Virginia Woolf wrote, “the future is dark, which is on the whole, the best thing the future can be, I think.” In response, Rebecca Solnit, author of Hope in the Dark, establishes that Woolf refers to “darkness” as a clouded sense of the future, an unknown to what is to come rather than sadness and despair. The pathway towards this darkness that Solnit advocates for is hope. It is interesting how this book is framed in a way that encourages us into this darkness, the metaphor is quite powerful but not entirely intuitive. She defines hope as jumping into this darkness, she writes, “hopefulness is risky, since it is after all a form of trust, trust in the unknown and the impossible, even in discontinuity. To be hopeful is to take on a different persona, one that risks disappointment, betrayal” (23). Putting this framework for hope into the context of our own lives is extremely beneficial towards understanding the intricacies of the political and cultural climate. Hope can almost be synonymous with vulnerability. The quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, yet still putting yourself in this receiving position. The risk factor is high, the reward is unknown, but the present moment of need is coursing through one’s veins.

Finding hope can manifest each individual in a different, this page offers only three pathways to tapping into this form of diving into the darkness; Artistic Exploration, Inquiry and Reflection, and Self Care.