Letter 10

Hope and faith are alike in that they aren't contingent on facts. You can hope, or believe no matter what is in front of you. This is their strength. You can believe, or hope right up until the axe falls. Many have.

Hope is different from faith in that faith requires you to have faith in something. Something outside yourself. Hope does not require this. It requires only that you hold out some part of yourself against the facts, no matter how crushing. It requires only itself, and patience, both of which are something that you can supply in yourself.

This is why hope is more durable than faith. Faith, once lost, is lost forever. Once the failure of faith comes – once the help does not materialize, if the believer waivers, all is lost. Hope, on the other hand, will rekindle at the slightest sign, the faintest glimmer.

You can accept all the reality of the situation, and still hope for change. But faith requires that you believe something that cannot be proven. You can be a fool for faith. Many, many have been faithful fools and worse. But you are never a fool to hope.