Philosophy Friday: Hope And Fear

“Just as the same chain fastens the prisoner and the soldier who guards him, so do hope and fear, dissimilar as they are, keep step together; fear follows hope.” – Seneca

Hope and fear are so different. Or so we like to think. They are not. As the Roman philosopher Seneca expressed 2,000 years ago, hope and fear are inextricably linked. Interesting, isn’t it? How can this be?

When we hope for a specific outcome, at the same time, we fear its counterpart: We hope to get the promotion, and at the same time we dread not getting it; we hope they accept our offer, yet we worry they won’t; we hope it isn’t cancer, but we fear it might be; we hope they like us but what if they don’t?

All the situations where we experience hope and fear are future-oriented and out of our control.

“Cease to hope, and you will cease to fear” – Hecato

Stoic philosopher Hecato had the answer; if we want less fear and worry in our lives, we need to lessen our hopes to the same degree.

Hold on—so we must sacrifice hope to eliminate fear? That doesn’t sound good. Does that mean we must let go of our dreams and aspirations? That we shouldn’t strive to do better?

No, that’s not what the ancient philosophers had in mind. They believed that as part of a fulfilling life, we should have dreams and vigorously pursue them. However, they also thought we shouldn’t be too invested in our actions working out the way we want them to. They understood that every outcome represents feedback.

As we move through our lives, we are better off viewing ourselves as scientists who perform experiments—our actions—not knowing how they will turn out. Scientists should be content with any experimental result as Nature has revealed how she truly works—one way or another. 

Maybe we could take a leaf out of the scientific method and let go of our usual desire to label the outcomes of our actions as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. They are results—nothing more and nothing less. 

And here is the often-missed opportunity: Instead of complaining, we could critically examine the effects of our actions the way a scientist would study an experimental measurement. We would learn insights we could use to change tack, try a different approach. And if we consistently reviewed our outcomes in an iterative cycle, we would be certain to get results that are more to our liking. No hope or fear required.