Sometimes hopelessness interfaces with depression to produce states of extreme despair and can signal a potential for suicide. On the other hand, to be without hope can create the space for a fresh start– as failed attempted life solutions based on false hope are released, some wake up to new and promising alternatives.

How might we think about such an apparent contradiction?

One might begin by examining the deceptions of false hope which are too often replete with failed logic and avoidance of hard truths. After all, hoping to gain entrance into a college, internship or job without possessing the required qualifications will likely not bring that hope to reality. Difficult emotions may arise in the form of deep disappointment and resentment. When this approach repeats, the pattern is the essence of self-defeat.

Let’s next consider hopelessness not as a problem but as a kind of solution. Tibetan Buddhist tradition advances the practice of mind training or Lojong. Usually attributed to Atisha, it includes 59 “slogans”- some easy to understand, others not so much. One in particular is germane to this discussion: “abandon all hope of fruition”. Generally, this saying is interpreted as giving up hope for a certain result. It has been suggested, from the Buddhist view, that we are better off letting go of all attachment to the (self-serving) results of our efforts.

Making the effort without getting caught up in over-thinking the results can open us up. Those false hopes for impossible outcomes could drift away- a more honest approach.

So we might contrast false hope with honest hope: truthful hopes; authentic hopes. Hopes informed by rationality and even wisdom are sometimes smaller than their grandiose and false counterparts. But what a wonderful place to start.