How to Find Hope in Uncertain Times: Part 2

Posted: August 19, 2024

This is Part 2 in my series on “Hope in uncertain times”in which we’re exploring ways to be grounded in hope in our uncertain modern circumstances. In this post we’ll continue to open up the theme of hope as a vital antidote to anxiety or despair.

Photo by Nick Fewings

In our last episode, we focused on approaches to hope that are related to increasing our control in situations and awareness of options and possibilities. But what about those situations in life where we have less control, but we still need hope that there is a possible way through for us? For this, too, is an essential dimension of living in uncertain times.

Not everything in life is a situation where we can increase our sense of control. Sometimes life confronts us with situations that are genuine dilemmas, and where it is very hard to see a clear way forward. As Jungian analyst James Hollis puts it,

Somewhere is this peculiar journey we call our life we all will find ourselves needing to make very difficult decisions. Quite apart from our expectations…we arrive at junctures where no matter what we do there is a considerable price to pay.

When we’re confronted with such a situation in our lives, how do we maintain our hope? And how do we find the strength and courage to step into the unknown?

As I indicated in Part 1 of this blog post, for very many of the clients I see, in very different ways, hope, courage and where to find them, are very immediate issues in their lives. In such life situations, how can we begin to find a path forward, and a foundation, in our lives?

Beyond the Mere Ego

There are situations in life where a rational, goal-directed approach, the kind of approach that the ego specializes in, is not going to help us. Jung gives us an example of this when he describes situations where we face a conflict of duty.

In such situations, life has put the individual in a position where they must make a choice between two or more options, each of which is in support of a value that the individual holds dear, but which requires the individual to sacrifice some equally dear value. For instance, an individual may face a choice between two options, each of which will provide essential assistance to someone that the person loves, but which will equally harm another person whom the individual loves. A person may be in such a situation, and find that he or she cannot come up with a solution that avoids huge negative consequences—whatever he or she does.

The Greater Hope

A situation of this sort may be a major defeat for the ego. Finding hope in such a situation, finding a way to move forward that avoids despair, may seem quite impossible. As Hollis emphasizes,

So how can we… make the right choices? Sometimes we just can’t, and we have to live in the midst of the very uncomfortable for a very long time, until something unexpected appears from within [italics mine].

In this same vein, Jung also describes how one becomes “the victim of a decision made over your head or in defiance of the heart”. Such a decision or such guidance stems from what Jungians call the Self, which is an aspect of our being that is beyond the ego.

There are certain key situations and circumstances where our hope has to come not from the ego’s careful planning and exercise of options, but from the Self. It is this hope that is grounded in the Self that is of the greatest value in some of life’s most demanding situations. Often, we only come to it when the ego has exhausted all of its options, allowing room for the Self.

Hope Grounded in the Self

There are key times in our life journey when it is of incalculable value for the ego to seek to create space for the voice of the Self. When the ego seems to have come to the end of its resources, and it is hard to see a way forward, that is very often the time when the Self beckons us to pursue new directions, if we can have the humility and courage to follow.

When a confronted with issues which the ego doesn’t see its way through, and where the issue of finding hope may be presenting itself in a fundamental way, finding the right kind of support may be of the utmost importance. At such times, the skills and perspective of a supportive depth psychotherapist may be of great importance in finding a sustaining orientation in life.

With very best wishes for your continuing personal journey,

Brian Collinson

Registered Psychotherapist and

Certified Jungian Analyst (IAAP)

Certified Clinical Anxiety Treatment Professional