Karl Menninger, MD

I met Dr. Karl Menninger the summer of 1982 when he was guest lecturer at the counseling center where I worked. He returned the next summer for the same purpose…he was 89 and 90 respectively. (Please see Wikipedia for relevant facts about the foundation, clinic, and books written) I arranged for Dr. Karl to get his first helicopter ride courtesy of one of the attendees. When I asked him what that was like he told me, “just like what I always thought riding on a magic carpet would be like.”

Dr Menninger had a bright countenance about him and was a man of deep faith in Christ. He was very passionate teaching about hope. While it has been more than sixty years since his famed Hope, The Vital Spark lecture at the 115th annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, what he spoke of then is just as relevant and needed today.

Below is a posthumous interview with Dr. Menninger based on his teachings.

84 and still painting

85 and still practicing

Hope: An Interview With Dr. Karl Menninger

• It’s a great privilege to speak with you Dr. Menninger. I’m looking forward to gaining clarity on—in your own words—this “elusive ingredient in our daily work” called hope.

  The first question that comes to mind is this: Faith, hope, and love—they are often presented as a triad, yet hope is often the odd one left out. Why is hope so often neglected? Why is there little written about it?

  Dr. Menninger: I’ve often wondered the same thing. The simple answer is that hope often seems too personal—too taboo. But that’s no excuse for not exploring it deeper. Even the ancient philosophers and poets understood that hope is essential to our mental wellbeing.

• In my own practice, I’ve also found that people shy away from talking about hope because they struggle to define it. They think they know what it is, but they can’t seem to put words to it. How would you define hope?

  Dr. Menninger: I see hope as the dim awareness of unconscious wishes which, like dreams, tend to come true. It reflects the working of the life instinct in its constant battle against the various forces that add up to self destruction. Put more simply, hope implies a process, a going forward, a confident search. To the Greeks, this was dangerous—a false illusion. To Apostle Paul, it’s what we are saved by. 

• If hope is a confident search, would you say that it’s the same as optimism?

  Dr. Menninger: On the surface they may appear similar, but they are not the same. Optimism emphasizes the importance of “I”. But hope is humble, modest, self-less. It’s unique in that it’s distinguished from expectation.

• Ahh I see. Well my final question is this: What is the risk of discounting hope in our lives?

  Dr. Menninger: Deficiency of hope is despair and leads to decay. As severe as that may sound, it’s true. Hopelessness breeds hopelessness. But the opposite is also true—hope breeds hope. Hope is a tender flame that must be tended to in our lives to ward against disillusion and destructiveness. It’s essential to our survival. Just as the prophet Isaiah so wisely put:

  “…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

  So what gives you hope. Hope that lasts...hope that carries you above setbacks and disappointments? Develop it...expand it...guard it as it may be "the vital spark."