(Photo above by Portuguese Gravity / Unsplash)
If we can’t imagine a better future, there won’t be one.
Hope is different from wishful thinking or waiting for time to heal the situation, feeling like you don’t have control over the outcome. Even having hope in the first place can feel like a luxury. But it’s the superpower everyone has inside, no costume needed.
I mean, let’s be real, changemakers like Rosa Parks and Mahatma Gandhi had the type of hope that broke through what seemed like impossible realities.
Their hope went beyond what people could imagine as possible. But as they relentlessly took action toward the world they wanted to see, others began seeing that they too could make an impact.
If we cannot feel hope, it is time to create some.
- Daisaku Ikeda
The real question we should be asking ourselves is, What kind of hope did they have? It wasn’t about the injustice they witnessed or a mere wish for the times to change. Instead, they had an undefeated belief in the ability of people to shape the world. We don’t need to look too far to see this same ability in ourselves.
By chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we tap into this ability. Hope no longer feels like a dream, it’s something we can choose to create. This process of chanting and choosing hope allows us to open our eyes to the limitless actions that we can take to change any situation for the better.
As the Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda puts it, “If we cannot feel hope, it is time to create some.” (Hope is a Decision, p. 6)