“Hope is the thing with feathers” – Imagination in Times of Despair
“[T]he frightening spectacle of an apocalyptic world situation”, as Jung writes (CW 10, §727), taking shape within and around us, can paralyze us with anxiety, even despair (Lat. desperare, “away from hope”). Despair, fear, and hope are all emotions with which we might approach our future. Yet only hope offers consolation, even inspiration, and a glimpse of something “beyond” and yet to be revealed. Traveling the course of hope, navigating the flight which this “thing with feathers” traverses, is at times arduous. In a sermon (of unknown date) exploring the theme of acceptance versus fatalism, Martin Luther King, Jr. captures it in this way: “We must accept finite disappointment but never give up infinite hope.” Tolerating uncertainty allows us to hope, and hope allows us to tolerate what is yet unknown. We can cultivate hope through connecting with our own vast inner world of ancient but living symbols, and conversely it is hope that gives us the space and courage to imagine the transformation that is poised to take place both within and around us.