What does it mean to hope in our fraught world?

 

Good Morning, As our virtual retreat draws near, I want to share the origin of our retreat theme: Cultivating Wise Hope. I once considered hope as a feeling often accompanied by a sense of let down and heaviness. Taking in the state of our world, and the deep well of polarity in which we currently dwell, cultivating hope seemed unrealistic and overly aspirational. In April, I read an article called "Wise Hope in the Time of the Pandemic", written by Roshi Joan Halifax, a dear friend of Ram Dass and founder of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, NM. In the teaching, Roshi Joan describes her disenchantment with the futile idea of hope: "Zen master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi once said that life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink. Indeed we seem to be sinking. And having this sinking feeling coloring my world, I could not utter the word 'hope' without feeling like I was betraying reality." But then Roshi Joan began to decipher the difference between hope and optimism, quoting American Novelist Barbara Kingsolver: “The pessimist would say, ‘It’s going to be a terrible winter, we’re all going to die.’ The optimist would say, ‘Oh, it’ll be all right, I don’t think it’ll be that bad.' The hopeful person would say, ‘Maybe someone will still be alive in February, so I’m going to put some potatoes in the root cellar just in case.’ … Hope is a mode of resistance, a gift I can try to cultivate.” Roshi Joan continues: "It’s when we discern courageously, and at the same time realize we don’t know what will happen that Wise Hope comes alive. In the midst of improbability and possibility is where the imperative to act rises up. Wise Hope is not seeing things unrealistically but rather seeing things as they are, including the truth of impermanence…. as well as the truth of suffering—both its existence and the possibility of its transformation, for better or for worse. Our journey through life is one of peril and possibility—and sometimes both at once. How can we stand on the threshold between suffering and freedom, between futility and hope and remain informed by both worlds?” As we gather in virtual community on the weekend of August 28th, we look to our theme of Wise Hope as an invitation to show up for ourselves and others in truth and a willingness to open to what Valarie Kaur calls "Revolutionary Love" with the courage "to walk boldly into the hot winds of the world with a saint’s eyes and a warrior’s heart." As a reminder, our teacher lineup includes a variety of wisdom teachings, meditation and music from Krishna Das, Sharon Salzberg, Anne Lamott, Bob Thurman, Valarie Kaur, Duncan Trussell, Nina Rao, Trevor Hall and Raghu Markus. Sign up below and join us for a weekend of community, connection and renewal so that we can better show up for ourselves and for those who need us.   Register Here