Life sometimes places us in moments where the present seems unbearably dark, like an unbreakable prison, making it hard to envision a better future. Regardless of the specific situations that create such feelings, we can move forward through cultivating three essential dispositions: hope, faith, and purpose.

Hope

Hope encompasses a spectrum of feelings, from faint optimism to firm conviction that the future can be better than the present. Humans don’t live on just food or oxygen; we live on hope. When the part of us that believes in a brighter future dies, it can leave us disempowered and even devoid of a reason to live.

Suicide is a tragic triumph of despair over hope. Cultivating hope is essential to life and is easier when coupled with faith.

Faith

While hope is a general longing for a better future, faith points to the presence of a higher reality that can shape that future. Faith strengthens hope by rooting it in something deeper—a trust in a loving, personal divinity as explained in wisdom texts like the Bhagavad Gita. These texts offer a philosophical understanding of reality as being centered on such a divinity.

Faith, however, must lead to hope. Without generating hope, faith risks becoming stagnant or ineffective.

Purpose

Purpose completes the positivity created by hope and faith. It gives us the sense that we can play a role in shaping the better future we long for. Purpose moves us to action, encouraging us to find tangible steps to add value to our life and, by extension, improve the future.

Even if we cannot initially cultivate a lifelong purpose, we can start small—with a purpose for the coming day, week, or month. Gradually, by pursuing these smaller purposes, we gain confidence and clarity, enabling us to embrace bigger, deeper purposes.

It is such a sense of purpose, complemented with hope and faith, that is infused into Arjuna by hearing the Bhagavad Gita, as is conveyed in its concluding image of him having raised his bow in readiness to fight life’s battles and in the concluding assurance of the prosperity and glory that awaited him (18.78).

When we make our life hopeful, faithful, and purposeful, it becomes truly full—overflowing with positivity that propels us toward achievement and fulfillment.

Summary:

  • Hope helps us believe in the possibility of a brighter future and gives us a reason to persevere, even in the darkest times.
  • Faith strengthens hope by reminding us of a loving divinity actively shaping a better future for us.
  • Purpose energizes us by giving us actionable steps, no matter how small, to contribute to the brighter future we envision.

Think it over:

  • Has hope ever helped you navigate a dark phase of your life?
  • How has faith sustained your hope in difficult times?
  • Reflect on how a sense of purpose, even a small one, has brought positivity into your life.

***

18.78 Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality. That is my opinion.