Pessimism and optimism...

[fajrdrako]

Don't ever become a pessimist ... A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun - and neither can stop the march of events. - Robert A. Heinlein, 1907 - 1988

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

some people don't know any better. They fail to learn from experiences

I'd say that people learn different things from different or similar experiences. Some learn that optimism keeps them going. Wouldn't you rather feel better if you could?

The world-view can be one way or another - it has nothing to do with temperament, which is established by neuro-chemistry - and can of course be changed, and often is. Hence my descent into depression. Recovering from depression was not a matter of changing my circumstances, it was a matter of changing my neuro-chemistry with pills and regaining physical health. My circumstances haven't changed much at all. What has changed is my ability to cope with them.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't you rather feel better if you could?

Not if it meant putting on blinkers, living in a fool's paradise of unrealistic hopes that would never be met, and ignoring the wider socio-economic/cultural climate. I have seen the economic and social fabric of this country torn up and twisted into something ugly since 1980. Had I been 15, 20 years older than I am, I could probably have got the sort of job and life I expected, and now be nearing retirement. But I would still have had to cope with the dumbing-down of teaching, of the rise of a cheap celebrity culture that devalues learning and genuine achievement. Some of my older friends who are in academic teaching are now looking forward to retirement because they are disillusioned with what higher education has become. Museums, too - I've told you what's happened there.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I agree with all your comments about how rotten the world is, but I don't think that is a matter of temperament one way or the other, though the line between disillusionment and depression is a fine one.

As you know, I think it's important to have a sense of reality - to see truth as it is, good or bad.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

As you know, I think it's important to have a sense of reality - to see truth as it is, good or bad.

Yes. The wider situation has changed from what it was when I set out on my journey: it's become more difficult. I'd be a fool to pretend otherwise.