Question: So the fact that I have no belief in religion means there's no such thing as hope for me?

Answer: Yes and No

Not believing in religion mostly means for many that they can't comprehend the idea of hope. For you to hope in something, that hope needs to be based on the belief in another. You can't hope to buy a new house in the next few months if you're not assured of living to see tomorrow. If you believe in a Supreme Being, then you have the assurance that you'll love to see the next day.

For an atheist, whatever will be, will be (I guess)

An atheist doesn't have an assurance of living to see tomorrow, because that person lives hisbor her life according to chance and the 'wind that life blows.'

So Ozzyy,are you saying that nothing keeps these people going?

Nope.

These people have forced themselves to keep on living. They have driven their efforts towards a particlular goal which they wish to accomplish. To them, they do not need hope to overcome doubts of whether they'll live to accomplish their dreams, because of the product of their faith in that goal and a sheer willpower and resolve to achieve it.

This product is called the DRIVING FORCE.

The driving force basically fuels their drive to achieve this purpose. They can't hope for a better tomorrow, so they have sworn to make efforts at it.

In other words, they have signed their lives off to the contract that goes:

If I don't do these things, then I might as well die

That becomes their substitute for hope. By fixing their life force on the condition that they achieve these goals, they continue to live and battle on.

Everyone needs the Driving Force

Like I said in my previous parts of the series, having hope isn't enough. Having dreams and hoping the hope that God will see you through is enough to achieve them is futile.

Life is a battlefield, not a playground.

Having hope isn't enough.

Faith without works is dead.

These three sayings emphasize the fact that with sheer willpower, faith and continuos efforts to achieve your goals, the actions of your hope are greatly increased.

In other words, the Driving Force is a catalyst of hope. While the driving force can stand alone to help a person (to an extent), hope alone cannot. But a strong hope accompanied with the presence of driving force and hardwork make the complete individual ready to handle all of life's obstacle on his/her road to success.

Yes, Driving Force + Hope is greater than Driving Force alone, but it's nice to know that even without religious tendencies, you'll have something that keeps you going, isn't it?

Lessons to Learn.

This isn't a lecture, but surely you can pick a thing or two from this. Learn to fuel your hope and efforts by developing the Driving Force.

The Driving Force is developed by constantly being optimistic and speaking good words about yourself and your situation from your mouth.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

Although a biblical verse, this clearly illustrates my meaning. If you continue talking bad about yourself and your situation, you're not only reducing your self esteem, you're decreasing your driving force and increasing the effects of the pessimistic mechanism (refer to earlier articles on this subject).

It's time to leave those motivational speakers and motivate yourself, by yourself. That's the way to build up your Driving Force.