optimism

My life could do with optimism. A 'sceptical' outlook on life (in every sense of the word) drains the optimism out of everything I do. I learnt this 'sceptical' view of life through science seen as though it's the driving force behind it, and this scepticism helps in understanding to a greater depth subjects like politics, by questioning the motives behind the actions.

But quickly, and unwarrantably, this scepticism turns into cynicism, and you can understand why. In the world we live in, very few things are done for the right reasons, very very few things. Even people working for the Peace Corps or aid agencies like the Red Cross and Oxfam have an ulterior motive. This ulterior motive is that the majority of people, if not everyone, are self-serving. I guess this is, and encapsulates my cynicism. But then this ceases to be cynicism, or that cynicism ceases to be itself, becuase then cynicism is not an 'attitude' of scornful or jaded negativity, rather all acts 'are' done for the wrong reasons and thus invites cynicism and so it shouldn't be a negative concept, merely a true one.

I digress. So possessing a sceptical and a cynical world view very easily leads to pessimism. Once you learn to question and discover 'everything is wrong',  there is nowhere to go but to end up as a pessimist. The whole world then just seems like a whole lot of nonsense and you can't help but point out all the fucked up things in the world—and there are plenty.

Mind you though, I'm not stuck in this 'void of pessimism' and nor am I a depressing soul to be around. It's just that having a sceptically cynically pessimistic view of the world, you find it hard to be 'generally optimistic' in doing everyday tasks and even the simplest of tasks which require no motivation, require a great amount of motivation to get done.

So what is my pledge? This post is rather useless to myself without a pledge. I guess what I really need to do is (as clichéd as it sounds) look at the bright side of life and have a generally positive outlook on everything. If I try to see the good in carrying out certain actions, then hopefully this will also lower the amount of will required to carry out whatever I want to do. Though let's not forget, I do not plan to rid myself of this scepticism and the cynicism, merely alter it.

EDIT 26-03-08: I respect people greatly who work for the Peace Corps and charities like Oxfam. But I share the same view as House (MD), that people who work for charitable causes do so largely for themselves. By this I mean that people work for charitable causes to make themselves feel better by doing something about the injustices of the world. In other words, their convincing themselves that they're at least doing 'something'. Which in itself isn't a bad thing, becuase above this self-serving need, this shows that there is a feeling within their hearts that something should be done.