Welcome to Gaia! ::

I think that you may be labeling yourself as a cynic and a pessimist when you are not necessarily a cynic or a pessimmist.

I would challenge you to name one person who has achieved something great by being 'realistic.'
Optimists and achievers are being realistic when they tell themselves that they can realize their dreams.

I believe that any person has the potential to do whatever they like -- and I am increasingly of the opinion that there is no such thing as true realism -- a point of view colored only by the objective.

To quote Yoda:
"Do, or do not -- there is no try."

You either achieve, or you do not.
If you have not achieved, then you could have achieved better, if you had chosen to do so.

Do not limit your life by the excuse that you were being 'realistic' and know that you couldn't have done better for yourself.

However, making ourselves happy is the best that we can do for ourselves.


-Alezunde

You almost got me there wolf-larsen.
You bring up a splendid point.
I entirely agree that we should strive for the happiness of those around us. (Within reason.)

However, I stated that our own happiness was the best that we could do for ourselves.

-Alezunde

I've found that people tend to be cynics or pessimists not because it makes them happy, but because they don't know how to be happy.

You may also think of yourself as a nearly worthless person -- but it will suffice to say that you are lying to yourself.

However, living your life as a lie is a choice of your own.

I know that you will not choose to live your life otherwise until you realize this for yourself.


-Alezunde

You seem not to have noted that I have never referred to you as un-selfless, nor do I believe you to be.

You as well seem to conform to the ways of thinking that I have seen countless times over in many people that I have met.
People who have low self-worth tend to fall into a cynical or pessimistic lifestyle.
By this note, do you believe that you have actually chosen your lifestyle, or have you simply fallen into this lifestyle?
Remember that the answer is not as important to me as it is to you.

Also do not assume that I have not had my own share of cynicism or pessimism in my life.
If I did not have an understanding of the topic from several angles, I would not have posted this topic.

-Alezunde

Well, I was going to sit back and let you guys go back and forth for a while longer, but this one I just can't let fly.

Yes, everybody's a product of their experiences. But little choice but to live in the way they've been guided? That seems like an excuse for idleness and giving up to me. An excuse to not make an effort to change your life to be what you want it to be. It's true that we bear some shackles imposed upon us by how we see the world and our experiences. As soon as you put this one on, though, which is still a personal choice, mind you, you've truly put yourself in prison for life.

Perhaps here's a big area where optimists and pessimists/cynicists differ. We don't put on that shackle. We don't say that just because our experiences have shaped us to be "X" that we can't act to turn ourselves into something else. If you believe you're a slave to your own mind and experiences, you've already put yourself in a self-fullfilling prophecy that will spell your own self-constructed doom. I've seen enough people do this to themselves to know how it works.

Perhaps this naive optimism I have is all false, and the truth is really that we're so limited by experiences. But who knows which is really right? Who cares which is really right! Which is right or wrong doesn't matter, it's a question of which you would rather believe. Frankly, I'd rather believe I have the power to change myself in spite of my worldview and past experiences by putting myself into experiential areas outside my nature. And as I've done it before, I know I can do it again if I wish to. So can everyone, if they have the will. 3nodding

Of course you don't view it like not having a choice but your life has been shaped by your experiences and you have chosen to live your life the way you prefer, which is exactly how your life has been guided.

You may think you have a choice but your choices are shaped by your experiences and you will always choose depending on what you think is the best choice depending on the circumstances.

but like I said, this is getting off the subject and should be put in a new thread to discuss further.

This is philosophy, since when is there always proof to support someone's veiws? Besides, I don't see you offering proof to support your veiw.

And I never said that people were always destined to make the same mistakes, quite the opposite. The way they learn from their experiences shapes the way they act.

All people have grown into set reactions based on their experiences. This explains the growing evolution of society, few if any people would have acted the way they do now back in victorian times or earlier.

Where I live, in a boarding house for mentally disabled people, many people act in very similar ways because of a similar past of bullying and torment. This is what caused me to develop this theory.