In life, we are invited to PO-SI-TI-VER ! Look on the bright side, look at the glass half full rather than half empty, turn every difficulty into an opportunity, keep confidence... Is this what we call optimism ? The editorial staff of the EVE web magazine took a closer look.
EVERYTHING, everything, everything is good in the super-plus bonus!
The etymology of optimism refers to the Latin optimus. And optimus is the superlative of bonuses. Bonuses are good, they're good, they're plentiful, they're advantageous, they're happy. So optimus is all of that, but even better. Wow, we want it!
But etymology being a science of dispute, some attribute the origin of optimus to omnis... Which means the " all " and has, for example, given " omniscient ", that is to say, who has knowledge of all things. Or " omnivore ", who eats everything (and therefore lives life to the fullest ?). Or " ubiquitous ", what/who can always be relied upon. Or " omnipotent ", the almighty.
Faith, belief... Or naivety ?
Such a level of requirement is indeed not within the reach of the average person. Christendom is not mistaken, which directly associates optimism with faith. Perfectus Deus could only create a world where things are doomed to (end up) going well. To be optimistic is then a duty directly linked to the fact of believing : to have faith is to trust in the almighty. Including when things are going badly, because up there, there is bound to be a plan in place to make it better.
Leibniz is convinced that " The best of all possible worlds" certainly knows evil (malice, malaise, illness, etc.) but if we combine the divine will with the courage of beings who are in the majority to seek the good, there is reason for optimism : certainly excessive (but therefore derisory, as Talleyrand would say), evil puts on a show but in the end it can do nothing (or very little) against the good that in one way or another happens.
On the other side of the Rhine, Voltaire ironically devotes one of the philosophical tales of which he has the secret to demolishing Leibniz's remarks. It's Candide or optimism. A real bestseller (reprinted at least twenty times during the author's lifetime), which recounts the adventures of a " simple mind" raised by the tutor Pangloss (a barely disguised Leibniz lookalike). The boy will discover what we would call " real life " when he is chased out of the best of all worlds after exchanging a kiss with a friend (did you spot the allusion to the Bible or do we have to insist ?). However, " real life " is not a piece of cake : wars, illnesses, disasters, bad encounters, bad luck, injustice...
Candide cannot rely indefinitely on the naïve certainty that things will work themselves out. He will have to invest hope, but above all gain confidence to become an actor in his own life adventure.
Insights into Optimism : Confidence in the Future
Some of the philosophers of the Enlightenment intended to restore to humans their ability to do good and to do good. Among them, belief willingly shifts from religion to the ideal of progress and confidence in the future. By replacing providence, progress puts in the hands of individuals, groups and societies the power to improve their own condition but also to build the world of tomorrow.
Although this ideal of progress is now being called into question, particularly in the criticisms made of economic growth that promises progress but also produces nuisances (environmental, social, etc.), our contemporary perception of optimism is strongly imbued with the idea that by nurturing hope for the future and by setting ourselves in motion to build it, we can go against fatalities.
The temptation of pessimism
But pessimism sometimes catches up with us. It can be a matter of temperament (some have a lesser tendency than others to project themselves into a happier tomorrow); difficult moments in life that affect our joy of life, our confidence in the future and our courage to " fight " for things to get better ; distraught observations in the face of the magnitude of a situation (such as in the event of disasters, in the face of increasing inequalities and/or environmental degradation, etc.).
But there is also a real philosophy of pessimism : Schopenhauer theorized a general principle of suffering, constitutive of the human essence. Man is not made to be well, he tells us (or to quote him in extenso : " Life is not made for us to be happy but for us not to be. "). We know that we are mortal, love hurts us, beliefs disappoint us when they do not lead us to a more or less tragic error , what we create with passion destroys other things created with just as much passion, etc. But all this does not prevent, the philosopher tells us, from practising pragmatic optimism: after all, nothing prevents us from doing ourselves good by gardening hope and acting in such a way that what we produce comes as close as possible to our ideal.
When optimism is good...
Now it's interesting, this idea that there's nothing wrong with doing yourself good by playing the game of optimism. In any case, this does not leave the field of personal development indifferent: various studies have indeed highlighted the fact that the resilience capacity of individuals is increased by optimism, that sick people who cultivate optimism have a better chance of recovery and even that by being optimistic, we gain in life expectancy.
But why does trusting in the future and in one's own ability to contribute to making the world a better place do so much good ? Several reasons are given : " optimists " have more social ties (they willingly engage in collectives and/or civic actions), observe a better lifestyle (their grand design to change the world should not be thwarted by the deleterious effects on their health of daily eating behaviors, of a sedentary lifestyle or addiction !), reveal better self-esteem etc.
In short, between the issue of narcissism and the motivation for the relationship, optimism promotes a certain sense of " care ", as care for oneself, care for others, care for one's environment.
But then, the right to " not be fishing ", in all this ?
Does this mean that those who don't have the potato all the time are doomed to let themselves go and maintain mediocre relationships with those around them? No, say the shrinks, while a few essayists protest irritated by the " happycracy " that would have us only run after well-being.
First, there is mental illness – one-off or more extended over the life span – which, regardless of the person's will, does not necessarily allow access to optimism. And since optimists want to do good, they can only be encouraged to work for the inclusion of people who are not doing well.
Then, having " blows to morale ", drops in self-confidence sometimes, a lesser ability to hope in certain situations is PERFECTLY normal ! Better still, it is what will allow us, when we can take a step back, to nourish our optimism : we will remember those dark days when we wanted nothing, when we could no longer find the meaning, when we were tired of believing in it, only to see that in the end, it ended up getting better, or at the very least stop hurting. How ? Maybe by grace or by chance, because of the weather that heals the wounds or thanks to encounters that have given salt to life etc.
It doesn't matter where the optimism comes from: what matters is that it makes us feel good when it's there and that we can count on it when things aren't going so well to accept us, reassure us and show us the reflections of the sunbeam behind the clouds.
