In Praise of Pessimism

Timothy Birdnow

As a devout Pessimist I find this interesting if a bit obvious.

Neuroscience Just Proved Optimists are on the Same Wavelength

The argument is that optimists tend to think alike while pessimists all think quite differently.

Hmmm. could be something to it insofar as the very creative are often unhappy, indeed often miserable people - it's why they create in the first place, seeking something they can't find in interpersonal relations.

OR it's because pessimistic people tend to push others away - and vice versa. Happy, optimistic people are more likely to draw others, especially other happy, optimistic people. There is prejudice against "negativity" in the human condition. But is that necessarily a good thing? The pessimist is the one who makes all the preparations, takes all the necessary defensive moves. The military, for instance, is nothing BUT an exercise in pessimism; it's job is to assume the worst and plan to deal with it. While there is optimism in the ranks (soldiers need to assume they can win in a fight) the overall posture of any military is pessimistic. If they didn't assume the worst the country could be in a world of hurt. Police are that way too, and indeed pessimism is a defense mechanism that may well save their lives.

I think of Mary and Martha in the Gospel; Mary is the optimist, sitting on her duff and listening to Jesus while poor Martha is doing all the work. Martha thinks like a pessimist. While Jesus did say Mary had the better portion, the fact is Mary's was the better portion because it absolved her of having to do anything and while that worked in an encounter with Jesus (who was trying to tell Martha to relax and let Him do the labor) it doesn't work so well in this world of ours, a world steeped in entropy and decay. Someone has to make it their business to keep the wheels turning. Those are generally pessimists; optimists are too busy hanging with their buddies.

At any rate there probably ARE brainwave similarities, especially with groups of optimists. Everyone is in sync. Pessimists are the guys making sure the optimists can indulge their collective brain-wave party.

Perhaps the best time I ever had in my life was one New Years eve when I was seventeen. My friends and I had nowhere to go and we wound up at a party in a motel - which got kicked out. My friend's father was out of town so he suggested moving the party to his house. Now, I didn't know anyone there but my friends but it was...beyond a special evening. (There weren't even any girls at this - a pure sausage fest.) For some reason we were all in sync. It was a wonderful feeling! I felt like everyone there was my very best friend. Everyone else felt the same way too.

Of course, after professions of staying in touch we never spoke again, but it shows the power of groups when everyone's brain waves are synchronized.

I get it and no doubt the optimist is far happier than the pessimist. But the pessimist is the realist, the person who looks at the world in all it's splendor and horror and ugliness. Optimists don't see any of that - they only see the world they wish for, not as it is.

The article continues:


Well duh! That's not exactly a major revelation. But of course they also probably don't understand the pessimist who trudges, duty bound, through the drugery of the hard work needed by the community.

Basically this study (which used modern imaging technology to study brain-wave patterns when asking the participants to imagine future scenarios; the optimists all had similar areas light up while pessimists had different areas) proved what many of us have long known. But so what?

There is a reason for optimism and a reason for pessimism. Both are destructive in their own way when the two get out of balance. The pessimist can descend into paranoia and bitterness while the optimist can become pollyanish and naive. God gave us both for different tasks, different purposes in life. Mankind was not meant for paradise, not here, not now anyway. Christianity has long taught optimism, but also pessimism "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" for instance. We aren't supposed to get too comfortable on this Earth. The comfortable get slack, and the slack wind up sliding into a state of sin, one from which they are not likely to get out of. The extreme optimist or the extreme pessimist are flip sides of the same malady. We need both.

Another aspect of this that interests me is the political ramifications. While pessimism is the logical province of the Religious and the Right Wing (it has a long, proud tradition in Conservative circles prior to Reagan) the reality is most Liberals are negative and angry and pessimistic. But they aren't realists, which is where the real problem lies; they fear the worst but they don't use it constructively - instead the use it to lash out and destroy that which is there. Conservatives are much more optimistic than liberals, even while liberals are far better at power politics (no doubt because of their pessimism). We are happy warriors - they are snarlers and biters.

So this is not so cut-and-dried. But still I believe Conservative optimism has hurt us many times in the last few decades as we have disregarded or underestimated many threats because of Reaganite optimism. We need the pessimist.

That's why I am often the voice of caution in most instances. I think more like Batman than Superman.

At any rate the nature/nurture argument comes into play, and the article gives us no answer. Are we born that way or do we become that? I rather suspect it's both, although I've been pessimistic from the earliest days of my life. I realized in the cradle that this world is at best indifferent to us and often quite hostile and that to survive one must look reality squarely in the face. I rarely hide from unpleasant realities, no matter how much I want to do so.

I think a good dose of pessimism is worthwhile, as long as you don't overdo it.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 08:02 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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