-in disguise-
by JlB
Within humans is a little-known and often untapped well of courage. Most-often, this well is unknowingly referred to as Optimism.
Before I begin, perhaps I can first appeal to you rationally, you—the pessimist. I concur; it’s a truism to life that in the long-run of things the optimist may be proven wrong consistently. In actuality there could be no water to be found; no escape from tyranny; no success to be had on earth. It’s quite possible that we’ll run out of gas before we make it back into town. To the optimist—who is at least using positive-thinking to attack despair as a concept, in turn, proactively seeking opportunity and hope – the evident discomforts are still concerns just as much as they are to the pessimist. In the bleakest of times the optimist will not let his thoughts deteriorate to that of attacking the looks of his situation, however—that would be to attack the clothes that it wears. To the rational man, I say, let us not result to an idiotic name-calling of the times. To shut-out optimism is to shut-out most-any chance for progress whatsoever. Optimism is the light at the end of any dark tunnel. To shut-out that light is to stand in darkness to any freedom from oppression, eyes closed—back turned, ready and willing to pace blindly into the night.
To the contrary I offer you a rat (yes, a rat), filthy in every sense of the being, and caged in a way to see that freedom is entirely obtainable, if sought. (This is similar to life.) I then present to you another rat in the same situation. The difference between the two rats is that one is an optimist and one is a pessimist. All joking matters aside, the optimistic rat— Joe, let’s call him —searches his cell stupidly, repeatedly, insanely for freedom. The pessimistic rat, on the other hand, also goes insane: he paces his cell anxiously, stupidly and ineffectually. For the pessimistic representation of a negative human being, it's with a great deal of angst and laziness that he sits content to merely curse the apparent hopelessness of his situation (and not combat it on a mental level at the very least; at that point a situation is then often rendered hopeless, indeed). Joe, the positive rat, persistently focuses his thoughts on what seems feasibly accomplishable, likewise that is often what is hopeful and if opportunity permits, that is what's done, subsequently. Comparatively, the pessimistic rat simply allows the thoughts of his mind to focus solely on everything that could be negative-- to put it otherwise, simply, he does not have any thoughts focused towards positivity whatsoever and has little to no hope for betterment.
Let’s say that Joe realizes his goal and finds freedom from imprisonment.
Now, I can now see the slight flaw in this argument. If Joe, the positive rat, was searching for freedom when freedom existed, then of course his searching is warranted and gratified to say the least (even if the pessimistic rat shared a cage with him and just found fault the entire time— it’s still warranted, at least). For the rats, in this argument, the question “What if freedom is not even obtainable?” arises. The question is quickly dismissed by the optimist in active pursuit of freedom (goals), but dwelled upon by the pessimist. (The dwelling is enough to make an optimist cringe in disgust, trust me.)
This time let’s say that Joe and Mr. Unhelpful-Pessimist are both caged in a manner whereas freedom is wholly unobtainable. The two rats are not entirely without good luck, however, because unbeknownst to them, their confinement will be cease after ten years have passed. So Joe and Mr. Unhelpful-pessimist are both in the same unfavorable situation. To distinguish the difference between the optimist and the pessimist in this situation it’s easier conceived, I believe, if we use a different example.
Located deep within the pitch-blackness of the well of courage that exists within us is something that the pessimist can never experience—a power that they’ll never really acquire. Before I continue, I’d like to mention that the power of optimism works in combination with other essential mental perceptions required for a human to proactively obtain success in life (perceptions that are yet to be mentioned in Jpinions in totality, but are touched in JpinDaily I – VII, briefly). In this example as to help you conceptualize optimism, let us say that optimism is comparable to one of nature’s common patient predators. The coiled creature, a snake, tenses its muscles and releases them in short bursts or flashes of potential power as it bides its time. Patiently, it prepares to strike at the life of a currently nonexistent prey— one yet to even be perceived. Like Joe and his mirror rat buddy, this snake exists twice also; once as an optimist and once as a pessimist. Soon enough, both snakes will be presented with a live rat for consumption; both snakes will consume the rat. Each snake must first endure an arduous five weeks of hunger, provided that they would not die, of course. It is to be granted that both snakes were miserable for the majority of that time also. That thought of despair is encouraged, in fact, for the metaphor of life held in this analogy.
The difference between the optimist and the pessimist in this representation is that although the outcome is the same and no form of confident thought could change that—unless the optimistic snake bit the hand that fed him and escaped or the pessimistic snake willed his negative thoughts into a continuously negative being to death –what hopeful thoughts do accomplish, in this scenario, is exemplifying the power that optimism has when in combination with, chance/opportunity, strength and courage-- to say the least. To keep it succinct and simple, we’ll suffice it to say that although both animals survived; the optimistic one had a more pleasurable experience, no doubt. In the optimistic view to the rather (JpinDaily VIII), the optimistic is likely to learn lessons from every aspect of his endeavor, making no endeavor a waste, captivity or not. Furthermore, in relation to life I say: an enslaved person under the belief that they are free suffers from the worst of all fates, similarly, however, the enslaved being that is conscious enough to recognize his own captivity but still willingly negligent to proactively interact within his ability, surreptitiously or not, for his betterment also suffers from quite the dismal of fates.
Lastly, to the pessimist, there is no strength to be gained for survival or otherwise in crying over spilled milk (or the loss of love or what-have-you). Strength is to be obtained only by enduring what previously looked impossible; it is obtained from achieving what initially looked like a fool’s errand. Strength is granted to those who are left undaunted by the prospect of an arduous task that consists of countless, indescribable future difficulties. That's unlike you, pessimist; so often you are intolerable, so often you do not utilize the strength because you refuse to perceive what could be. Indeed, all optimism no matter what form it is in is courageous. This is true even in its most seemingly ineffective form of mental stability at the very least, but also in one of its most heroic seeming forms of promoting strength in others during dark days. I’ll have you know that the basis for optimism is sheer terror; the result is often good fortune and opportunity.
Let us not forget how optimism relates to opportunity as defined by Jpinions IV, Chance. To provoke the thought for this JpinDaily (the mental growth characterized as a nugget on your brain, for today), if you've read Chance then make the mental connection about how being optimistic provides for the ability to see most-every available opportunity and also grants us the ability act on them (when prepared) as discussed in that briefing.
All mentioned and wholly unmentioned forms (and levels) of optimism refine simply into one thing— other than hope for a better tomorrow —courage is what I believe it’s called.
Conversely, the pessimist yields a much darker aspect of actuality to be covered at a later date; the levels of optimistic perception will also be covered at a later date.
Comments are always appreciated.
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