form the book - THE REVOLUTION OF HOPE by Erich Fromm
... Kafka has beautifully described this kind of resigned and passive hope in a story -The Trial- . A man comes to the door leading into heaven (the Law) and begs admittance fro the doorkeeper. The doorkeeper says he can not admit the man at the moment. Although the door leading into heaven stands open, the man decides that he had wait until he gets permission to enter. So he sits down and waits for days and years. He repeatedly asks to be allowed in, but is always told that he cannot be allowed to enter yet. During all this long years the man studies the doorkeeper almost incessantly and learns to know even the fleas in his fur collar. Eventually, he is old and near death. For the first time For the first time, he asks the question, "How does it come about that in all these years no one has come seeking admittance but me?" The doorkeeper answers, "No one but you could gain admittance through this door, since this door was intended for you. I am now going to shut it."
The old man was too old to understand, and maybe he would not have understood if he had been younger. The bureaucrats have the last word; if they say no, he cannot enter. If he had had more than this passive, waiting hope, he would have entered and his courage to disregard the bureaucrats would have been the liberating act which would have carried him to the shining palace.
Many people are like Kafka's old man. They hope, but it is not given to them to act upon their heart's impulse and as long as the 'bureaucrats' do not give the green light, they wait and wait.
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'hope' that helps...
I am sending you many lights of well being, and joy for your new day !
