Hope vs Pessimism

I recently promised to delve into the seeming dichotomy of hopeful pessimism and there’s no better time, I’d say, what with events swirling about at a hectic pace and threatening to overtake us. I wish I could say that this idea sprung from my own musings, but the credit goes to Dr. Cornel West. Dr. West is a regular guest on HBO’s "Real Time with Bill Maher" and, on a recent show, he described himself as a pessimist with hope. This stuck with me because the two, while rarely sharing the same sentence, are far from mutually exclusive.

It is difficult indeed to feel optimistic when looking at current events. Political, corporate, financial, environmental, you-name-it: the obstacles are overwhelming in trying to get our arms, let alone heads, around issues that collide and confuse. No, optimism isn’t number 1 on today’s hit parade and for good reason. But our absence of rose-colored glasses does not necessarily mean we’re ready to throw in the towel. That's where hope comes into play and I’d venture to say that it coexists in each of us regardless of whether we’re optimists, pessimists, or pragmatists. How can that be?

Could it be that they occupy different venues within our psyche? Pessimism, et al, represents a state of mind that shapes our view of the world and short term outlooks. And we can be all at the same time as we contemplate the different challenges and potential solutions. Hope, on the other hand, can be found only in our heart. It is more of an emotion than mental process and, as such, ignores facts and the reality of our daily life. As such, it allows us to look past the warts and envision a world of possibilities.

There are hopeless creatures out there, to be sure, and you can bet they’re pessimists of the first order. No surprise, though, because without hope there can be nothing to temper the doom and gloom in our thoughts. Hope, however, can thrive in spite of the mind’s eye and finds cohabitation with pessimism more than doable.

I can’t say for certain that one can train the heart to be hopeful. I do know that, in spite of my daily dose of wonder at the dismal state of the human condition, I remain hopeful that mankind can somehow wiggle its way out of the various messes it currently finds itself enmeshed. We’ve always seemed to do it before and, while the pessimist in me thinks we may be coming to the end of our streak, my hope keeps me searching for that elusive rainbow. I also accept the fact that having hope is harder work than adhering to a pessimistic viewpoint.

Feel free to bemoan the state of affairs, but leave room at the end of your diatribe for a small serving of hope. After all, without it we’re not left with much, are we? And thank you, Dr. West, for drawing the important distinction between the two.