Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey

“Like most children who grow up in happy homes, I never had cause to question the religious beliefs of my family. Did God exist? Of course. God was as real to me then as the wind that rustled through the trees in our garden. God somehow cared for a magical world, full of fascinating animals and people who were mostly friendly and kind. It was an enchanted world for me, full of joy and wonder, and I felt very much a part of it.”

Goodall’s reflections on her childhood belief system introduce the text’s theme of Reconciling Faith, Morality, and Scientific Discovery. At this early juncture of her account, Goodall confesses that she had suffered very little. Her life was untouched by violence and upset, which allowed her to believe in God without question. The passage thus foreshadows how Goodall’s later encounters with loss, violence, and sorrow would test her faith and challenge her worldview.

“There, high above the ground, I could feel a part of the life of the tree, swaying when the wind blew strongly, close to the rustling of the leaves. The songs of the birds sounded different up there—clearer and louder. I could sometimes lay my cheek against the trunk and seem to feel the sap, the lifeblood of Beech, coursing below the rough bark.”

Goodall uses detailed description to enact her deep relationship with the beech tree at the Birches. Her use of language like “high,” “swaying,” “strongly,” “rustling,” “lifeblood,” and “rough” enacts and invites the reader into Goodall’s childhood sensory experience. This passage also conveys the symbolic nature of the tree. The tree helped Goodall connect with nature, and offered her solace—experiences she would find later in life in Gombe National Park, too.

“For those were the times that nurtured my spirit, allowed my inner self to grow and expand in understanding. My belief in a great Power was strengthened—a Power outside, yet including each one of us and all the wonders of the world. I think it was then, sailing along just out of sight of land, that I made an unconscious commitment to Africa.”

Goodall’s first voyage to Africa on the boat, the Kenya Castle, inspired her emotionally, vocationally, and spiritually. Simply spending her days on board the ship immersed her in the beauty and wonder of the natural world—experiences which fueled her belief in the divine. Feeling close to some version of God, Goodall was able to conceptualize a purposeful future for herself. This passage furthers Goodall’s explorations of Reconciling Faith, Morality, and Scientific Discovery, while supporting Goodall’s argument that a connection with nature can lead to self-discovery.

“In fact, at that time, my fears of being harmed by a wild animal were almost nonexistent. I truly believed that the animals would sense that I intended no harm and, in turn, would leave me alone—as had been the case with the young male lion at Olduvai.”

Goodall inhabits her youthful point of view in this passage to capture her outlook when she first arrived at Gombe National Park. Although Goodall was surrounded by an unfamiliar environment and wild animals, she was unafraid. Her fearlessness is a testament to her youth, but also to her deep love for nature and animals. Showing animals respect, she understood, would earn her respect and safety in return.

“The result of it all, however, was that it was deemed necessary to redefine man in a more complex manner than before—heaven forbid that we should lose any aspect of our human uniqueness! I was unaware of all the controversy and speculation that was going on, as I was just living my simple life and continuing to learn more about the chimpanzees.”

In this passage, Goodall alludes to the influence her observations and discoveries had on the science world. She was the first person to witness tool-making amongst chimpanzees, a discovery which altered anthropological understandings of humans and human ancestry. Although Goodall’s finding was profound, she shies away from self-glorification and instead writes with humility and wit. Her use of sarcasm (“heaven forbid”) lends a witty mood to the passage.

“I became totally absorbed into this forest existence. It was an unparalleled period when aloneness was a way of life; a perfect opportunity, it might seem, for meditating on the meaning of existence and my role in it all. But I was far too busy learning about the chimpanzees’ lives to worry about the meaning of my own.”

Goodall’s time in Gombe National Park altered how she saw herself and the world around her. In this passage, Goodall combines her present point of view with her youthful point of view. Retrospectively, she understands how her solitude in the forest was changing her. Back then, however, she admits that she wasn’t thinking about how Gombe was influencing her. She straddles her past and present perspectives to affect a reflective tone.

“In order to collect good, scientific data, one is told, it is necessary to be coldly objective. You record accurately what you see and, above all, you do not permit yourself to have any empathy with your subjects. Fortunately I did not know that during the early months at Gombe.”

Goodall’s compassionate and empathetic nature helped her connect authentically with the natural world. In this passage, Goodall remarks on how her scientific inexperience in fact helped her work. Instead of being “coldly objective” or voiding herself of empathy, Goodall tried to connect with her chimpanzee subjects and to emotionally invest in their experience. Although taboo in anthropological circles. Goodall’s more humane approach helped her to make advancements countless others hadn’t.

“This contrast between the two worlds struck me, with increasing sadness, every time I arrived back in England from Gombe. Instead of the peace of the timeless forest and the simple, purposeful lives of its inhabitants I was plunged into the materialistic, wasteful—terribly, terribly wasteful—rat race of Western society.”

Goodall’s movements between Western civilization and Gombe complicated her ability to maintain peace of mind. When she was in Gombe, she felt calm, centered, and purposeful. She could feel God’s presence in the forest, too. When she was back in England, she felt anxious, overwhelmed, and meaningless. Over the course of her experience—and the text—Goodall seeks to reconcile these competing realms and mindsets to locate a more balanced way of being.

“There is no doubt that my observation of the chimpanzees helped me to be a better mother, but I found also that the experience of being myself a mother helped me better understand chimpanzee maternal behavior: it is hard to empathize with or understand emotions we ourselves have not experienced.”

Goodall’s reflections on motherhood support her belief that humans can learn from nature. Throughout Reason for Hope, Goodall argues that if humans were to connect with the natural world they would better be able to connect with each other. In this passage, she uses her own experience as an example. Goodall was overwhelmed when she first became a mother, but quickly discovered that she could learn about maternity from the chimps she was studying. She saw the wisdom in animal life, and applied it to her own experience.

“‘Unfortunately in every case that I have investigated when large sums of money were handed over, there was a breakdown in relationships. Friendship and trust turned to hostility and bitterness. In every case.’ What a horrible commentary on human nature. Just when people are hurting and vulnerable, trying to pick up the threads of their lives, friendships disintegrate into feelings of hostility and bitterness.”

Goodall’s experience of the 1975 kidnappings in Gombe complicated her understanding of human nature. When an interviewer remarked that it was common for people to turn against each other in such traumatic situations, Goodall was horrified. Her reflections on this experience and revelation spur her explorations of Compassion and Hope as Resistance to Violence. Goodall did not want to be among the people who responded to violence with hostility, and devoted herself even more concertedly to a life of empathy and peace thereafter.

“And so the behaviors of the Gombe chimpanzees provided fuel for much theorizing; and many scientists were eagerly arguing about them, using them—or not—to substantiate or refute their own pet theories on the nature of human aggression […] My question was: How far along our human path, which has led to hatred and evil and full-scale war, have chimpanzees traveled?”

Goodall reflects on how her work was received in comparison to how others perceived her work. While other scientists and writers were using her findings to argue that humans were innately violent, Goodall wanted to ask different questions with her work. This passage exemplifies Goodall’s capacity for free thought and refusal to bend her objectives to meet others’ standards. Her determination to follow her instincts helped her make scientific accomplishments, and to follow her personal moral compass throughout her work.

“However I think it is only we humans, with our sophisticated intellect, who are capable of performing acts of self-sacrifice with full knowledge of the costs that we may have to bear, not only at the time, but also, perhaps, at some future date.”

Goodall’s musings on human nature reiterate the novel’s theme of Compassion and Hope as Resistance to Violence. While Goodall never asserts that humans are superior to other animals, she does argue that humans have a greater capacity for self-awareness. If humans can take more accountability for how their actions affect others, human civilization might survive. The unique human qualities Goodall identifies are also reasons for humans to make bigger changes and show more empathy to each other and the natural world alike.

“It is the depth of our love that will determine the depth of our grieving—not the nature of the object of our loving. A lonely person, living with a beloved cat or dog, will grieve far more for the passing of the pet, and rightly so, than for the passing of a relative—even a parent—with whom no truly loving relationship was formed.”

Goodall’s musings on love and death reiterate her belief in the importance of interspecies relationships. Goodall holds that the love a person might feel for the pet is no less than the love a person might hold for a relative. Goodall is therefore refusing to place a hierarchy on love or grief. This moment contributes to her overarching explorations of Overcoming Grief, Fear, and Despair.

“Like a sleepwalker I retraced my steps to the underground. I went back down the same steps which I had climbed with so much hope that morning. I stood on the almost empty platform and tried to believe that this was all happening to somebody else. Finally a train came and I got in, and sat there, just sat there. I didn’t want the journey to end.”

Goodall’s use of short sentences and repetition enacts the immobilizing despair she felt after learning of Derek Bryceson’s prognosis. Goodall renders this passage with the same repetitive patterns as the behaviors she is describing. The mood is stilted, which mirrors Goodall’s numbed state of mind. The passage furthers Goodall’s theme of Overcoming Grief, Fear, and Despair.

“It is hard—impossible, really—to put into words the moment of truth that suddenly came upon me then. Even the mystics are unable to describe their brief flashes of spiritual ecstasy. It seemed to me, as I struggled afterward to recall the experience, that self was utterly absent: I and the chimpanzees, the earth and trees and air, seemed to merge, to become one with the spirit power of life itself.”

Goodall’s return to Gombe after Derek’s death offered her healing. She describes her return to the forest in detail, enacting how intensely impacted she was by her return to nature. The passage reiterates how communing with the natural world can help the individual find a sense of meaning, understanding, and peace. For Goodall, reconnecting with nature was the only way to awaken from her sorrow over losing Derek.

“What mattered and mattered desperately was our future development. Were we going to go on destroying God’s creation, fighting each other, hurting the other creatures of His planet? Or were we going to find ways to live in greater harmony with each other and with the natural world?”

Goodall incorporates rhetorical questions into her reflections on progress to invite her reader into her discussion. Goodall is asking how human society might positively impact the environment, and how moving forward instead of fixating on the past might create change. She also uses the first person plural point of view in this passage to incorporate herself and her reader into the collective experience.

“But we did not have the luxury of millions of years for all humans to become true saints. Not if we continued destroying our environment at the present rate. So, I thought, we would simply have to try, each and every one of us, to become just a little bit more saintlike. That, surely, we could do.”

Goodall’s tone and authorial stance shift in the latter chapters of the text. Here, Goodall is addressing her concerns about the future of humankind and the planet. She is addressing her reader while issuing a call to action: That each person try to be more saintlike so as to promote love and peace. These notions reiterate Goodall’s explorations of Compassion and Hope as Resistance to Violence.

“It is because I believe, so absolutely, that chimpanzees, like us, can suffer mentally as well as physically, can feel sad, depressed, and bored, that I find visits to research labs so chilling.”

Goodall employs a direct, open tone in this passage. She is baldly conveying why she believes her work is important and why her work impacts her so deeply. Her claims that chimpanzees experience the same emotions as humans also reiterates the notion that empathizing with animals and nature can help humans better understand each other.

“We still have a long way to go. But we are moving in the right direction. If only we can overcome cruelty, to human and animal, with love and compassion we shall stand at the threshold of a new era in human moral and spiritual evolution—and realize, at last, our most unique quality: humanity.”

Goodall issues another call to action in this passage, urging her audience to embrace “love and compassion” to “overcome cruelty.” She uses an encouraging tone, too, to inspire her reader and invite them towards self-reflection and change. The passage is also hopeful, as it asserts that there is a chance for humans to change.

Yet despite this, I do have hope for the future—for our future. But only if changes are made in the way we live—and made quickly. We do not, I think, have much time. And these changes must be made by us, you and me. If we go on leaving it to others, shipwreck is inevitable.”

Goodall’s environmental commentary remains relevant to the contemporary climate crisis. Goodall is urging her reader to take action and fight against environmental devastation before it is too late. Such calls to action remain a part of the zeitgeist, as climate activists continue fighting for immediate environmental protection.

“Encouraging and empowering young people, giving them hope, is my contribution to their future and, thus, the future of our planet. There is much I could say about the projects that these young people have already tackled, about the way in which the program has been spread, from school to school, city to city, by the young people themselves.”

Goodall identifies her Roots & Shoots project as her personal way of fighting for “the future of our planet.” Her musings on the project imply that each person might devote themselves to their own effort. If each person finds one way to fight for future change, the collective might create progress together. Goodall holds that her one small action has inspired others and spread messages of hope; the same can be true for others’ efforts.

“I learned […] that there are things which I, with my finite mind, shall never be able to understand. And that, although I can never accept evil—deliberate, malicious cruelty to man or beast—and though I shall always fight it, I do not have to account for its presence among us.”

Throughout Goodall’s account, she wrestles with the question of why evil exists and how God could allow violence to happen. In this moment, Goodall is reconciling with the fact that she does not have to know why. Even without this understanding, she realizes she can advocate for people, animals, and the natural world.

“Each one of us must take responsibility for our own lives, and above all, show respect and love for living things around us, especially each other. Together we must reestablish our connections with the natural world and with the Spiritual Power that is around us. And then we can move, triumphantly, joyously, into the final stage of human evolution—spiritual evolution.”

Goodall’s assertive yet empathetic tone offers her account a hopeful resolution. Goodall is again urging her reader towards compassionate action, and leaving room for the possibility of change. The moment reiterates the text’s theme of Compassion and Hope as Resistance to Violence, while also allowing Goodall’s words to extend beyond the confines of the page.