Hope v. Optimism

Just to clarify the difference between optimism and hope I tried to make in a post a few weeks ago, here's a similar distinction made by David Orr in Down to the Wire, which (by the way) I review at Books in Heat (double meaning where this book is concerned, I guess, given its topic.)

"Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up," Orr writes. "Hopeful people are actively engaged in defying the odds or changing the odds. Optimism, on the other hand, leans back, puts its feet up, and wears a confident look, knowing that the deck is stacked."

He quotes Vaclav Havel: "Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons...Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well...but, rather, an ability to work for something because it is good."

“I know of no purely rational reason for anyone to be optimistic about the human future,” Orr writes. Indeed, given events since this book was written--the weak agreement of Copenhagen and subsequent international murk, the Obama administration's loss of momentum and the apparently fated showdown with the reactionary ultra-minority in collusion with the most monied interests--the outlook is even bleaker for a relatively painless and positive transition. There just isn't enough time anymore for this two steps forward, one and a half steps back. One positive is the work people are doing now, scientists and others, in developing knowledge and tools to be ready when people are ready to face this, which will likely be after a set of catastrophes that can't be ignored or rationalized. I'll be writing about that work here.

Those folks are doing the work of hope, at least according to my perhaps even more restrictive definition. I see hope as a commitment of the present, that works towards an envisioned good future, but has no expectations of the outcome of those efforts. I admire those who have faith in the future, who have that kind of vision. And I see reasons for that faith, in the human potential. I don't necessarily have it. Imagination has to be in some way its own future, just as imagining and working for a human future must be its own reward.

I've postponed this post, partly because I like seeing that photo of the snow leopard at the top of the blog, looking out. The best substitute I could come up with is the slightly smaller version, which for now I'm posting in a permanent position, top left. It's not quite as good--something missing from the eyes and the expression in the smaller version. So maybe I'll have to repost the original from time to time.