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The Five Sources of Human Hope

iUniverse, Inc.

Contents

Preface.......................................................................................................viiIntroduction..................................................................................................1Chapter One The Audacity of a Neophyte.......................................................................9Chapter Two My First Major Finding...........................................................................17Chapter Three My Second Major Finding........................................................................23Chapter Four My Third Major Finding..........................................................................33Chapter Five Additional Findings and My Final Conclusion.....................................................39Chapter Six Human Life, What a Mystery—Man, What a Puzzle..............................................45Chapter Seven Life Is a Journey during Which Humans Learn to Hope............................................53Chapter Eight The Nuances of Hope and Peace..................................................................67Chapter Nine UTOHPAL: A Theory about Human Hope, Personal Peace, and the Mystery of Life.....................79Chapter Ten Esperanza in Chile: A Tale of Human Hope and Thirty-Three Miners.................................91Chapter Eleven Human Hope: The True Essence of Our Humanity..................................................101Chapter Twelve Hope: A Necessity, an Obligation, and a Mission...............................................111The Last Word About Science, Religion, Atheism, and Human Hope................................................115Endnotes and Recommended Reading..............................................................................119Definitions of Terms..........................................................................................121What Is a Scientific Discovery?...............................................................................127About the Author..............................................................................................131Index.........................................................................................................133

Chapter One

I am frequently asked how or why an obstetrician-gynecologist like me, a non-psychologist, became so passionately interested in the study of Human Hope. My sincere answer (as always) is that I do not really know. As far back as I can remember, I have been fascinated by anecdotal accounts concerning "mind over matter," including the so-called placebo effects of drugs—but only with passing interest.

My first sustained curiosity and serious consideration about an actual study of Human Hope began in the third year of my medical education. At the time, I was doing a required rotation in psychiatry as part of my training. I became struck by the degree of paralyzing pessimism and the profound sense of helplessness on the part of several depressed patients, especially those who were admitted because of attempted suicide. As I interacted with these patients during my assigned duties of obtaining personal history and performing physical examinations, I began to wonder how helpful and diagnostically informative it could be to have an instrument for objective measurement of Human Hope so that doctors may be able to predict, and perhaps prevent, depression or suicide.

At first, I discounted my observations as probably irrelevant in the scheme of things. Consequently, I had dismissed my idea of a tool for the objective measurement of Hope as an impractical imagination of a neophyte. Rather reluctantly, I subsequently included my observations and proposition in a student paper that I submitted to my mentors, expecting that at the most I could earn recognition for my enthusiasm or imagination, in spite of the probable impracticality of my ambitious proposal. Quite to the contrary, my professors received my paper very well. The chair of the department of psychiatry commended me particularly for my "intellectual audacity."

Coincidentally, at the time, an invitation went out to all medical students in the United States to submit ideas for creative one- to two-year projects of humanistic interest for possible funding by the SmithKline Medical Foundation. With the encouragement of several of my mentors, I applied for and was awarded a two-year grant to do research on Human Hope. Little did I know that it would take over thirty years of my adult life (beyond my medical school project) to complete the task of deciphering the nature and source of Human Hope to my own personal satisfaction.

After my four years of medical school, in spite of the successful completion of my Smith-Kline funded "Hope Project," my continuing passionate interest in the study of Human Hope notwithstanding, I resisted the urge to specialize in psychiatry. Instead, I chose the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology, much to the surprise of some of my professors. Over the years, the practice of obstetrics has uniquely provided me with both the pleasure and opportunity to literally help bring new life into the world on a daily basis. Sleep deprivations notwithstanding, and in spite of my other obligations, my interest in the study of Human Hope did not wane or abate. In fact, the practice of obstetrics has been particularly inspiring as well as contributory because after every delivery, the mere sight of the newborn infant in my arms actually intensifies my reverence for life and therefore further heightens my awe and appreciation of the mystery that surrounds human reproduction.

This frequent reminder and renewal of my reverence for the mystery and sanctity of human life has helped me to maintain my interest in the study of Human Hope throughout these many years. The findings that I made and the conclusions I have reached during the three decades of my research on Human Hope, I have summarized in this book and have incorporated into my Unified Theory about Human Hope, Personal Peace, and the Mystery of Life.

My research efforts, which span over three decades, have entailed countless hours of literature search and various types of surveys in different (large and small) populations. During this period, I evaluated hundreds (if not thousands) of medical records of both depressed and suicidal patients. I carried out in-depth interviews and had many engaging discussions with self-identified introverts and extroverts, apparent optimists, and pessimists of varying cultural backgrounds—including atheists and agnostics. I have also had ample and unique opportunities as a physician and frequent traveler to observe human behavior during both joyful and sad occasions—made possible by several years of voluntary attendance to the sick and the dying under different settings, including nursing homes and hospices. My years of supervising and participating in thousands of childbirths and, as a result, hundreds of hours of talking and listening to the friends and families of women who are in labor have provided me with invaluable and unique access to varying opinions about life. For example, I have actually had an opportunity to meet, talk with, and listen to three generations of four different families during the course of prenatal care,...