Are you optimistic or pessimistic?

[Lark]

Do you think it corresponds to type or family, social, national or business culture? Is it incidental or central to who you are, how others think of you or even whether they do or do not?

I have probably always thought about this but I thought about it a lot when I read about Martin Seligman's learned helplessness idea, also when I read one authors view of optimism and pessimism in the old and new testaments, which I disagreed with as they believed the old testament was optimistic and new testament was not, I think there is optimism in both, I've also heard really different perspectives on the early christian settlements in europe and how the codified sin and forgiveness, creating traditions fought over in the reformation.

 

[ElizabethRose]

Not really sure what type of answer you're looking for but I'll give it a shot! I'd say I'm a slightly cynical optimist. That probably seems controversial so I will explain: I am an optimist but I also know the bad about the world. I refuse to ignore it or pretend it doesn't exist just so I can be optimistic. I don't want to be happy by lying to myself. My view of life is that life is a sharp blade: yes, you can hurt yourself. And you need to know that you can easily get hurt before and while you use it so that you can use it to your best ability. But you can use it to prepare food for yourself and give yourself what you really need to live, to cut down anything in the way of your journey, or to defend yourself in times of need. But there is no ignoring that with a sharp blade you could get hurt while doing those things: especially when everyone else has a blade of their own.

As far as what it corresponds to I don't think it's reliant on anything but yourself. Obviously the way you were raised will have some impact but it is a choice you make yourself or are innately drawn to or both. It's not all of me but it's a pretty big part of me because it determines how I interact with this knife we call life and the way I think about everything that comes my way. Honestly how others think of me due to this is irrelevant to me but whichever people are it is easy to find others with the relatively same mindset as you or people who will respect you for yours.

I would agree with you on your opinion of the new and old testaments! It's definitely optimistic. It's full of mistakes that us humans have made, which could be interpreted as pessimistic, but it shows how even someone without any sin did not give up on us and is full of promises on how it will all be worth it. Overall everything that has happened and will happen is needed to achieve that happy ending we were promised. If that's not optimistic I don't know what is