According to evolutionary biologists like Ryan Gregory (2009), Oliver Riepell (2010), and others, the consensus is that Homo erectus was the first human ancestor to acquire the ability to stand and walk upright on two legs. This evolutionary advancement granted him the use of two hands for making tools, hunting, and manipulating his environment more effectively. Much later, when Homo sapiens (the successor of Homo erectus) acquired the frontal lobe (of the current human brain), this significant advantage over Homo erectus granted him and his descendants (i.e., us) the ability to mentally peek into the future, dream, imagine, and visualize things that are not yet a part of reality—and thus, the capacity to hope, a major evolutionary advantage, was born.

Hope is a belief and the feeling that one’s aspirations are achievable or that what one desires is also possible. Hope is more than a mere imagination or daydream. It informs us, assures us, and motivates, strengthens, and energizes us to perform. When hope is high, your fears, worries, and doubts significantly diminish—resulting in a state of informed courage. From this, courage emanates the energy for action.

Hope has cognitive, affective, and motor components that combine to make it a practical tool for everyday human survival—particularly in emergencies. In other words, hope requires knowledge and thinking, involves feelings and emotions, and entails action and execution. According to The Hope Pentagram........

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