{"id":139756248,"date":"2023-12-13T18:11:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T18:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=139756248"},"modified":"2023-12-13T18:11:41","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T18:11:41","slug":"the-illuminating-spark-a-hermits-hope-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=139756248","title":{"rendered":"The Illuminating Spark: A Hermit\u2019s Hope List"},"content":{"rendered":"

Musings on important goals through the lens of hope.<\/h2>
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(Image description: A figure with long, wavy hair and a blue plaid shirt looks down a road. The road is lined by trees with golden yellow leaves.) Credit: Photo by David Beale<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>

The title of this post might have you wondering what a hope list is and what it has to do with Polytheistic Monasticism. Like a bucket list, I consider a hope list as a collection of items that you hope to accomplish within your lifetime. There is always the possibility that longevity might not be in the cards for me. Genetics-wise, it\u2019s a mixed bag. Also, with all of the uncertainty in the world, you never know what can happen.<\/p>

However, placing hope as a focus for the objectives both gives you some thing to cherish for the future and to value what that particular thing is even more. It can be a means of finding resilience when the horizon seems bleak.<\/p>

That being said, having a hope list can function as a focus on what\u2019s really important, depending on how you prioritize it. The items on the list can always be changed or modified, but having an idea of what you want to do before it\u2019s your time can at least give you a general direction you want the goals to head towards.<\/p>

A hope list can be as long as you want it, but I\u2019m going to keep it at three goals for this this entry. I may do a follow-up to this post, but it\u2019s a good start for now.<\/p>

1. Know Myself<\/p>

This goal is one that I\u2019ve mentioned before in previous posts. On life\u2019s journey, I want to learn about my Self as much as possible. The Self might be something that\u2019s infinite, so I might never learn about who I fully am. Much like a journey\u2019s destination, it\u2019s not about reaching a certain point, but the aspect of discovery fulfills you in knowing more of your Self. It also doesn\u2019t require going anywhere and can be done at my own pace. It can be done through meditation, reading, and creating, just to name a few ways of doing this.<\/p>

2. Multiple Languages<\/p>

This objective is another one that can be done right where I\u2019m at. Learning languages allows you to see connections that you didn\u2019t realize were there, and in the case of endangered languages, it increases that number of speakers in the world. Languages have their practical uses, but the human mind is built for so much more than that. I want to see how much I can learn within my life. Even if I\u2019m only slightly fluent in a language, it\u2019s better to have that than not.<\/p>

3. Travel<\/p>

I\u2019ve mentioned pilgrimages in the past, and Ireland and Scotland are absolutely my top choices of where I wish to go for religious purposes. Some of the reasoning relates to some of my ancestors, but there\u2019s also holy sites that I yearn to feel in person. These aren\u2019t the only locations I want to go to, but I wish to be succinct with my list at this point in time. This goal is one that will require a lot of planning and saving, but it feels really worthwhile to do.<\/p>

Being hopeful is a definite challenge for me, but having it in my heart and mind keeps me working toward these kinds of goals as a form of contemplation. Perhaps this hope list might foster inspiration for one of your own.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Musings on important goals through the lens of hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139756248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139756248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=139756248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139756248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139756248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139756248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139756248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}