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I’ve found myself recently telling several people to watch Alain de Botton’s secular sermon \'On Pessimism\'. When I’ve suggested that watching a video on negativity would put an invaluable positive spin on my friends’ less-than-happy situations I’ve not just been given suspicious or pitying looks but have been almost angrily shot down, such is the widespread fear of publicly admitting to struggle and suffering. Just like coming into contact with powers far greater than ourselves (see ‘Car Crash Effect’ post), approaching life from a pessimistic point of view can, paradoxically, lead to the most uplifting sense of optimism. Have a watch, make up your own mind and we can discuss it over half a drink.
I love this quote:
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“Hope is the denial of reality. It is the carrot dangled before the draft horse to keep him plodding along in a vain attempt to reach it.”
‘Are you saying we shouldn’t hope?’
“I’m saying we should remove the carrot and walk forward with our eyes open”
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I like the idea of “radical pragmatism.” Take usefulness to the extreme.
It’s 3 choices, not 2. The choices are: optimism, pessimism and realism. Optimism and pessimism have the same problem which is that to be an optimist or a pessimist, you have to have expectations of something happening. Optimism is expectation of something good happening. Pessimism is expectation of something bad happening.
Realism is about letting go of expectation and just dealing with life as is.