A Cure for Pessimism

The fallacy of Pessimistic Philosophy and its cure.

        A Cure for Pessimism

Do you tend to be a serious person?

Does being in the world seem bothersome?

If your answers to these questions are in the affirmative, you may likely be a pessimist.  Pessimistic philosophers come from a wide range of traditions.  There are Buddhists who think any kind of worldliness is folly.  There are Schopenhauerists who are the western version of the Buddhists.  There are Christians who think we are all hopeless sinners in constant need of redemption.  And there are all the extremists of conservatism and liberalism who take themselves and their causes all too seriously.

The problem with these ways of looking at things is not so much about whether they are true or not as it is that they put you at odds with yourself and the world.

You can be right that life sucks but also wrong that it has to pull you down.

Lets take some examples: we are all going to die without any meaningful long term legacy; where there is pleasure there is always pain; people with power always abuse it; we are very conscious of our mistakes. This is pretty grim and real isn't it.  But does it have to pull us down?  Is there a kind of stance we can take to counteract these negative blahs?

I think having a sense of humor can go a long way in helping us bare the burden of pessimism.

Take Trump.  He's a leader who seems to seriously lack finesse in his dealings with others.  Now if you are very serious about your representative being appropriate all the time and in all dealings you might get upset about him.  But wait!  What is he going to say next?  And who is about to be offended?  Is this not great for a good laugh?

Nature, and this includes politics and human beings, is all flawed.  If you insist that is should not be flawed, your at odds with it and your self.  If you accept it as being flawed, you are in for the greatest joke of all time.

So next time you feel yourself getting all stuffy try to see the absurdity of life and have yourself a good laugh.

Ha, ha.