Pessimism: Being Pessimistic/Negative about a Thing or Occurrence places that Thing/Occurrence outside of the Ego. It is used as a protection against criticism and negative development.
Optimism: Being Optimistic about a Thing/Occurrence involves incorporating the things One likes about Oneself into a thing or Occurrence. When it gets criticized or develops in a negative fashion it reflects directly on the Ego.
Optimism is opening oneself up, allowing sharing of the Thing/Occurrence and thus the facets/traits One likes most about Oneself and opening up to possible annihilation and criticism of those facets. On the contrary, Pessimism allows deliberate Alienation. One never has to share Oneself by being Pessimistic.
Pessimism allows the possibility that the Thing/Occurrence will turn out to be/develop [in a ] Positive [fashion]. If it does, One will immediately let it reflect on the Ego, but is not able to share the fact that One has taken credit for it, as that is not socially appropriate.
If it doesn't, One has protected the Ego beforehand and is not forced to let it reflect on the Ego and One is thus never forced to take credit for it.
Conclusion:
Optimism is for the powerful of Mind and strong at Heart. Pessimism is for the weakened of Mind and fearful at Heart.
Discuss my theory!
Optimism: Being Optimistic about a Thing/Occurrence involves incorporating the things One likes about Oneself into a thing or Occurrence. When it gets criticized or develops in a negative fashion it reflects directly on the Ego.
Optimism is opening oneself up, allowing sharing of the Thing/Occurrence and thus the facets/traits One likes most about Oneself and opening up to possible annihilation and criticism of those facets. On the contrary, Pessimism allows deliberate Alienation. One never has to share Oneself by being Pessimistic.
Pessimism allows the possibility that the Thing/Occurrence will turn out to be/develop [in a ] Positive [fashion]. If it does, One will immediately let it reflect on the Ego, but is not able to share the fact that One has taken credit for it, as that is not socially appropriate.
If it doesn't, One has protected the Ego beforehand and is not forced to let it reflect on the Ego and One is thus never forced to take credit for it.
Conclusion:
Optimism is for the powerful of Mind and strong at Heart. Pessimism is for the weakened of Mind and fearful at Heart.
Discuss my theory!
posted by:
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Netherlands
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Re: Pessimism - Protection of the Ego (discuss)
Sun, November 11, 2007 - 5:44 AM"Discuss my theory! "
That totally reminds me of Church Lady in Saturday Night Life?
"Discuss among yourselves" I think is her exact line. -
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Re: Pessimism - Protection of the Ego (discuss)
Sun, November 11, 2007 - 6:30 AMhope ---------------->
hope is a hag
a widow
bereft spinning luck into desire
puts me at the mercy of the beauty of the world
cause
it's all a sham
a shell game
a carnie trick
2001 William Cruz
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Re: Pessimism - Protection of the Ego (discuss)
Sun, November 18, 2007 - 1:17 PMI think in your theory, the ego is too much tied up with externals.
Not that actions don't count - they do. They have impact and value.
But perhaps the ego should be seperate from these things to some degree.
Not that this is always possible, or desirable.
But maybe sometimes it is.
Like if we mean well but fall on our faces.
Or if we do succeed , how much should our ego be invested in that success?
I'm not sure.
Generally, I would agree that pessimism is sometimes a way of playing it safe by not risking anything, though. -
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Re: Pessimism - Protection of the Ego (discuss)
Mon, November 19, 2007 - 8:45 AM>>>>>>Conclusion:
Optimism is for the powerful of Mind and strong at Heart. Pessimism is for the weakened of Mind and fearful at Heart.
Discuss my theory! <<<<<<
It's the sort of superficial twaddle one comes to associate with optimists... ;o)
I think optimism and pessimism have more to do with the way our brains are wired. There's doubtless an evolutionary advantage to having a mix of types. (Most big bold visions of optimists turn out to be wrong, and pessimists are often right. Neither group is always right or always wrong.)
Though as a rule, optimists tend to be more superficial and see themselves and reality less clearly than do pessimists. (One reason people *get* depressed is that they have taken off their blinders and have a realistic view of their place in the world. As T S Eliot said, "human beings can only handle so much reality.") -
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Re: Pessimism - Protection of the Ego (discuss)
Mon, November 19, 2007 - 12:20 PMPessimism is also a good strategy if you are around people who have impractical ideas.
I had alcoholics in my family, so I learned at an early age that what people say and what they do are not necessarily the same thing.
~Would that be considered pessimistic?
In my life, I developed a further pessimistic style when I had a group of friends who I liked, but who's plans I did not want to be involved with on a deep level...
It's not so much that I expected them to succeed or fail as that I only wanted to put my energy into things where I had a very high degree of control over the situation, or I wasn't required to assume a large role of responsibility for the operation.
So, for a while there, if nobody could bring me offers like that, the answer was always going to be "no".
It was a phase I was going through where I was learning how to set boundaries, but it was an important phase. -
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Re: Pessimism - Protection of the Ego (discuss)
Mon, November 19, 2007 - 1:47 PMI will add, though, that I think I need a strategy to counter pessimism (can we call it skepticism?) as a habitual kind of viewpoint.
I still am optimistic about things in certain kinds of ways (for instance, I've always believed that the universe would provide what I needed for survival - I mean, not that it couldn't anhialate me too, in a catastrophe or an accident...but I think you know what I mean)...
Anyway, I feel that I don't always "dream big"... maybe in terms of long-term kinds of goals.
I think my skepticism has helped me avoid some obvious pitfalls that others sometimes can fall into (like acquiring big debts for just one thing), but has perhaps made me over-cautious in the long run.
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Re: Pessimism - Protection of the Ego (discuss)
Thu, December 6, 2007 - 1:43 PMI agree with you,
But i have little hope that we are right, or that others will believe you. bahahaha,
im so funny
