Tuesday, May 26, 2026

A Legitimate Form Of Pessimism

There is much to be bitter about almost by default in human life, from explicitly abstract, weighty issues of truth (like the fact that one cannot know if there is an afterlife or how terrible it might be) to personal tragedies (an agonizing disease, among other things) and even the accumulation of otherwise minor inconveniences.  Even a total non-rationalist who sidesteps the first of these three categories due to their own irrationalistic neglect can still find themself struggling under the burdens that fall within the latter two categories.  In certain cases, people respond irrationally by clinging desperately to some kind of philosophical (as in, ideological) optimism that helps them feel less overwhelmed.

Some within this group might go further by rejecting the legitimacy of pessimism outright, either as something that is perhaps philosophically true, whether one likes it or not, or as a personal means of coping with suffering.  Almost inevitably, the real reason why some people oppose all degrees of pessimism or outward complaining from others is because it impacts their mental health, which obviously changes nothing about the objective logical nature of the matter in question.  Their unwillingness or even potential inability to not handle the truth is no justification for others to always withhold complaints or to embrace emotionalistic optimism.  The genuine failure is their own.

This life is—or at least it is entirely logically possible for it to be—a massive series of setbacks, pains, and labors that entails so much that is worthy of frustration or anger, whether or not Christianity is true.  Of course, complaining about stupidity, sin, and amoral misery is not at all the kind of inward/verbalized complaining that the New Testament does condemn [1].  But even if there was some supposed moral problem with persistently complaining in one's speech or dwelling on the oppressive nature of anguish, it would change nothing about the logically necessary nature of some concepts or circumstances.

Depending on the form of the pessimism, the idea is an objective philosophical truth (such as that some things are worthy of lament or bitterness and that it could not be irrational or evil to recognize this), far from a mere subjective state of mind that would only ever appeal to or be found in someone already in the throes of suffering.  But many people seem to adopt pessimistic thoughts when their resolve is weakened without ever trying to consider the necessary truths about the subject, which by their very nature do not depend on thought or some challenging situation.

As more than a mindset, which corresponds only to a being's consciousness and not to the likes of transcendent logic or external scenarios, a particular variation of pessimism is simply correct.  Some things are not positive and might be incredibly difficult or unfavorable, either/whether objectively or subjectively, and it is entirely legitimate to accept, speak about, and dwell on these facts.  One does not have to pretend like everything is beneficial or pleasant to be in the right or to be have the psychological strength to weather trials.


No comments:

Post a Comment