The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life
What do you believe, and what does it mean?
The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life. It be true that optimism compels the world forward, and pessimism retards it, then it is dangerous to propagate a pessimistic philosophy. One who believes that the pain in the world outweighs the joy, and expresses that unhappy conviction, only adds to the pain. Schopenhauer is an enemy to the race. Even if he earnestly believed that this is the most wretched of possible worlds, he should not promulgate a doctrine which robs men of the incentive to fight with circumstance. If Life gave him ashes for bread, it was his fault. Life is a fair field, and the right will prosper if we stand by our guns.
by Helen Keller
(June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968)
from her essay Optimism
Part III: The Practice of Optimism
image – bb matt
Optimism vs Pessimism
Do you get an impression that Helen Keller was not a fan of Arthur Schopenhauer?
Schopenhauer believed that desire can not be fulfilled. He advocated a sort of a Buddhist lifestyle, based on what we might call “balance” today, but very different than the dominant Protestant work ethic of his time. When Schopenhauer was born in 1788 the United States was working through ratifying its constitution, and the divine right of kings was still an accepted (or at least familiar) doctrine in much of the world; for him, letting go of asserting one’s will would have an entirely different connotation.
When I first seriously considered these things I rather liked the idea that we could write our own ticket, and that that urge could come from some inner place of power where we were not alone in the world. From my teenaged perspective, as an officer’s daughter in the years of détente, alliances were everything. I questioned the screwy idea that we were somehow separate and not going to get what we’d decided we needed and deserved. That’s not to say I fit in and got what I wanted – more like I thought I should be able to get my way if I worked hard enough, if I was good and just and stood by my guns. Maybe I’d seen too many Disney movies.
I was not happy at all when my High School Social Studies class moved from examining moral pronouncements about the idea of a Noble Savage to attempting to get a grip on existentialism. Debating Athens versus Sparta had been a lot more fun. It took me a while to really get the idea of standing alone and liking it: first I struggled with my Kafka and then came Camus. The heady stuff of self-acceptance didn’t hit me until re-reading Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha.
There’s never just one side to these things.
January 26th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
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