Optimism

Hard to find Optimists in this world, it seems. Even many who appear optimistic, at first, will eventually give way and share with you their pessimism. Pessimism reeks of self-hatred to me. When people are pessimistic about life and existence, usually or always it comes from fears, of death. So many people I’ve met, and have met only a few, a handful of exceptions, are ego-centric. They and perhaps many reading this, you believe that when you die, existence ceases to exist. Reality revolves around you, so when you die, existence dies with you. I believe otherwise, and my belief seems very, very rare. Truly “unique” if I dare say so myself.

To the egoist, the world moving forward without you, is demoralizing and humiliating. A complete humiliation, a sword through the heart of pride. The majority of humanity clings to life, desperately, but without even understanding or realizing the value of life. Therefore the desperation of many is unfounded. The source of one’s pride can be misguided, built on lies, flaws, irrationality, and many other chimeras.

Fear is common in life, all life in fact. Therefore Courage is rarest. If fear represents pessimism, then courage represents optimism. If fear is sourced from death, then courage is the response of life, and is life itself. Courage is synonymous with Hope. Despair in life is a giving up, and giving into death. Therefore pessimism represents, also, a laziness and passivity. Those who are pessimists, have “given into” fate. Perhaps you then believe that you are powerless. Optimism then would be powerful.

It is one thing to be blindly optimistic and that’s not what I’m referring. Naivety and innocence is not the same as Optimism. Optimism is looking at, bathing in, and absorbing all the sick, twisted, evil, bad, foul shit of the world, swallowing the cesspool, and in spite of that, still grasping hope in a future. That’s a challenge of life, that breaks most people. Therefore what I’m talking about can be linked to willpower. Willpower, Courage, Optimism, Hope, all of these “positive” aspects of life are entwined together, parts of the same concept.

Personally, the people I’ve experienced in life, their pessimism stems from fear of their own death, first. And secondly, the propagated fears spread by Mass Media, and other sources. For example, children watch an apocalyptic movie, and then believe that such a thing may happen, and the world will end. Or modern day politicians, in 3rd grade, practiced “red alert” fire drills of Soviets launching nuclear missiles over the globe. Whatever the source of these fears, the pessimism of people is palpable. They, or you, gave in a long time ago to them. And I’m against that.

Just because others are sucked into fear, like quicksand, drowning in dirt, they, or you, want to pull others down into that misery and despair. I connect this with nihilism and self-hatred. These sentiments and emotions, pulsing throughout society, want to suck and absorb everybody into the abyss. “If I’m going to die than I’m going to take everybody with me” thinks the egoist. That’s not only nihilistic and self-hating, it’s all-hating. It’s hatred of existence, something beyond mere nihilism.

I compulsively say “in spite of that” but that’s not true. Optimism is rare in such that it’s difficult to confront the ills and darkest sides of humanity, and still retain hope and happiness afterward. It is a test of faith, in life of life. Optimism produced from wisdom and experience, is genuine and valuable. People seek that out, and cling to it, because they don’t have it within themselves. Perhaps most here, too.

What does “still grasping hope in a future” mean?

I choose to turn away from the ugly for it physically pains me and I gain nothing by swallowing any cesspool, just as I would gain nothing by swallowing a bullet. I’d rather purify the cesspool, making it a contemplative pool, before I swallow in other beings. I’m not here to observe life, I’m here to live it to the fullest of my ability and to aid others to do the same without detracting from or minimizing other human beings.

If you’re locked in a dungeon from which there is no way out, can you be an optimist?
At best, what you can be is indifferent (i.e. you can accept your fate but not more than that.)

It means that some people have stronger willpower, and superior reasons for living, than others.

I didn’t say that you gain from absorbing shit but rather optimism is the counter-force to all that type of negativity.

Or in other words, it’s like retaining your virtues against all odds.

Context is required. Why is somebody locked in a dungeon, and can they be released? But yes pessimism is the popular sentiment among the enslaved.

Hope is dangerous in those circumstances. Resignation is not the same as pessimism though. So yes, a prisoner can be an optimist.

Let’s say one day he wakes up to find himself alone in a dungeon.
He has no idea why. (Maybe it’s because the government is doing some kind of experiment?)
He’s simply stuck in a dungeon and no matter what he does he remains stuck.
He has a stable source of water and food – no human contact however – that keeps him alive.
But no way to get out.
Everything he tries, fails.
After some time, he runs out of ideas, and at that point, he gives up on trying to find a way out.
In other words, he no longer has any hope of getting out of the dungeon.
That’s an example of negative expectation.
Emotionally, he might be tranquil, but in terms of ambitions, he is limited.
He keeps on moving doing whatever he can do within such a limited environment.
Without any hope of ever getting out.

Is he a pessimist?
I don’t know.
But he certainly has negative expectations e.g. he’s expecting to die in that dungeon.

I do however agree that it’s much more difficult to remain emotionally calm in such a situation than to by impulsive and commit suicide.

What if he’s an old man, already lived a full and accomplished life, and is happy to enjoy solitude away from others?

Oh, I believe it’s born into a person, their essence and the sooner they realize the goods that they possess and can share, the better for all of humanity. There is no virtue in hoarding virtue.

How do you instill virtues in others? How do you enable them to have common sense for starters? Does living by example work or does feeding their attempts at virtue with positive reinforcement help? I seriously don’t know…what is possible in such a case or billions of cases.

I doubt that you can. It’s in the nature to be as they are. Optimism is a leader’s quality. People are attracted to “good vibes” and “positive energy”. Because they want to suck it dry. A leader is one who prevents the followers from doing that, to use that ‘positive’ attraction to his or her own gain. A carrot on the stick approach.

Most people are “energy vampires”. They lack their own optimism, positivity, energy, zest, lust for life, and so need to consume somebody else’s. Much, or all of this, comes from upbringing. Some families have traditions of superior nurturing, education, raising, and upbringing, than others. You could call that “privilege” or opportunity. Therefore what leads to an optimistic perspective throughout life, is a solid background and fundamentals. Virtues are built from such solid foundations. Virtue deserves a topic on it’s own. That’s a different subject-matter than optimism.

I will conclude in this thread that optimism is symbolic of a person’s willpower and morale. If you break a person’s optimism in life, “positive energy”, then they become suicidal and depressive, faithless, hopeless.

Permanently or temporarily? If you are made of positive energy, won’t you bounce back?

Some people can be broken for a lifetime, depending on the damage. However, the more positive, optimistic, and willed the individual is, will overcome and persevere through all hardships. Optimism wins out in the end, as life triumphs over death.

That’s a better outcome.

The ability to bounce back from stress is otherwise known as emotional resilience. If that’s what is meant by optimism then the prisoner in my example is optimistic, and yes, I would agree, that’s a good thing.

Don’t be such a pessimist.

On the topic of courage:

Courage isn’t absence of fear.
Courage is the ability to perform tasks that require great deal of caution.

If you want to be able to repeat the performance of a task, instead of simply performing it once and never ever again, then you need that performance to be safe, which is to say, the risk must be minimal.

Tasks that are risky can be performed consistently but only if they are performed rarely. The more risky the task, the less frequent its performance must be.

Take a look at this guy:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLRBNjUJlH0[/youtube]

Is he simply without fear?
Or was he motivated by fear to take precautionary measures that would minimize the risks which is what allows him to complete, and not only complete, but also repeat this stunt?

There’s a fine line between pessimism and realism. The downside of optimism is that it tends to lower expectations. If you’re content you re less likely to change things. I’d say, pain is a better motivator, and has always been the primary agent of change; but it can swing both ways. Practically speaking, optimism can simply be wishful thinking and pessimism can turn to victim mentality, leading neither to change.

I try to be neither a pessimist nor an optimist but a realist which is the default position. And so I focus more on what is rather than
what I think is for they are not always mutually compatible. Having a sense of detachment allows for a more objective perspective
because judgement can be compromised by emotion. But I am human and not a robot so is a work in progress and constantly so too

The more exercises you do, the more fear disappears from you. And Fabio Wibmer has done his extreme exercises very well.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDitcUyZ6Ws[/youtube]

• youtube.com/watch?v=CDitcUyZ6Ws -

Fear is a reference to probable negative consequences that motivates us to take precautionary measures. That’s what the purpose of exercising is. Once you take these measures, you no longer feel afraid. That is true. However, that’s not because you eliminated fear. That’s because you minimized the risks. You no longer feel afraid because there is no longer anything to be afraid of. The mechanism that is responsible for detecting threats and activating fear is fully operative. If instead you simply suppress the fear response, you’d be able to attempt the stunt, but you won’t be able to perform it consistently. In fact, it’s very likely you wouldn’t be able to so much as complete it. You’d probably die.

I say this because I think that what is typical of most people is recklessness.
Which is absence of fear.
In many cases, this absence is caused under the pressure of some other fear.