Giving Hope back to our Young People: Creating a New Spiritual Mythology for Western Culture

There is extensive psychological literature which has linked hopelessness with depression and suicide risk for decades. Although there is a strong research and clinical base for targeting depression, there is a gap in the psychological literature when it comes to targeting hopelessness, specifically. In the absence of such a body of psychological literature, this paper draws on the research from the Futures Studies field which also records a rise in hopelessness, negativity and fear of the future among young people in the West. These phenomena (hopelessness, depression and suicide) will be analysed using Causal Layered Analysis, a methodology from the Futures Studies field, pointing to the long-term psycho-social impact on youth of the materialistic worldview that underpins Western culture. The paper will also explore the question: "how can hope for the future be promoted?" by looking beyond the dominance of materialism to spiritually inspired worldviews and the new metaphors and stories that arise from them. Almost a century ago, in 1911, Rudolf Steiner warned of the withering of our world and the loss of hope and confidence that would occur unless Western culture became again imbued with spiritual wisdom. He claimed that "the forces we need emphatically as life-giving forces are those of hope, of confidence in the future." (Steiner 1964) He further pointed out that only by science and spirit becoming reunited again in "spiritual science", a fully conscious synthesis of rational and trans-rational (spiritually inspired) thinking, would the life-giving forces of hope begin to re-vitalise Western culture. He claimed that "spiritual science fills men with the strongest forces of hope."(Steiner 1964) These thoughts were echoed earlier this year in David Tacey's new book where he states that: "Spirituality is not only about the deep, the meaningful and serious, but it also connects to the very well-springs of human vitality, and when it is omitted or repressed we unwittingly repress a great deal of human energy." (Tacey 2003)