Optimism and despair

Posted by Cachet
I haven't read the whole article yet, but in typical gem moon fashion, let's jump ahead and check out the details later (jk, I'm at work, so I'll read this closely when I'm off).

For now, it's another way of describing realism. You take the good, you take the bad and there you have...the facts of life, the facts of life.

The way they balance each other out is that on either side is delusion; they also feed one another when there is a balance between the two, I'd say.

The realist optimist sees where things can go wrong. The realist pessimist sees where things can succeed. Either can act and react accordingly (depending on which end they identify with the most) without necessarily falling in the trap their side presents.

The delusion of optimism is that even when things go wrong, "everything is fiiiiine ". The delusion of despair is that even when something good comes along, "this is what sucked about this good thing... ". Each should probably acknowledge the flipside to keep things in perspective.