Jeffersonian Dinner Party

One table, one conversation. A set of questions to think and talk through together.

On Hope

July 11 · Indiranagar

What is hope?

  • Is it passive or active?
  • Is hope a feeling or a decision you have to make?
  • Is it input or output?
  • Is it light or is it heavy?
  • Is hope a thing of the past, present or future?
“You can’t see change unless you’re slower than change — in the sense that you stay still long enough to see that things are not what they used to be.”— Rebecca Solnit

What feeds hope?

  • What keeps it alive?
  • What makes you feel more hopeful vs. less?
  • Are there objects or artifacts that make you feel hopeful?
  • Actions?
  • Thoughts?

Hope vs. optimism

  • How is hope different from optimism?
  • A stance toward the future, or a disposition?
“Hope is an embrace of the unknown.”— Rebecca Solnit

Hope vs. acceptance

  • How different is hope from acceptance?
  • Couldn’t the same be said of resignation?

Hope, today

  • Is hope becoming more democratic in our age of digital abundance?
  • What about the typical markers of progress makes you feel hopeful — technology, medicine, climate?

Is hope good or bad?

  • What are the consequences of hope?
  • Is it possible to be hopeful without being naïve about reality?
  • Does hope help us do, or does it help us cope?
  • What is the relationship between hope, perseverance and resilience?
  • Does hope ask something of the hoper?

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

— Emily Dickinson

Anti-hope

  • What is the enemy of hope?
“Hope is a frilly pink dress: people don’t want to expose their knees, and they feel vulnerable. Despair is a black leather jacket everybody feels really cool in.”— Rebecca Solnit
  • What’s the antidote?
  • What’s the absence of hope?

Closing

  • What’s one thing you’ll do differently because of something someone at this table said?

Join the next dinner

Sign up if you'd like a seat at the next one. Spots are limited — first come, first served.

Back