Fear and Hope

Several years ago I was speaking with a gentleman for whom I had considerable regard. He said that there are two primary emotions: fear and hope. All other emotions are secondary to those. I didn't really understand that statement at the time, perhaps because at that time I did not have the same awareness of hope as I do now. Fear I understood then as now, and much of my life is still geared to my responses to basic fear.

I recall that conversation on fear being the primary driver of human behavior. If I'm not mistaken, that conversation took place in a restaurant in Poughkeepsie, NY. I forget the restaurant now ... it was not the Hyde Park Brewery, that I know.

As I think more about the question you posed, I wonder if most of our immediate actions are based on fear, but what generates our fear is a lack of hope. I say with fair certainty that I fear the future and what it may hold for me. The question I need to ask myself is this: is my fear based on a lack of hope for the future? By hope I do not mean some kind of wishful thinking, but rather a settled trust that what will become of me is what is ultimately best for me. That's a hard, hard thing to really believe.

Is there such a thing as true altruism? Maybe ... I think of cases where people sacrifice themselves so their children may live. But might there be a shred of selfishness in that -- wishing one's DNA to live on in one's children? How about soldiers who throw themselves on live grenades? True altruism, or perhaps heroics tainted with a degree of desire for glory? I honestly don't know.

What are your thoughts? Do you think there is such a thing as pure or true altruism?