Eternal Optimist? Or Prevailing Pessimist?

[Silvox Black]

(I had posted this in the incorrect thread, much to my chagrin. My apologies.)

Out of a desire to see just how many people on here are those who believe that humanity is inherently good, inherently evil, or something in between I would like to ask the question: Are you one who trusts in the goodwill and ability of humanity? One that believes that in the end, things will occur for the betterment of all? Or are you one that believes that our goodwill in humanity is a misplaced illusion and that reality's truth is cruel and unfair? Has your philosophy and belief in this influenced your SA and your willingness to associate with other people?

And as a footnote, has anyone here read Voltaire's Candide? If so, any favorite characters from that book?

 

[Nicholas]

I'm pessimistic, but I have realized that it's useless to feel that way. By being pessimistic, you don't change anything. Pessimism just makes everything worse for us. Everything then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We just need to relax, and learn to be a little bit more realistic. That way we WILL be able to make a change, which is what we all need.

 

[PhillyFlyersGrl]

I think people fall inbetween feeling both optimistic and pessimistic what you have is a lot of people who truly WANT to believe but have a hard time believing that humanity is good because of circumstances that made them distrustful of fully believing.

What I believe is the heart of most people is good, and circumstances have changed them, I believe in the soul..the soul is good. This planet, I believe we were put here to learn about negativity..that there's only one true good place and thats heaven. But this life, this earth is all a learning experience, and to expect this life to be like heaven is impossible. This life is pain and suffering and trying to overcome, yeah theres moments, quick moments of beauty and joy but their fleeting and you can't hold on to them.

Oh and I almost forgot to add, my beliefs influencing my S.A., it helps keep me grounded knowing that I shouldnt expect certain things out of life, I dont consider it being pessimistic..but to constantly beat my head against the wall walking around with ideals that people just cant live up too..everyone has their own problems...so with that I try to respect other people and see their side of things. Like for example if people are freaked out by me having Social Phobia, I have to understand that..if I didnt have it how would I react to someone with Social Phobia...Id probably be freaked at first too..or wary on how to help or approach them. These are skills we have to work on developing as people..how to be compassionate and understanding..it doesnt come so easily because, well, were human and life is not perfect. People arent. Were not meant to be. Thus we learn.

 

[Tempus35]

I want to believe humanity is goodwilled, but I have come to think that it tries, but fails in many ways. That isnt to say there arent those that are truely goodwilled and that truely try to better humanity and themselves, but there is to many people that are selfcentered and dont care about humanity or just anyone else.

 

[Silvox Black]

I'm pessimistic, but I have realized that it's useless to feel that way. By being pessimistic, you don't change anything. Pessimism just makes everything worse for us. Everything then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We just need to relax, and learn to be a little bit more realistic. That way we WILL be able to make a change, which is what we all need.

Then you would support realism? Is that not what pessimism is? Of course I am aware of those who take pessimism so far as to wallow in grief and sorrow, but I am not speaking of that. I am speaking of a practical belief that will be able to guide someone through life without as much disappointment as one who is a blindly optimistic fellow.

 

[Silvox Black]

I think people fall inbetween feeling both optimistic and pessimistic what you have is a lot of people who truly WANT to believe but have a hard time believing that humanity is good because of circumstances that made them distrustful of fully believing.

What I believe is the heart of most people is good, and circumstances have changed them, I believe in the soul..the soul is good. This planet, I believe we were put here to learn about negativity..that there's only one true good place and thats heaven. But this life, this earth is all a learning experience, and to expect this life to be like heaven is impossible. This life is pain and suffering and trying to overcome, yeah theres moments, quick moments of beauty and joy but their fleeting and you can't hold on to them.

Oh and I almost forgot to add, my beliefs influencing my S.A., it helps keep me grounded knowing that I shouldnt expect certain things out of life, I dont consider it being pessimistic..but to constantly beat my head against the wall walking around with ideals that people just cant live up too..everyone has their own problems...so with that I try to respect other people and see their side of things. Like for example if people are freaked out by me having Social Phobia, I have to understand that..if I didnt have it how would I react to someone with Social Phobia...Id probably be freaked at first too..or wary on how to help or approach them. These are skills we have to work on developing as people..how to be compassionate and understanding..it doesnt come so easily because, well, were human and life is not perfect. People arent. Were not meant to be. Thus we learn.

You have quite the educated belief then. Yet you hold firm on humanity being inherently good? Yes I can understand that for some circumstances can alter their outer appearance to darkness, but there must be some people who truly are what can be said as evil, moral less, soulless even. Psychopaths and sociopaths? What of them? And you have faith then? My apologies if it seems like I am battering you with questions, I am merely attempting to have a discussion of sorts.

Your approach to other people and seeing from their perspective is precisely the same one I attempt to have. Though you must have a better success rate than me. But just because you try to be fair to others does not mean you will allow people to take advantage of your goodwill, does it?

 

[PhillyFlyersGrl]

You have quite the educated belief then. Yet you hold firm on humanity being inherently good? Yes I can understand that for some circumstances can alter their outer appearance to darkness, but there must be some people who truly are what can be said as evil, moral less, soulless even. Psychopaths and sociopaths? What of them? And you have faith then? My apologies if it seems like I am battering you with questions, I am merely attempting to have a discussion of sorts.

Your approach to other people and seeing from their perspective is precisely the same one I attempt to have. Though you must have a better success rate than me. But just because you try to be fair to others does not mean you will allow people to take advantage of your goodwill, does it?

Yes..I do believe there are some that have lived too many bad lives and crossed over to being evil, dark souls, they are the ones when they are born show signs of being sociopathic etc. They are ones that no person can save, only God can obsolve back into Him when its time. They go back into God. We are all part of God..each one of us..including dark ones...

I dont know about having a better success rate.. Ive had people take advantage, and unfortunatly Im one of those people that finally get mad about it when its too late..its like Im very slow to react to certain things..they catch up later.
You say goodwill, I definatly don't feel like Ive done enough..and there are situations to where I felt Ive failed someone thats sick...
and sometimes Im so fair or try to see both sides, that I end up doing nothing.

 

[freestylemonster]

I think the majority of people are good-hearted. Just a small minority makes the news and makes it seem like the world is a horrible place.

 

[nopark]

Forgive me if my thoughts lack a sort-of philosophical structure -- I've never closely studied philosophy like this.

I don't think people are inherently good or evil. Evil is man-made, and is bred into you based on your own life. But I do think there are more things in this world that lead people astray than there are things that lead people to greatness. I guess that makes me pessimistic

I wouldn't say my outlook has really impacted my personal relationships much. Trust is easily gained with me, but also easily lost. Every person I encounter is neutral, so to speak, and I base my conclusions around this until my experience with them changes.

 

[lurknomore]

I'm definitely an optimist when it comes to most things (except perhaps when it comes to how I think others view me). I think I can also be a realist when I have to be, but I still have to put a positive spin on even the worst situations or I'll literally go insane.

I guess I believe that most people are inherently good... I know no one is perfect, so I tend to almost always give people the benefit of the doubt, perhaps even when it isn't deserved. I don't excuse every despicable behavior, but I do try to find reasons for why people act the way they do. I'm not sure how this relates to my SA... maybe I feel that I'm too different and/or inferior to talk to or get close to other people? I'm not sure.

 

[reslo]

I feel that every one on this earth has a unique perspective to offer.
In terms of sa, it does help me open up a little bit to new people if I remind myself that as a human being, I have value. I do like people, I'm just uncomfortable being around them.
Being "good" "evil" is subjective... i think maybe only animals can be truely good.

 

[SpLynx]

I am optimistic. The true side of human beings is good and it can be attained with education..

 

[Nicholas]

Then you would support realism? Is that not what pessimism is? Of course I am aware of those who take pessimism so far as to wallow in grief and sorrow, but I am not speaking of that. I am speaking of a practical belief that will be able to guide someone through life without as much disappointment as one who is a blindly optimistic fellow.

The difference between pessimism and realism is that pessimism implies being "passive" and does not imply "acceptance". The pessimist will react to a bad event by getting depressed and doing nothing, while the realist will accept the fact anyway and react in one way or another.
If you are too optimistic you'll set unachievable goals, if you are too pessimistic you won't even set any goals at all.
I think we shouldn't care about goals at all. We should only care about improving ourselves, no matter how much or how fast.

 

[hoddesdon]

I completely agree with Nicholas. Pessimism does no-one any good.

Most people support doing things the right way, but find it hard in practice, especially when the going gets tough. Populations taken as a whole uphold the right; hence the law. There has not been a nuclear war because even though everyone feels doing the right thing too hard - worried about not having nuclear weapons if someone else does - the consensus is that a nuclear war would be evil and hence unthinkable. So the "insurance policy" exists, but everyone desperately wants to avoid making a claim.

 

[chained]

I have read Candide, don't remember much, but I do remember that his name means Optimist.. and that Voltaire made a parody about optimism..Panglos, as I remember always believes in the prevailing good, even when the worst happens.. Candide optimism fluctuates through out the parody.. Now we have Pangloss who is an optimist, some guy, a baron, that is realistic or pessimistic. we can say that Voltaire is a pessimist. in the end of the book, we have the garden scene.. now i think what he meant to say was there is no use in discussing optimism and pessimism, or better yet, that people work through out their lives, they are occupied by life events, that they cannot think about them, were they good or bad, for instance.. something bad happens to, everything bad does, and u become a pessimist, but still most ppl continue living their life routines, so there is NO USE of optimism or pessimism, life still continues.. but yet he still finishes the book in the manner he did, unhappy ending, to differ all the other books of his time that ended happily, mostly those travelling novels.. hope a made a point

 

[Qbmaster]

What makes you feel better? Optimism or pessimism? The answer to this question is pretty clear to most people. So why would anyone ever want to be a pessimist? Some people say that they can't help it. They look at the world and believe that what they see has to make them pessimistic. I do not think this is the case. If you are in a situation where a positive outcome is at all possible, you can always be optimistic. Let's say that you play a game where you lose 99% of the time and win only 1% of the time. There are many different ways to think of the possible outcomes of this game:

"I am going to lose" - highly pessimistic
"I am probably going to lose" - pessimistic
"I am likely to lose, but there is a chance that I will win" - neutral
"I might win" - optimistic
"I am going to win" - stupidly optimistic (the "happy idiot" )

All of these except for the first and the last one are perfectly true statements about the game. I believe that all of these thought are in our head all the time, and we can choose which one to focus on. This applies not only to this game, but to every prediction we make about anything including the intentions of other people. Even if you believe that 99% of all people are evil, focus on the 1% that are good. I have chosen to be as positive as I can in all situations, and I think that this choice has made me happier. Being too optimistic is stupid sometimes, but you can always be at least neutral.

 

[Nicholas]

Let's say that you play a game where you lose 99% of the time and win only 1% of the time. There are many different ways to think of the possible outcomes of this game:

"I am going to lose" - highly pessimistic
"I am probably going to lose" - pessimistic
"I am likely to lose, but there is a chance that I will win" - neutral
"I might win" - optimistic
"I am going to win" - stupidly optimistic (the "happy idiot" )

Those are wrong!
There's a 99% probability to lose, then "I'm probably going to lose" isn't pessimistic! It's just mathematically true. It's realistic.

But you know what we should all do to be really realistic, smart, and get rid of our frigging problems? If there's a game where the probability we lose is 99%, we should say:
"I will practice to see if I can get better at this game"
"Do I really need to play this game?"
"Is there a better game for me?"

 

[Qbmaster]

Those are wrong!
There's a 99% probability to lose, then "I'm probably going to lose" isn't pessimistic! It's just mathematically true. It's realistic.

But you know what we should all do to be really realistic, smart, and get rid of our frigging problems? If there's a game where the probability we lose is 99%, we should say:
"I will practice to see if I can get better at this game"
"Do I really need to play this game?"
"Is there a better game for me?"

The assumption is of course that we are playing the game, and that the probabilities are independent of our skill. This makes all of your alternatives invalid. They do of course make sense most of the time, but that was not the point I was trying to make. This is meant to be applied to the reality we are (forced to be) in right now. When you are making choices about the future you want to be more realistic, and then your three statements/questions work perfectly.

"I'm probably going to lose" is mathematically true and realistic, but so are the other two alternatives. From a mathematical point of view they are equally true, and there is not one of them that gives a more realistic picture of the situation than the others. This makes it possible for us to choose one of these true statements to focus on. Observe that "I might win" does not mean "I will probably win", and should not be interpreted that way. It is not about making your world view unrealistic to enable positive thinking, it is about choosing one accurate representation of reality that still focuses on the positive outcomes.

 

[Hellhound]

I think people are inherently ignorant and such ignorance leads them to damage each other and the world.

 

[mrb]

optimistic for def always have been always will ...im still waiting for my lotto numbers to come in , in fact i know there going to come in how optimistic is that