Optimism/Pessimism

[SolitaryWalker]

What attitude are you in the closest affinity with?

[Jennywocky]

Um... neither?

I prefer a realistic assessment of possibilities (or perhaps what might be the counterpart -- what might be possible within the bounds of reality).

[SolitaryWalker]

Um... neither?

I prefer a realistic assessment of possibilities (or perhaps what might be the counterpart -- what might be possible within the bounds of reality).

...

Pessimism/Optimism.. are attitudes... they have nothing to do with what is true or untrue...

All of Schopenhauer's philosophy for example, could have easily been stated in an optimistic fashion. The ideas in itself are not pessimistic, only the way they are presented is.


See more... here..



I think that you need to be optimistic to be pragmatic because wishful thinking is in our nature. When things are unpleasant for us we will tend to block out the 'nasty reality' part of it because naturally we would have a hard time reconciling ourselves to it. Hence we may profess to be pessimists and claim to have a glum view of the world, but unconsciously we will be wishing that things were better and thus envisioning them as better than they really are, despite the pessimistic views that we may profess.

Essentially the scenario that we accept as the reality will be based on our perceptions of it. Hence, if we are pessimists, we will deem reality as a negative thing, something that we do not like, but will have to accept anyways. But our inner nature will rebel and force us to envision better circumstances than we perceive them to be.

If we are optimists, we still would be engaging in wishful thinking to some extent, but significalty less than we would as pessimists, because then there would be less ground to make up to our ideal vision.

Therefore for those of you who are 'cynical realists' you are shooting yourselves in the foot. If you are being pessimistic for the sake of being realistic, thinking that being an optimist will make you a wishful thinker, quite the opposite is true. Wishful thinking is a result of us being unable to come to terms with the circumstances that we perceive to be true, the more unpropitious we perceive them to be, the more difficult it will be for us to accept them and therefore we will have nowhere to turn but to wishful thought.


An Optimistic perspective may actually have us engaging in wishful thinking, for instance we could imagine that we are wiser or better prepared than we really are, but than the wishful thinking would stem from the conscious and not the unconscious. As the latter influence is always more powerful than the former, we would still win out doing purposeful wishful thinking than have it flood us from the unconscious. You can't avoid wishful thinking, its just a matter of how much of it you chose to entertain. Consciously trying to avoid wishful thinking means to open the floodgates to that from the unconscious, and hence your Hamlet-like rhetoric in an endeavor to curb wishful thinking will land you right in the midst of its empire.

[hereandnow]

...

Pessimism/Optimism.. are attitudes... they have nothing to do with what is true or untrue...

All of Schopenhauer's philosophy for example, could have easily been stated in an optimistic fashion. The ideas in itself are not pessimistic, only the way they are presented is.


See more... here..

Poor Schopenhauer. Ruined for a generation.

[SolitaryWalker]

Looks like I've got the most optimistic vote here...

[Anonymous]

Hmm, I guess I'd have to give myself a two. It didn't dawn on me how pessimistic I've become until recently, when I found myself thinking that my two year old niece could possibly grow up to become quite beautiful, smart, and talented, as long as she doesn't die at a young age.

[geniusndisguise]

Ridiculously NFish optimism is my aim. I'd guess I'm at 8 now. :)

[SolitaryWalker]

Maybe the reason why NFs are the ones making all the big changes in our society is because they are able to stay optimistic?

[geniusndisguise]

Maybe the reason why NFs are the ones making all the big changes in our society is because they are able to stay optimistic?

Maybe. Are successful people happy because they are successful or are they successful because they're optimistic, hence happy? I'm starting to believe the latter. I'm not talking about financial success exclusively either. If someone thinks that they are successful in an area, they tend to become so. It may start with self delusion but it ends in self fulfilling prophecy.


Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives. - William James


Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings.
William James (1842 - 1910)

[Jennywocky]

Pessimism/Optimism.. are attitudes... they have nothing to do with what is true or untrue...

Well, true... but what does the attitude matter?

I don't think I really have an attitude going into it. I'm just perceiving the potential and reacting to it, and so being positive or negative about things ahead of time is distracting and irrelevant, for me.

At best, you could assume that I feel at least SOME amount of hope, because if I thought things were a waste of my time (i.e., negative), I wouldn't even bother.

[Krill]

Looks like I've got the most optimistic vote here...

Hahahaha, not so optimistic about it now, are ya?!

:p