{"id":132183,"date":"2021-11-03T15:07:07","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T14:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=132183"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:57","slug":"what-the-lord-of-the-rings-can-teach-you-about-hope-and-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/11\/03\/what-the-lord-of-the-rings-can-teach-you-about-hope-and-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"What The Lord of the Rings<\/em> can teach you about hope and uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emma Pleeging\u2019s doctoral research was on the subject of hope. It\u2019s a feeling that is hard to put into words. The Lord of the Rings<\/em><\/a> by J.R.R. Tolkien stirs up a feeling of hope in Pleeging. \u201cI became curious about tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nederland, Rotterdam, 28\u201310-2021\nEM\nEmma\nLord of the Ring\nfoto: Ronald van den Heerik<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Emma Pleeging (1988) sees herself as a pessimistically hopeful person. For the past four years, she has been studying the subject of hope \u2013 which is about what you want to happen, whilst being aware that the future is uncertain. \u201cAlthough at a global level I find it hard to be optimistic about things such as climate change, growing inequality and polarisation, I remain hopeful. The future has not yet been decided. We can still do something about it.\u201d At the end of September, she received her PhD at the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management on the subject.<\/p>\n\t

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Reading behaviour<\/strong><\/p>\n

Number of books per year: \u201cA lot. I start listening to a book almost as soon as I get up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most important motivation: \u201cGetting lost in a fantasy world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Favourite genre: \u201cSort of feel-good novels. I have an innate affinity for positive stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most recent book: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine<\/em><\/a> by Gail Honeyman<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

That thing with feathers<\/h2>

Pleeging says that moments of hope are hard to capture, but she recalls a holiday in New Zealand. \u201cI was standing in the snow with my boyfriend on top of a mountain. It was then that I felt a sense of hope, the idea that everything\u2019s fine and it will be alright.\u201d To put the feeling into words, she recites the poem \u2018Hope is that thing with feathers\u2019 by Emily Dickinson.<\/p>\n

Hope is that thing with feathers,<\/em>
\nIt perches in the soul,<\/em>
\nAnd sings the tune without the words,<\/em>
\nAnd never stops at all.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you kill things by overthinking them,\u201d says Pleeging. If you need to explain why something is funny, it stops being funny. The same goes for hope. \u201cYou can describe hope, yet there\u2019s still an elusive element.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open the shutters<\/h2>

\u201cBooks, poetry, films and music can play an important role. They can stir up a feeling of hope without anyone having to explain what it is.\u201d Tolkien\u2019s The Lord of<\/em> the Rings <\/em>series of books have left Pleeging with an indelible impression of hope. Not least because of a remark by Gandalf, one of the characters, who says, \u201cDespair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt\u201d, but even more so because of the world Tolkien created. \u201cThe language and the history; everything falls into place. The books give you the chance to immerse yourself in another world and to see your own life in an entirely different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

She read the books when she was 18 and spending a few months in Nepal with her boyfriend. There was no television or internet and hardly any electricity. In the evenings, when it was quiet, she realised just how much entertainment was available to her in the Netherlands. She bought the trilogy in a small bookshop. Every day, when she returned home after working in a children\u2019s home, she would read. \u201cAt that moment it was wonderful to have a world that opened all the doors of your mind and showed you what was possible. It made me curious about tomorrow. Reading The Lord of the Rings<\/em> gave her a Lust for Life,<\/em> referencing Iggy Pop\u2019s song. \u201cVery hopeful, just like the story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018As long as there is uncertainty, you can keep on going. It has helped me persevere through some tough times\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Wisdom is accepting uncertainty<\/h2>

In the books, protagonist Frodo endures an impossible quest to destroy the One Ring of evil once and for all. He is so committed to his purpose that he perseveres even though he does not know whether he will ever reach his destination. Pleeging quotes Gandalf: \u201cEven the very wise cannot see all ends.\u201d This is exactly what she finds hopeful. \u201cAs long as there is uncertainty, you can keep on going. It has helped me persevere through some tough times.\u201d<\/p>\n

In reality, she knows how hard it can be to remain hopeful. \u201cEven though every PhD comes at a time of despair, there is an irony to researching the opposite feeling. As a researcher, I find it easy to write about it, but I am modest: being hopeful is not always easy.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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Emma Pleeging studied Liberal Arts and Sciences at Utrecht University. She did a minor in Conflict Studies and a Masters in Humanistics, for which she did an internship at Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organisation (EHERO). As a research assistant, she carried out research on hope. In September 2021, she received her doctorate with the thesis Understanding Hope: Insights into the definition, relevance and measurement of hope from an interdisciplinary perspective<\/em>. She works for EHERO and teaches at the Erasmus School of Economics.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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