Starting from the instant we form an awareness of the
world, all the way up until the final second before we die, we
will, without doubt, experience many moments in which life goes
very wrong. Moments where a friend betrays us. Moments where we
make a big mistake or fail at something we worked really hard
at. Moments where someone we loved decides they no longer feel
the same for us or we no longer feel the same for them. Moments
where we lose someone close far too early. And everything else in between. From small to big,
annoying to tragic, there will continue to be moments where our
self, the world, and humanity appear to all be in complete
conflict and disarray. At a very young age, perhaps rightfully so,
life seems to be mostly candy, playgrounds, fun, and cartoon mice.
The universe feels like it is made for us. Throughout
childhood, things in popular culture like movies, tv
shows, and advertising reinforce this hopeful optimism by selling
us ideals of a life filled with easy friendships, love at first
sight, exciting lifestyles, successful, fulfilling careers,
and cool products that will all culminate into a perfect, smooth
life. Of course, as we grow further past our youthful
innocence, the world increasingly reveals itself to be
far more complicated and convoluted.
As we experience more of life, our youthful optimism is
beaten further and further into submission, as we are
continually disappointed by its inability to align with the real
conditions of the world. At this point, the individual is often compelled
to surrender any form of naïve optimism and
replace it with some degree of pessimism. Arguably, any honestly
examined life goes through this transition. At first, this might
sound rather somber and bleak, and if left here, it very
well can be. However, with the proper consideration, perhaps
there is a way in which we can leverage this pessimism and
use it to our advantage. Perhaps there is way through pessimism
and out the other side into an adapted and more reasonable
optimism. Not the sort of delusional optimism that is ignorant
to the somber truths of our condition and the bad things
that will inevitably happen, but rather, an optimism that exists
in spite of it all. Arguably, all great philosophies and religions
incorporate some varying degree of pessimism in their
foundation. What reason would philosophies and religions have
to exist if it weren’t first for their admissions of the
pains, confusions, and uncertainties of life.
The philosophy of stoicism suggests that the universe is
indifferent to what we want from it. Buddhism says that life is
fundamentally suffering. Existentialism and Absurdism say that
we are stricken by our need for meaning in a life that is essentially meaningless. Christianity
proclaims that the condition of humankind is inflicted with temptation and imperfection.
Along with many others, these schools of thought realize that life contains fundamental pessimisms.
However, what is powerful, important, and lasting about any good philosophy or frame
of thinking is what it attempts to do with these pessimisms. A helpful philosophy first
realizes and admits the sad, troublesome, and often tragic conditions of our life and
then attempts to grapple with them in order to find some way of overcoming and living
in spite of them. A healthy dose of pessimism is necessary in
our ability to adequately deal with this life. It helps us
mitigate our expectations and serves as padding against
life’s constant attempt to beat our spirit out of us. Pessimism
counter balances the ridiculously over-optimistic expectations
of the culture we live in and helps us adapt out of the deeply
detached, unrealistic perspective that we likely formed
as a young child. It reminds us that things won’t always go
our way or always be that nice, but rather, things will go wrong,
a lot, and that despite this, we can still be ok. Paradoxically,
we must recognize that through a certain quality of
pessimism, we can better assist a more reasonably optimistic
experience of life.
We are all struggling and improvising our way through this
strange existence, constantly confused and unsure. No one is
perfect or normal in any traditional sense. No one knows who or
why they are. We all make mistakes, big and small. Happiness is
hard and unclear. There appears to no achievement, material
item, or endgame that can solve all the problems we face as an
individual or as a species. There is greed, tragedy, and
malevolence in this world that we have and will continue to
experience. And at any moment, this whole world and all of
humanity could end for any number of reasons. Yet despite
everything that was just said prior, the thought of it all
ending should and does make us sad and tremble with fear. We
don’t want it to end. In spite of the chaos, uncertainties, and
hardships, we want to go on. We want to endure. We want to see
what we can do, overcome, and experience in the face of it all.
In this, we find the hopeful spirit and strength of humankind.
We find the optimism in the pessimism. This game of life appears to have rules. Some
that we can understand and tamper with, most of which
we cannot. Some that work in our favor, plenty that do not. Where
these rules come from and why they are the way they are is
completely and utterly unclear. What is clear, however, is that at
this moment, they are; and because they are, we are. To be completely
optimistic about the rules always working in our favor
would be foolish.
However, to be completely pessimistic about the game as a whole,
simply because the rules don’t always work in our favor would be
equally foolish. What game is a game at all, where the rules
always work out in the players favor? What interest would this
be? What experience would there be to have? To give up on life
entirely would be like throwing out a game because we lose
sometimes, as if the game would be worth playing if we knew we
would win every play. There is courage in facing the realities of
pessimism and there is strength to be formed in its name.
We must be pessimistic about life’s conditions in order
to face their realities, but we must also be optimistic
about our abilities to face their realities and form strength, meaning,
and experience through them.
Pessimism is real. It is natural. It is helpful. But it is
not all there is. Like dirt is to flowers, like darkness is to
light, and like silence is to song; pessimism is to optimism. We
can’t find any real optimism without first admitting the real
pessimism’s of life, but by the same token, we can’t find any
real optimism without also admitting the real optimisms of life.
There is potency, beauty, and wonder in this life to be made,
experienced, and shared on behalf of life’s conditions, as they
stand; and perhaps only in the conditions as they stand,
including all undesirable and unfortunate, can any of it be at
all. Rather than being optimistic about the possibility
of finding things and ideas that will rid ourselves
and our lives of disorder, defectiveness, confusion, and
vulnerability, perhaps we should attempt to be optimistic
about the potential value found in accepting and enduring these
things. Our ability to turn the ups and downs into an interesting
and beautiful ride.
In the dirt of life, it is up to us to plant the seeds,
watch the flowers grow, and enjoy their beauty, in spite of the
fact that in a few months, we know that they will die.
In the classic analogy of a glass of water filled to its
midpoint, the debate has always been whether the glass is half
full or half empty. Of course, however, it is both at the same
time. If something has half of two of things, it is in fact half
of both. The emptiness and fullness comprise the whole of the
proverbial glass. When we realize this, we see that the glass
could, at any point, be knocked over and shattered into a bunch
little pieces, never to be again. But we also see that, as of
right now, it hasn’t been.