Hope is an absolutely vital force in Human life. It is almost impossible to overstate its importance.
An experiment was run in which two rats were left to swim in two seperate large metal drums half full with water. There was no escape for the rats. The lid was placed on one drum, leaving it swimming in the dark. It drowned in less than an hour.
The second rat was left to swim in the drum where the lid was off and it could see light above it. It was still swimming 24 hrs later.
It had HOPE!
In The Hunger Games President Snow observes that Hope is the only thing that enables Humans to overcome fear.
That’s not quite true. Love, faith, courage and self-discipline have all been known to enable people to overcome fear, but it still makes the point.
Hope enables people to heal and thrive. Without hope despair becomes prevalent.
In George Orwell’s 1984 the Party makes quite sure no one has any Hope, Love or Faith at all.
Which helps to explain why totalitarian governments keep a watchful eye on religions. Faith is dangerous.
And if a state does support a religion, it wants to make sure it tells the people a lot about the importance of keeping the law (the government’s laws, that is) and Hell or other after-life sufferings for those who don’t. (Bad karma’s just as good as Hell).
You can find much more on such matters in my book CK’s Wisdoms on Loving Yourself Properly.
Hope these thoughts help.