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How to be a Pessimist


XenoFish

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I watched 13 minutes of the video.  Kind of like reading a book...once I know where the author is going I lose interest.

But...and...

I agree pretty much with all of  Schopenhauer's philosophy.  

Like many words...pessimism has more than one meaning.  Most people consider the first definition...but Schopenhauer's philosophy is formed around the second.

noun
1. a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen; a lack of hope or confidence in the future.
 
PHILOSOPHY
2. a belief that this world is as bad as it could be or that evil will ultimately prevail over good.
 
I kind of live my entire life that way.  Thanks for sharing!
 
 
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These days, a REALIST is a de-facto pessimist.  Evil IS winning and it only spirals down from here.  OTOH, I don't believe the evil is the ultimate winner.  This world is going to pay a hellish price for entertaining the dopamine rush of hate for the "others".  So be it.

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I am not familiar with Schopenhauer but have thought life is like the classical weigh scales. Either adding to the positive side or taking things from the negative will achieve the same life balance.

And its probably slightly easier to remove the negatives than add usefully to the positives. 

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46 minutes ago, and then said:

These days, a REALIST is a de-facto pessimist. 

Pretty much. The cult of happiness/positive thinking I feel has lead many to misery. 

44 minutes ago, L.A.T.1961 said:

And its probably slightly easier to remove the negatives than add usefully to the positives. 

Indeed. I see the pursuit of happiness to be very flawed. Happiness shouldn't be the goal but a side perk of what we do. Even if that happiness is very small. 

If you're constantly chasing happiness, you'll never have it in the quantity that you desire. 

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41 minutes ago, Abramelin said:

We can change how we feel about things.

That alone would puzzle Schopenhauer.

Edited to add:

You know I like your posts.

Why?

Because you make me remind of my lesser times.

But when I asked you if you are depressed, you said "No".

To many you 'sound' depressed.

And I know you will contradict this, and say 'you are just being frank',  but many of us have problems with that.

But please continue.

I love you being 'frank'.

I only hope you 'love' me being intoxicated.

 

 

 

 

Did you watch the video?

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IMHO Schopenhauer chose the wrong word for his philosophy. Instead of 'pessimism', which is very negatively loaded, it should be 'total rationalism'.

I have actually been living his ideas for years, without ever having heard about them. Cool.

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1 minute ago, zep73 said:

IMHO Schopenhauer chose the wrong word for his philosophy. Instead of 'pessimism', which is very negatively loaded, it should be 'total rationalism'.

I have actually been living his ideas for years, without ever having heard about them. Cool.

He along with the stoics helped break me out of severe depression. So I give Arthur some credit. 

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3 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

He along with the stoics helped break me out of severe depression. So I give Arthur some credit. 

Mine ended when I stopped pursuing that awful thing they call love. I'll leave that to musicians and other fools.

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3 minutes ago, zep73 said:

Mine ended when I stopped pursuing that awful thing they call love. I'll leave that to musicians and other fools.

I gave up on trying to be happy and having expectations. 

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@Abramelin there's something I've been wanting to ask you for a long time, I hope you don't mind.
Why do you use the ancient banner of the Danes, the raven banner, as your avatar? Are you of Danish descent?

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16 minutes ago, zep73 said:

@Abramelin there's something I've been wanting to ask you for a long time, I hope you don't mind.
Why do you use the ancient banner of the Danes, the raven banner, as your avatar? Are you of Danish descent?

I am Dutch.

I love corvids.

I love explorers

I love people who sail/sailed the seas.

 

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2 hours ago, L.A.T.1961 said:

I am not familiar with Schopenhauer but have thought life is like the classical weigh scales. Either adding to the positive side or taking things from the negative will achieve the same life balance.

And its probably slightly easier to remove the negatives than add usefully to the positives. 

It's also much easier to sever your ties to events in our past that cause unhappiness. Many people live their entire lives in an unhappy depressed or semi depressed state, because they simple refuse to break their chains to past events they can't change. However, when someone realizes that past events are the cause of their sadness and disparity and they choose to bury the things they are unable to change. Then and only then can that person move into the present and discover that happiness  does exist. 

Its all about personal strength, personal determination, along with the willingness to actually change and nothing more or nothing less!

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36 minutes ago, Manwon Lender said:

It's also much easier to sever your ties to events in our past that cause unhappiness. Many people live their entire lives in an unhappy depressed or semi depressed state, because they simple refuse to break their chains to past events they can't change. However, when someone realizes that past events are the cause of their sadness and disparity and they choose to bury the things they are unable to change. Then and only then can that person move into the present and discover that happiness  does exist. 

Its all about personal strength, personal determination, along with the willingness to actually change and nothing more or nothing less!

and never, ever be afraid to cut toxic people out of your lives. I don't care if they're a family member, significant other or were your best friend. if you practically dread the thought of addressing someone in your life because you realize you'll only get manipulation, gaslighting and sociopathy in return, you should NEVER feel guilty for severing ties with that person. familial ties mean nothing, get rid of them. nothing is worth your mental health after years and years of them having you right on edge all the time 

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13 minutes ago, HandsomeGorilla said:

and never, ever be afraid to cut toxic people out of your lives. I don't care if they're a family member, significant other or were your best friend. if you practically dread the thought of addressing someone in your life because you realize you'll only get manipulation, gaslighting and sociopathy in return, you should NEVER feel guilty for severing ties with that person. familial ties mean nothing, get rid of them. nothing is worth your mental health after years and years of them having you right on edge all the time 

I completely understand what your saying, and I was forced to do exactly that with my younger brother who is sadly no longer with us. It's a proven fact that misery absolutely loves company, and individuals with mental health issues who refuse treatment will try to drag their loved ones and those close to them down the downward spiral they are on. I spent 23 years in the US Military 1978 to 2003 and I developed PTSD in 1999. It was a life altering event, however, I received treatment and to this day I take medication related to that event.

But I learned much more about how to deal with depression, anxiety, guilt, sadness when I started practicing the Buddhist Philosophy. Buddhism is totally different than any other form of spirituality because from the beginning you are required to start a journey into yourself and you are taught to purge or control the things that bring sadness to you personally. Because until you are able to find and correct those things that cause you pain and unhappiness, you will also make those close to you unhappy. Each of us are responsible for our own happiness, guilt, sadness and pain that we experience in our daily lives.

While we are unable to control everything that occurs in our lives, however we can always control how we respond to terrible events and we can also control the effects of those events upon ourselves. This requires determination and a understanding of the cause and effect that traumatic events create. But it all leads to the same path, we each can if we choose to do so, sever our attachment to events that cause us to become and remain depressed, guilty, unhappy, by simply accepting the fact that things that occurred in the past can't be changed.

Once we realize this and completely sever the attachments ( Stop reliving past events ) we can finally move beyond the pain an sadness we have created into the present where we can find the happiness we all seek. Not everyone can walk this path alone, some if us may need professional intervention along with medication, but everyone can achieve positive results IF THEY TRULY WANT TO CHANGE the course their life has taken. We are all responsible for our actions both internally and how we express ourselves externally and the past can not even be an excuse for how we each respond in the present.

Peace my friend. 

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I'm a realist. Sh t happens, sometimes good sh t, sometimes bad. You have to try to take advantage of the good sh t and duck, dodge and weave to avoid the bad. That's life in a nutshell. There's no such thing as luck, only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe. So, take advantage of whatever advantage comes your way. Good fortune, by itself, is a statistical anomaly.

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17 hours ago, jethrofloyd said:

How to be a pessimist?

Just listen/read to the Garfield! He's always a cynical, grumpy and lazy cat

.garfield.gif

 

 

Hmm... reading all those Garfield books as a kid, I never anticipated the psychological impact in adulthood.

He's like a small, furry, orange version of myself... :o

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  • 6 months later...

The problem with a great philosopher such as Schopenhauer is that he thought human suffering could be ended by the abnegation of a mythical property he called the Will, rather than by simple voluntary extinction or abstaining from procreating the species any further. 

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