ON PESSIMISM, OPTIMISM AND REALISM

On matters concerning social interaction, we sometimes come across certain dispositions and tendencies in different people, as well as in their outlooks on life. In some cases we are saddened, and in others we are uplifted, and yet we can still be enlightened by either of these two main feelings. The tendency towards the negative or the positive ways of thinking can teach us many lessons in life, and are both as equally valid as each other. Some people use the label of pessimism against others, or mention it as a term of abuse or insult, as an accusation, or a gimmick rather than as something to be studied or understood. Sometimes pessimism exists because people want to improve the world, so must point out what is negative in things, to do so. It has more or less been proven by psychologists that all optimists tend to be happier in life than pessimists, and optimists also tend to live longer than pessimists. Optimism can be viewed as a healthier and more useful drive for one's sense of well-being than pessimism. A major flaw that a lot of optimists do have though, is that they spend so much time being positive, that it ends up giving them an unrealistic view of reality, because at times they like to push away all that seems unpleasant to them. So they end up repressing all that is unpleasant or unwanted that exists within them. Even Colin Wilson, with all of his optimism, ended up rejecting materialism in favour of the supernatural and spiritual, which he knows is uncertain and elusive. This seems to me, to be putting one's faith in what might ultimately be a delusion. Spirituality is a crutch for feeble-minded people, and this is because healthy, realistic, strong-minded people are materialists. Most materialists believe in what is physical, real and actual, and do not waste too much time allowing themselves to be weakened by what is uncertain and elusive. Optimists maybe happy, positive people with a sense of well-being and so on, but they are not exactly the most realistic people in the world. Optimists tend to fantasize a lot; they are also very idealistic and subjective in nature. Realists tend to be highly objective and practical people who always try to balance and harmonize both the negative and positive tendencies of the psyche. A realist is a person who views the world, and represents things as they really are, without subjective distortion or bias. The sophists of ancient Greece were not realists as some writers have claimed, and this is because the sophists were not objective, sincere, honest or truthful enough to be considered proper realists. I consider the philosophers Epicurus and Democritus as genuine realists. A person who has any breadth and depth in their character will try to balance all the tendencies that I have mentioned, and they will be optimistic when they have to be and when it is justified, but they will also be able to be negative and realistic when they need to be, when it is called for, when it is justified, rather than resorting to a shallow optimism at all times and occasions even when it is unnecessary to do so. In reality, many negative things do occur in the world, yet optimists choose to ignore and repress these truths, so as to maintain a sort of inner, subjective, positive feeling that they like to project outwardly into the world. Nietzsche, in The Birth Of Tragedy, and Colin Wilson on page 70, of Beyond The Outsider, claim the ancient Greeks were pessimists; yet, this seems wrong from a logical standpoint, seeing as how pessimism is a label that can only really be attached to individuals as such, and is a statement that completely ignores all the ancient Greeks who were optimists, or positive realists. When we study and analyze the ancient Greeks, we get the feeling that they were a positive, life-affirming people, and not a bunch of pessimists. One of the best ways to understand the ancient Greeks, is through their mythology; most of which is complicated, and positive in nature, with only a few negative elements. Optimism and pessimism can sometimes be blind, but realism never falls into the trap of being blind, and this is because it always deals in what is actual and real. For example, when we are realists, we can usually give good reasons for why we believe so and so thing, whereas optimism or pessimism have a sort of uncertainty to them, and optimism in particular requires a kind of faith. Yet, there is nothing wrong with optimism as long as it is not blind. Optimism, when one really comes down to analyzing it, is really a type of hope and belief, a hope and belief that things will turn out for the good, for the best. What counts is that one's hopes and beliefs are well founded and can be realized in a realistic and factual manner. Deep down inside most human beings want what is best for themselves and for others. They just do not always articulate this very well, because life seems like a struggle, and is at times uncertain in its nature aside from procreation. Though, going back to the matter of Colin Wilson (whom I admire as a writer and philosopher) and his ideas, and the direction of his arguments generally; one will notice a tendency in him to create a dichotomy between optimism and pessimism, and to label people and things according to this, without much middle ground. Which is something, I must admit, I do not like about him, yet I do still think that he is a great thinker and writer nonetheless, irrespective of this fault. However, for most people like me, that have many dimensions to their own character; I find that in some matters I am optimistic and positive, and in others I am pessimistic and negative, whereas in most things I am a realist. And so cannot easily be reduced to one label.