HOPE: definition, axioms of belief, and core function

Our metaphysical way of looking at ourselves: we are spiritual beings called souls creating human experiences.
 

HOPE (Vaclav Havel)
“Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Either we have hope within us or we don't; it is a dimension of the soul, and it’s not dependent on some observation of the world or estimate of the situation.
Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons*
Hope in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”-Vaclav Havel
 

The Twelve Axioms:

These twelve axioms are the basis of all HOPE work.

1. You and I have been promised this life since the beginning of time—the beginning of Life, itself, which is the reason why there are no accidents—it is all “synchronicity.”
2. We are spiritual beings called souls having a human experience.
3. Souls bring with them experiences from other times that need to be examined through the lens of love.
4. Each soul comes here with the innate ability to create unique experiences of universal value.
5. We are to create these experiences in the context of love.
6. We are “collaborators in creation” (Teilhard de Chardin).
7. All action proceeds out of thought.
8. The simpler any thought or action may be, the more difficult it is to achieve.
9. The purpose of all feelings, physical and emotional, is to evaluate both the environment and our thoughts and actions.
10. We are taught how to feel in the first five years of our lives...the basis of all of our perceptions and misperceptions.
11. Misperceptions can be corrected; the resource for the correction is love.
12. Whereas experience always changes, love simply is--without change--and both are indestructible.

Our Core Function:

• To help you out of the prisons of your mind, as Viktor Frankl discovered he could do in the worst prisons of all, Hitler's death camps.
• To ask you one question:
  "What is the nature of your work--why do you live?"
• To help you find the answer to that question that lies within,
  we offer you SoulCircling that takes a day or two, or
  a HOPE group over time.
• To listen to your answer in a Soul Circle or a HOPE group.
• To share with you how both SoulCircling and HOPE groups work so you can do this yourself.
  We can show you how to develop and guide a HOPE group or a SoulCircling workshop, and we can show you how to create a Circle of Soul Friends who can help you find your meaning and purpose in life.