Chapter 2 ELEMENTS OF HOPE

The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools

- Confucius

I will climb my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how He will answer my complaint. - Habakkuk 2:1

Recall that hope is defined as the patient optimistic belief in the certainty of a graphical conception of the mind, which is birthed from an impression or conviction. Thus, certain elements can be outlined to constitute the substance of hope, and these elements include patience, faith, idea and knowledge.

Hope is not truly complete without the sequential and progressive interplay of these elements, and we will examine each of them chronologically in this chapter. In the order of chronology, knowledge or conviction comes first, followed by the graphical conception of the mind [idea], optimistic belief in ones idea [faith] and the patient expectation of its fulfilment.

Knowledge

Knowledge is said to be power, yet, I think applied knowledge is power. In my opinion, knowledge or conviction in itself is potential power that has to be put to work, and until it is applied, it is not power. A medical doctor that dies of cancer of the lungs as a result of habitual smoking is not void of the knowledge that smokers are liable to die young but his failure to apply it has denied him of the power to life. Until knowledge is applied, it is not yet power.

Knowledge or conviction in itself is potential power that has to be put to work, and until it is applied, it is not power.

Behind every invention, technology, innovation, and creativity are a body of knowledge that has been concretised in the mind of its author. Conviction is the concretisation of a body of knowledge in the mind of a person. Growing up as a child, I was always told to pray for knowledge and in my naïve mind; I usually anticipate an explosion in my head or a supernatural saturation down my head that will make me know everything. However, I have grown to know that knowledge in itself is in information; a man is said to be knowledgeable when he is exposed to sufficient bodies of information.

Once a man has grown to differentiate right from wrong, he is to be held responsible for his learning his level of knowledge. Knowledge in itself is information, and we live in an age where information is widely distributed across the earth surface. An average person has within his reach access to an unimaginable volume of information about the world and its vast arrays; interestingly we even have access to information about the underworld, heaven, alien habitats that no human may have inhabited that is how blessed this generation is when it comes to information. We have access to both constructive and destructive bodies of knowledge, so it becomes very necessary to ensure that we acquire a guided curriculum of information.

You cannot say you hope to be the president of your country when you know nothing about politics and government, that is just a mere wish. A student that hopes to be a medical doctor must enroll for sciences in college, attend the university, intern at a teaching hospital and go through all the required procedures before they can qualify as a doctor. In other words, the young man must be introduced to a specialized curriculum that makes for becoming a medical doctor, if he refuses to go through these processes or drops out of school, he will never become a doctor and his hope of becoming one will never be fulfilled. It takes the acquisition of an accurate knowledge about what we hope for to see it come true.

Many people hope to be successful in business but have never interned with a business firm, never taken a professional course in business management, never submitted to a mentor but launch directly into the industry; they will most likely fail and quit. I have found out that the business world and the formal school are two worlds apart. I apologize in advance, but I discovered that having a Masters Degree in Business Administration does not guarantee your success in business. You will need to consult with a firm or enroll for mentorship in order to be acquainted with the system of operation. You will not become successful simply because you have a sincere desire but by acquiring relevant information that makes for success in the desired career.

Knowledge about a subject of interest is very vital in keeping hope alive in the successful pursuit of it. Knowledge gives definite direction, helping one avoid unnecessary distractions and foolish adventures. A man is regarded wise on the strength of applying well-understood information, so knowledge is an indispensable element in the equation of hope.

Idea

In the books Idea rules the World, Dr Sam Adeyemi defined idea as thoughts, plans or mental impressions on the mind. Ideas are graphical conceptions of the activity of the mind. Any information received and understood evolves into myriad thoughts. The harmonious organisation of these thoughts results in an image of the mind that is termed as idea.

Every theory, philosophy, production or invention is directly traced to an idea. Idea flashes through the human mind in their millions, but not all are usable or translatable predominantly because of limitation in knowledge. You can recall the number of times that your thought has revolved around aviation, cinematography, fashions and so on but you could do nothing about them. Sometimes, you even discard some thoughts intentionally while there are some you wished you had what it takes to pursue. That is the lifecycle of ideas, while some can be processed and pursued; others cannot and are thereby disregarded. Every transmuted idea is hinged on the application of understood information.

Idea flashes through the human mind in their millions, but not all are usable or translatable predominantly because of limitation in knowledge.

Every translated idea is hinged on the application of understood information.

Visions are simply ideas in motion.

When we give ourselves to sufficient knowledge about a subject, we can be sure to conceive countless ideas which can be transmuted into great wonders of the world. When ideas are put in motion, they become vision. Therefore, visions are simply ideas in motion. Like a camera film, when graphical conceptions are fully developed in the mind, it becomes the pursuit of the convener this is what is stated as a vision. Hope is kept alive in as much as the imagery of the mind is sharp enough to run with, and that is why our mind has to be brightened enough by the rays of hope.

Faith

Life is governed by principles; all the operations in nature are sponsored by a set of principles. There is a principle that states that every object that goes up on its own without the aid of an external and higher force must come back to the ground, this is called the law of gravitation I called it a principle because sometimes the words laws and principles' are used interchangeably in contexts.

Except aided by an antagonistic force, every object is bound to respond to the law of gravitation – and that is applicable everywhere on the earth surface; it is a principle! Sometimes, principles are derived from ideas, rules, laws or ways of life that have been tested across different circumstances, destinations and dispensations, yet proven true to yield an exact and consistent result.

Faith is a principle built into nature, and everything in nature is designed to respond to the principle of faith. Faith is the persuaded belief and assurance that what is conceived in the mind by way of information will happen in an exact way – and that now! The force of faith believes that the image in mind will become a reality at the exact moment it is expected to be seen. The scripture accounts that the universe was created by the application of the principle of faith and if it is created by it, then it can only be sustained by it.

Faith is the persuaded belief and assurance that what is conceived in the mind by way of information will happen in an exact way and that now!

Faith and fear are usually seen as opposite terms but fear is not only the antonym of faith but also the adulteration of the principle of faith. Fear is an inverse of faith. And it so happens that you become the product of your strongest faith or your greatest fear.

Because it is a principle, its adulteration also yields a result but in the negative. The wealthiest man that once lived in the East [Job] accounted at the time of his calamity that what he feared most has happened to him; this is to show how true it is that what we yield our mind to plays a great role in determining the quality of our lives. If to fear, then misfortune is inevitable, and if to faith, success is guaranteed.

And it so happens that you become the product of your strongest faith or your greatest fear.

Hope cannot come to fulfillment in the environment of fear; it takes faith to keep hope alive. Fear paralyses and extinguishes hope from the mind. Whatever is carted on the wheel of faith advances, therefore, placing our hope [the graphical conception of the mind] on this wheel will ultimately drive us to the desired destination. Faith in our expectation is important if we will see our dreams fulfilled.

Patience

An adage from the book of the elders states that patience is never too much; it rather could be insufficient. With patience, the elders believed that you could cook a stone to soften, and God is always behind the patient man. A popular English cliché drives this point home when it says that the patient dog eats the fattest bone.

In the journey of life, patience is indispensable. The subject of hope cannot be fairly discussed without an emphasis on the need for patience. The good things of life come with patience and patience is not yet enough until a result is obtained. The litmus and end line test of patience is the result. You can say that your patience is matured and has come to fruition when the result is obtained. Until the result is obtained, one is not supposed to give up on patience, and if we do not give up on patience, we can be sure that our hope will come true.

The litmus and end line test of patience is the result. You can say that your patience is matured and has come to fruition when the result is obtained.

In this jet age where everything is programmed to run at a speed of light, I deem it fit to tell you that life is not scientifically programmed and cannot be run in a jiffy. Learn to be patient with your growth; your dreams will come true, but the element of patience is very important in the process. I greatly appreciate the rate at which science has made man's living on this planet easy but, I stand to say that the journey of the human life is not by any way scientific and those who do not master the exercise of patience will make a shipwreck of their lives in pursuit of mundane things. Patience is essential from start to finish of the fulfillment of our God-given dreams and visions.

Can you take a break now to review the object of your hope? Just preempt your mind of any thought and try to make it shortly blank. Then program your mind to project what you want to become, the project you aspire to execute or any such thing you hope for; what do you see? You must have seen an image that was painted by your thought and ideas, and due to your degree of exposure or knowledge, you must have believed in the possibility of what you saw. Have you done that? If so, then, your mind has just conceived hope; and what is required of you is to follow through with patience until it comes to fruition. When all these elements are accurately put together, the product is called hope.