Optimism or Pessimism

[dark desire]

I am generally pessimistic. Sometimes I doubt if my pessimism is merely a counter culture stance. But it goes deeper than a mere counter culture streak. I understand we all feel both the mutually exclusive moods and sometimes the mood is just empty - neither pessimistic nor optimistic. But the overall fabric of your thought process, is it pessimistic or is it optimistic? And how do you know that one is more than the other?

I am tempted to quote Wilde on optimism here. But I should restrain myself. :P

[kylio27]

"Is the glass half full, or half empty? It depends on whether you're pouring, or drinking."

- Bill Cosby

[IntravenousJava]

When one considers optimism/pessimism from a nature vs. nurture perspective, nurture clearly wins the day. As a general rule, those born under better auspices tend to experience better outcomes and to expect such in turn. Even so, if the consummate optimist experiences a string of consistently unfavorable outcomes, conversion may follow. Genetic predispositions and disorders notwithstanding, most personality traits are shaped through simple conditioning.

[loe]

Somewhere (I don't know anymore where) I read, that you always should borrow money from a pessimistic person, because he/she doesn't expect getting it back... ;)

(I know, this is not helpfull, but I like it and it underlines the opinion that there is always the possibility of a different point of view... or something like that)

I usually tend to be more optimistic when meeting a pessimistic person and vice versa... hmm...

Cheers!

[dark desire]

Somewhere (I don't know anymore where) I read, that you always should borrow money from a pessimistic person, because he/she doesn't expect getting it back... ;)

(I know, this is not helpfull, but I like it and it underlines the opinion that there is always the possibility of a different point of view... or something like that)

I usually tend to be more optimistic when meeting a pessimistic person and vice versa... hmm...

Cheers!

:lol:

Yeah. I will not nag about the money but I will comment so badly about it at the right moment that you will be buried in the earth with shame. The easy step after that will be to return my money.

I somewhere read

If you are a pessimist, either you are always correct or you are pleasantly surprised. :-P

Now I will quote Oscar Wilde, on optimism.

The basis of optimism is sheer terror. We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbour with the possession of those virtues that are likely to be a benefit to us.

Optimism and hope might be there deep down within me. I am not in touch with that. If at all it is there, it is covered with layers and layers of pessimism. People who are compulsively one or the other are unbearable.

[JuniperWoolf]

Sometimes I doubt if my pessimism is merely a counter culture stance.

It's not. Almost everyone I meet is pessimistic. "Waah, humans are destroying the earth! Humans hurt animals and each other! Humans are stupid! Everything sucks, and life is pointless!" It's the norm to be a pessimist.

[Desolation]

It's not. Almost everyone I meet is pessimistic. "Waah, humans are destroying the earth! Humans hurt animals and each other! Humans are stupid! Everything sucks, and life is pointless!" It's the norm to be a pessimist.

Yep...I used to think that I was a cynical, pessimistic *******, and then I started paying attention to what everyone else was saying. Turns out that, comparatively, I'm a cheery bright-eyed hippie. It's a troubling development.

[Polednice]

For me, it completely depends what I'm being optimistic or pessimistic about - I don't really have a set frame of mind that I apply to everything.

The thing that occupies most of my thinking time in this regard is the future of the human race, about which my optimism gives way to pessimism roughly equally. I found Steven Pinker's recent work, The Better Angels of Our Nature, a very convincing account of the gradual betterment of human civilization, and there is reason to believe that trend will continue, but there exists the technological capacity for one rogue, insane group to wreak untold catastrophe, and that could well happen before we reach peak peacefulness. I am not sure whether to be optimistic or pessimistic about being caught in the middle of a nuclear holocaust before the end of my natural life-span.

So, I think "anxious" would be a more appropriate word. :p

[Alexander III]

Yep...I used to think that I was a cynical, pessimistic *******, and then I started paying attention to what everyone else was saying. Turns out that, comparatively, I'm a cheery bright-eyed hippie. It's a troubling development.

hahaha same, cool to know it's not just me

[Delta40]

Oh come on everyone! cheer up! Life is wonderful. Think of the possibilities out there....

[Iteration]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depressive_realism
Think this is of some relevance, those who I have had the fortune of knowing who were of an optimistic temperament generally seemed to do so at the expense of others. Also it seems the need to objectify which is better, optimisim and pessimism is misguided. Neither is true, a suitable medium should be found. Yet it seems people like to gravitate to polar extremes.

And i bid you all good fun on your polar adventures.

[dark desire]

If you come to think about it optimism is forced down our throats while any pessimism emerging out of a person is shunned. In an alternate world I can imagine balance between optimism and pessimism and in that world I will have a similar balance within me. But the way optimism has become compulsive irritates me. Denial to look within and law of looking ahead is the definition of the new age optimism. Ultimately we all have to look ahead but that is the ultimate thing to do. Before that a lot of things need to be done and introspection is one important one out of them.

I am deeply pessimistic if the human race will ever learn the art of introspection. It is a beautiful thing to do, to cut off roots that are dead and making way for new things to grow. But NO. People are compelled to live the hyperactive way they must live. I wonder why, I have been wondering this for years now. Because no one around introspects, there is no one to share my introspection with. I am wrong here. Everybody introspects. But people don't share it. The doubts, the questions that rise within. What do they do with those questions? Deny? Yes, they mostly deny I suppose. Again I don't understand why.

What is their inner climate like? I want to know. In Milan Kundera's book Identity he describes the inner climate of a hyperspeaking woman. It was awesome. My inner climate is like that of a desert. Sometimes storms rage, the sand dunes keep shifting here and there. Nothing is ever constructed. I am optimistic that some day my inner climate will change but that is only a fool's hope. Nothing more than that.

I want to know what inner climatic conditions people have, what shades of dark and bright in there. How dark they allow the pessimism to get and how bright an optimism can they tolerate?

[JuniperWoolf]

If you come to think about it optimism is forced down our throats while any pessimism emerging out of a person is shunned.

That's not my experience.

[IntravenousJava]

I want to know what inner climatic conditions people have, what shades of dark and bright in there. How dark they allow the pessimism to get and how bright an optimism can they tolerate?

Most of my peers view me as a rather indolent and shiftless (some would even say pointless) soul. Perhaps they are right. My habits certainly lend themselves to such a characterization. But it hasn't always been that way...
Over the years, too many of the best-laid plans and efforts have ended in failure and despair, and, what is even more damaging, betrayal by ostensible friends and intimates.

In short, my life experience thus far has given rise to a decidedly pessimistic outlook, compounded by a sense of self-loathing when I overhear my own pathetic thought process at work: "Why bother?"; "What's the point?"; "What can I do anyway?"

Sound familiar? A bonafide Eeyore I've become, yes?