Friday, December 11, 2009

Rose Colored Glasses

There are a few people I've been talking to who swear that gnostics should just off themselves and quit bitching. I'm serious! "Make room for those of us who want to enjoy life." I have a rebuttal to that. And the definition of one single word is going to be my defense.

I accused them of seeing life through rose colored glasses; that is to see it in a sugar coated sweetness that simply doesn't even exist. They said, "But life is a gift. How can you not appreciate it?" I replied, "Because life isn't a gift. It's a prison sentence that we didn't do anything to deserve. The trick is searching out those things which make it bearable but aren't addictive or change your perception of reality."


After much gnashing of teeth and arguing back and forth, it is plain to me now that gnostics are destroyers of the sugar factory. We pour bleach in it. And we really can't help it. Once the glasses come off the stark reality is deep and lonely in a multitude of ways. But not when it comes to our immortality. That is where the line is drawn. Regarding our immortality we are unshakable.

Some of us are nicer than others about it. But it all boils down to the same thing. Life isn't fair.
It's not that we're trying to be downers. It's that when literal religious people try to convince themselves that all bad things are "Satan's fault" and all the good stuff is what God should get credit for- it's absolutely rubbish. Wiki's search results for "rose colored glasses" redirects to the page enlightening us on what "optimism" is. I found it quite humorous.
"Optimism is "an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome".[1] It is the philosophical opposite of pessimism. Optimists generally believe that people and events are inherently good, so that most situations work out in the end for the best.

Alternatively, some optimists believe that regardless of the external world or situation, one should choose to feel good about it and make the most of it. This kind of optimism doesn't say anything about the quality of the external world; it's an internal optimism about one's own feelings.[citation needed]

A common conundrum illustrates optimism-versus-pessimism with the question, does one regard a given glass of water, filled to half its capacity, as half full or as half empty? Conventional wisdom expects optimists to reply, "Half full," and pessimists to respond, "Half empty" (assuming that "full" is considered good, and "empty", bad).

Another paradox sometimes associated with optimism is that the only thing an optimist cannot view as positive is a pessimist. Pessimism, however, as it acts as a check to recklessness, may even then be viewed in a positive light.

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Taking another peek at a particular line from above:

"This kind of optimism doesn't say anything about the quality of the external world, it's an internal optimism about one's own feelings."
Hmm... Interesting, yes?
The world is so fluffy and sweet because... I think that it is. There are the rose colored glasses I'm speaking of and originally searched for. Wanting something and actually getting it are two completely different things.


Drive sober. Take the glasses off.

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