The Roots of Hope

At the root of hope is the sense not just that our world can get better in a quantitative way, i.e. that we can obtain more of the things that currently seem to satisfy us, but that there are fulfillments that we cannot imagine that wait for us to become worthy of. Often it is our own lack of imagination that limits our ability to achieve this worthiness. Conservatives tend to view hope as hope for more of the things of this world - Christians see hope as hatred of this world in favor of an as-yet-unimaginable fulfillment that makes these seem petty and worthless.