The value of pessimism and it's better looking cousin, realism, are hard to ignore. Without pessimists cavemen busy saving food for the winter would likely have failed to save enough food just often enough to have become extinct.
We should be grateful that there was at least one caveman (picture someone dressed like Fred Flintstone), standing by to sternly warn that there wasn't going to enough food wasn't if winter lasted longer than expected.
Pessimism is a critical part of human intellectual development.
The problem is that it can also get in the way of accomplishing things:
Why try to write a book that is unlikely to ever be published, let alone make any money?
Why try to stay fit when the ravages of time are laughing at your futile efforts?
In other words, why strive?
I don't feel pessimistic. Still, I do feel a sense of reality press down when I consider new projects. And, there are certain terms that cause my essential pessimist to bloom. Among them phrases like, The Middle East Peace Process. That particular phrase has fallen out of vogue with all but the most ardent optimists.
The problem is that I rather like some elements of my cynicism (see, I won't even disguise it as realism). It has made it easier, in some ways, to weather disappointment. It seems to make the world's motions clearer.
But, it has also gotten in the way.
So, I have decided to create this optimism lab. Here, I intend to collect, test and share the tools that have helped others to make optimism have a greater force in their lives; a greater positive force. At the same time, I want to see if I can find a way to balance a greater receptivity to optimism with my organic, if sometimes hyperactive, sense of cynicism.
No comments:
Post a Comment