On Hope

Image: AI generated

As I reflected on the first five imagined conversations between Gandhi and Joanna Macy, I found myself returning to the image with which the last piece ended: a child planting a seed. Neither Gandhi nor Joanna knew what would become of it. Yet both seemed content to watch it grow.

Why? What follows is an imagined continuation of the conversation.

The two sit beneath the tree. Before them, the child is still tending the small patch of earth. Days pass. Then weeks. Nothing appears. The child continues to water the soil.

Finally Gandhi speaks. “There is something I have always found curious about human beings.”

Joanna smiles. “Only one thing?”

The two laugh softly. Then Gandhi continues. “We are often willing to act when success seems likely. We are much less willing when the outcome is uncertain.”

Joanna watches the child carefully. “That uncertainty is where many people struggle today.” She gestures towards the world unfolding around them. “Climate change, war, political instability, ecological breakdown… People ask whether it is already too late.”

“And what do you tell them?”

Joanna is quiet for a moment. “I tell them that Active Hope is not a belief that everything will turn out well.”

Gandhi turns towards her. “No?”

“No. Hope is often mistaken for optimism. Optimism depends upon prediction. It asks whether the evidence suggests a favourable outcome.” She pauses. “Active Hope asks a different question. Given what we see, how shall we participate?”

The child pours another small cup of water onto the earth. Gandhi nods slowly. “Then perhaps we are speaking of something similar.”

“How so?” Joanna asks.

“In my life, people often wanted assurances. They wanted to know whether nonviolence would succeed. Whether independence would come. Whether sacrifice would bear fruit.”

“And could you answer them?”

“No.”

The two sit quietly. “I came to believe,” Gandhi continues, “that action cannot depend upon success. If it does, we become servants of outcome rather than servants of truth.”

The afternoon light begins to soften. Joanna smiles. “That is very close to how I understand hope.”

Gandhi watches the child. “In our time, many people imagined courage came from confidence.”

“And you disagreed?”

“I did. Courage often comes from accepting that we do not know.”

A small green shoot emerges from the soil. The child notices and laughs with delight. Neither Gandhi nor Joanna speaks. After a while Joanna says quietly, “Perhaps this is why hope matters.”

“Because the seed grew?”

She shakes her head. “No. Because the child planted it.”

The two fall silent once more. Before them, the world remains uncertain. Forests are still threatened. Rivers still polluted. Wars still rage. The future remains unwritten. Yet somewhere, a child continues planting seeds. And perhaps that is enough.

This is the sixth and final instalment in a series of imagined conversations between Mahatma Gandhi and Joanna Macy. These reflections emerged as part of my own preparation for the six-week course, Swaraj in the Time of the Great Turning.

If there is a thread running through all six conversations, it may be this: that the future is shaped not only by what we believe will happen, but by how we choose to live, act, and care in the present.

If you would like to explore these questions in community, I would be delighted to have you join us: https://spiraljourneyworkthatreconnects.org/swaraj-in-the-time-of-the-great-turning/

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