Hope and Expectation
By: God the Demanding
When was the last time you hoped for something? Did you hope to get something good in the mail? Did you hope to get a good grade on a difficult test? Did you hope that a beautiful girl or handsome guy would give you their unrequited attention? Have you ever expected any of these things instead of just hoping for them? What was the difference between your just hoping for something and your expectation of that same something?
Hope can be an excellent thing, especially when it comes to certain people in certain circumstances. Hope can help people survive, true. Perhaps a good example of this is such: A man in a boat is trapped in a terrible storm. His boat is destroyed and he washes up on a deserted island. On the island he finds adequate food and water, and even builds himself a shelter. He builds fires and lights them in an effort to signal his position. After a while he becomes distraught, despairing that he will ever be found. In his worry and despair he begins to believe that his desired end result (being rescued) is out of his hands. "Perhaps," he thinks, "my fate is to die out here...alone. All I can do is hope that such a thing is not my fate."
In this case the marooned man utilizes his hope to help him to survive. That is the good part. The bad part is that he is just 'surviving' and not 'living' as he has already committed himself to the belief that his fate is out of his own hands. He has effectively convinced himself he has zero control and is completely powerless as to his fate.
Expectation, on the other hand, is in reality the polar opposite of Hope. This is because those who walk into every situation free of the worry of the tendrils of fear, condemnation, and rejection strangling their desires walk a truer path. Expectation, properly seeded and nurtured, can bring a sense of duty within the individual that naturally steers that person toward the proper desire of perfection. This perfection is not of the performance of tasks without mistake, but rather is the ability and action to maintain persistent efforts, to keep 'getting up' after failure in order to ensure that the realization of the Individual's expectations come to fruition.
Let's take the same man marooned on the island and replace his Hope of rescue with the Expectation of rescue. What is the difference? Now this man can truly live. Why? Because he expects himself to live...without question. He does not tell himself that his fate of living or dying, being rescued or left alone, is beyond his control, out of his power. This man will 'live' whether or not he is rescued in the literal sense.
Sometimes people forget there are clear distinctions between Hope and Expectation. Hope sometimes carries with it a pervasive feeling of a lack of control over an individual, a situation, or the Self. It can be a sly, sneaky emotion at times, usually the most inopportune times. While on the outside Hope may be portrayed and expressed as divine and spiritual in origin, on the inside the individual can sometimes be found wallowing in the despair born of feelings of inadequacy and powerlessness.
Of course there are differences in the applications of Hope and Expectation. Yet overall, anyone who truly desires to live fully must make a choice to take control of themselves and their life...never leaving their goals to the powerless maybe, might be, could be, or chance of plain, flat Hope. Expect good things, circumstances, people, and quality of life.
People who truly want to live, who truly expect the manifestations of their life goals must first EXPECT the most of themselves...
...After all, how can anyone draw great things and people into their lives unless they first EXPECT such of themselves?
