Mode of Hope
Hope and agency depend on a paradoxical relationship. Our choices only matter when we have hope, because there is a possibility for change. Hope acts as the psychological and ontological fuel that empowers people to take control of their circumstances. Its mere presence is proof that an alternative is possible. We become active because our actions matter. So hope enables agency. However, hope does not exist without action. It needs agency to fulfil itself. Without people acting, no change is possible. There is a possibility for change because we are active. Without possibility, no hope can exist.
Hope creates agency. \n agency creates hope. \n Or the other way around?.\n
So when we hope, our agency takes on a new form. Agency emerges through the willingness to act despite incomplete knowledge. This agency recognizes its own limitations. Hope becomes the belief that one's actions matter, even when their consequences remain uncertain. We do not know that the act will succeed. Otherwise we would not hope. But at the same time we are just through hope capable of expanding its possibilities.