hope as a state of being - yes a good insight Lori.
problem is that we pin words on things, moods or abstracts like pinning the tail on the donkey.
it is important to speak of the thing, not the word.
what you speak of could also be called optimism, or self-confidence, or self-esteem.
or even hubris if overweening.
were we to dig deeper, beyond merely a personality trait, we would use the word will.
in which case we would be saying, one's store of hope is sufficient for the task.
but it would seem to me to be pushing that word beyond it's common boundaries. when I see a person who, as you say, has strong light, then yes, that person naturally inspires hope in those around. but that does not mean the person's light comes from what she herself would call hope.
rather it is as if that light can be felt in the currency of hope, but actually, it may not in itself be hopeful of anything - in fact it may come from the renunciation of desire, renunciation of projection.
I feel you are ascribing a poetic meaning to the word hope, and as such, it could be misinterpreted, as it's common usage is in 'hope for...'
I recall the photo of a young man taken before WWII in Germany, who was inspired by a socialistic zeal - he was a member of the German Communist party, and one could see in him the uplifting mood of one who had ideals and felt they were not just worthwhile, but in a 'whole-of-being' way, achievable.
The second photo of him was after he had been released from the Soviet Gulag some 20 years later - he had first been imprisoned and tortured by the Nazi's, then imprisoned by Stalin's mob and survived by some miracle. The second photo was of a broken man. He had no 'hope' left, in your terms. Yet he had survived, I thought to myself, and that must have taken something extraordinary.
But it was not a pretty picture nonetheless. It was not of bitterness, but certainly there was not a scrap of 'hope' left. Still, there he was, alive. I was deeply affected by those two photos.
Lets do a little exercise. Think of something we would dearly wish to have, and adopt the certitude within, that it is not only achievable, but imminent - like the night before Christmas for a child who knows what's under the tree. Then strip away the object of that anticipation. Just feel the mood alone, devoid of any externals.
Like recalling the feeling you had of being in love with someone, before it turned sour. Then just hold that feeling, removing it completely from the person who inspired it in the first instance.
A good exercise, but actually, it's not how I arrive at my inner joy - it is different, it is still anticipatory in some non-descript way. And as such inherently instable, inherently vulnerable.
Now compare it with the feeling of wanting absolutely nothing, expecting absolutely nothing, assuming absolutely nothing - feel what it would be like to live in a world that was completely devoid of all meaning.
How does that make you feel?
