust a little bit more.
And while you are adjusting to that old tune,
A brand new one causes you to swoon,
And you must somehow get up
To take care the little Butter Cup.
Trust a little bit more.
How long this gonna last,
When will it recede into the past,
Setting you free of it for good?
But the spirit says you should
Trust a little bit more.
What can be done to close the shutter
Of uneasiness that continues to spread
Over your entire being, as your soul flutters
While Truth seems like a flimsy thread?
Trust a little bit more.
When friends and foes alike seem the same
As they both cause unbearable pain,
And you twist and you turn,
Your hopes dashed by an disappointing urn.
Trust a little bit more.
And you walk and pace the floor
Trying to find a clue, a little insight,
You even walk through the door,
Desperate to take flight.
Trust a little bit more.
But you end just where you begin,
For a circle is just like that.
You just go round without end,
And it don’t matter how long you spat.
Trust a little bit more.
And your vision has long become blurred,
And what you got you can clearly see,
Not what you wanted, not what you preferred
But its distress and unrest for thee.
Trust a little bit more.
While you wait the passing time
And while you study the crime,
There is a little thing called hope,
That will pull your desperate rope.
Trust a little bit more.
There is faith that is also true
That will uplift your spirit
And even carry it for you
And cause despair to remit.
Trust a little bit more
After all its an exercise in worthiness
A way of testing your merit,
To see if you can endure the mess.
And an eternal life inherit.
Trust a little bit more.
Besides you are not alone.
Hope is never gone,
For he is faithful and true.
He will never leave you blue.
He fights with you and as you.
His might knows no rest,
And he passes every test.
And you little one can too.
Trust A little bit more.
It rains on the outside,
But never on the inside,
Where he and soul are one,
And experience of truth is fun.
There is also beauty too,
And that you can do
Even while you feet trudge
Through the earthly sludge.
Trust a little bit more.
And his goodness you can’t beat
You just can’t find a better treat.
He’s rock steady, the eternal support.
Of him thee is an excellent report.
Trust a little bit more.
And his love, Oh his lovely devotion
That stirs deep spiritual emotions.
It is all embracing and enhancing
And never will it cease its motion.
Trust a little bit more.
It will carry you and ferry
You beyond the confines of time and space
It will comfort you and make you merry,
And you will see him after this race.
Trust a little bit more.
And when you stand on Paradise
Within in his personal embrace
You will know the real merchandise
As you worship him face to face.
Trust a little bit more.
Perfection you will have won
And trouble will be gone
His will having been done
And you will marvel, no pun.
Just trust a little bit more.
I can and I will
Be still.
Dr. Perry
Poems sometimes present themselves in a visual form that symbolizes their message. Your long, long poem symbolizes the long, long time of your suffering. Long-time readers of this weblog will take note and take heart, for who knows what lies ahead? In one way, Jesus goes before us, so that the potentials that are ours to actualize acquire an extra gleam that helps us recognize the divine will. In another way, pilgrims go before us (again like Jesus) to show us how to endure when it’s our turn for testing. What we can give you is recognition and respect, love and an occasional prayer. Thank you for sharing.