Two Types of Hope
Acharya Prashant: I said, 'Firstly, hope asks for change.' It is an expectation from the future and a movement away from what you think exists. First kind of hope wants for a change and in this change, it says, “I don’t have, I want more.” That is the change it wants.
What is the change it wants? I don’t have, I want more. I don’t have security, I want to be secure. I don’t have money, I want to be well-monied. This hope is about gathering and hence, this hope will make you dependent. Because gathering will necessarily happen from the outside.
When you take something, it is prone to be taken back as well. And because what you want depends on the world, so it is not certain that you will get it. Hence there will be fear; the fear that the hope will not materialize. What kind of hope is the first kind? Which says, “I want to get more. I want to become something. I want to become something; I want to get something.”
This hope firstly makes you dependent. Secondly, it makes you live in fear. Because the moment you will hope, there always be the fear that the hope may not? Materialize. If it is certain, if your hope is certain, then it is no more a hope. Whenever you say, “Hope,” there is always an element of chance, probability attached to it, right?
This may happen or this may not happen. This may happen is hope and this may not happen is fear. So, this kind of hope will always come with fear. We are talking about the first kind of hope; the hope that says that I am not complete, there is something missing in me and I must achieve. And that is my vision of the future.
This hope makes you dependent and makes you live in fear. The second kind of hope says, “I do not want to get something. I am already complete! I just want to get rid of something.” First kind of hope says, “I want to get something.” Second kind of hope says, “I want to get rid of something!” Do you see the difference?
Most of the times, we are preoccupied with the first kind of hope, which says, “Get something, get something.” That kind of hope we have seen and let me repeat, will keep me dependent and will keep me afraid. The second kind of hope which says, “I just want to get rid and discover my true nature, discover my aloneness and freedom.”
In this hope you say, “I am already a diamond. Just that a lot of dirt has gathered on the diamond, and I want to get rid of the dirt. I am already a diamond, just that a lot of dirt has gathered upon the diamond, and I want to get rid of the dirt.”
You don’t want more dirt! The first kind of hope says, “Give me more dirt!” The second kind of hope says, “I want to get rid of the dirt!”
Do you see the essential difference? Do you see that clearly? Unfortunately, most of the times what kind of hope are we dealing with? The first kind or the second kind? The first kind. If you must hope, hope for the second kind. Hope to find yourself. Hope to get rid of your bondages. Hope to get rid of all that the society has enforced upon you. Hope to get rid of your fear.
You don’t have to achieve anything. You just have to get rid of stuff! You are already perfect. You don’t have to achieve anything. You are wonderful, beautiful, complete! You are a diamond. What can a diamond want? What more can be added to it? Just that the dirt can be removed. So, hope to get rid of the dirt. Get rid of, not get! Get rid of! Clear? Alright.
