Pessimism

Woody Allen once said, “More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroad. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. A true pessimist, such as Woody, is one in a million. However, you do not have to be a pessimist to feel despaired or low. There are times when you feel as if the whole world is against you and somehow Murphy is rolling in his grave laughing at you. Well, fret not, because pessimism is not incurable. Neither is it innocuous, though.

First, let us try to define pessimism. Conventional dictionary defines pessimism as an inclination to emphasise adverse aspects, conditions and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome. Alternatively, it is also described as the doctrine that reality is essentially evil or that evil overbalances happiness in life. Pessimism itself is derived from the Latin word, pessimus, which literally means ‘worst’. Ultimately, pessimists possess a bleak outlook to life. Instead of smelling the roses, they smell the fertilizer. Such people live life negatively and their views can have an antagonistic effect on their loved ones.

Nonetheless, before we unjustly accuse pessimists of making the world of worse place, we should try to understand and unravel the minds of these pessimists. What makes their minds tick? Is pessimism a disease, genetically inherited? Or is it cultured by the many experiences culminating into an overall sentiment of forlornness. Pessimism can be viewed as a very mild form of depression. Pessimism and loneliness are two feelings intrinsically linked that they do not stray far from each other. Usually, the pessimist drives away empathizers with their negative outlook in life while the loner feels pessimistic, disliked and unappreciated. He is trapped in a vicious cycle of angst and distrust.

The true cause of pessimism has yet to be discovered. However, it is a known fact that pessimism is linked to poor health. A 35-year study initiated by a group of Harvard graduates showed that while pessimism intrude into all lives at some time, the habitual ways in which people explain the bad events that befall them put them at risk for poor physical health by middle age. Simply put, the pessimist, who sees the world as evil and begrudges the disappointment, misfortune and tragedy that befall him, tends to end up less healthy than those who have positive outlooks to life. It seems apt this way, that the pessimist gets his just deserts. However, it would be unfriendly to put them down this way.

In my opinion, the very essence of pessimism stems from the law of attraction. The law of attraction is a recent concept hatched by multi-millionaires who claim that their success is a result of the law of attraction. If we can master, the law of attraction, then the world is your oyster. Law of attraction works as such, a person who thinks of wealth attracts wealth. Similarly, a person who is constantly thinking of how the world is unjust and unfair will only be bombarded by acts that justify his thoughts. The fact of the matter is that the eyes only see what the mind wants it to see.

Let us try to fashion the above explanation into a concrete example. Say for instance Tom is the quintessential pessimist. Every time he walks out of his front door, he’s mind is filled with negative thoughts. Inadvertently, he is sulky throughout the day, he is late for work, his boss reprimands him, he has stacks of reports to complete on his work desk and so on and so forth. It seems everybody is out to get him and he is ultimately trapped in a cycle of negativity.

Now consider Jack, who is not downright optimistic but more level-headed than Tom. He has no reason to start the day unhappily and thus can concentrate better at work. He wins praises from the boss and even though the workload is as much as Tom’s, Jack takes it in his stride. These examples show us that it does not pay to be pessimistic. Yet after all that is said, it is admittedly not easy to chain pessimism away within the abyss of our minds. When we feel stressed, or exhausted, it creeps slowly back into our heads. Every time we have an argument with a loved one, it takes one step closer, waiting to engulf us. We see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it tells us it is the light of an oncoming train.

While my above rant may seem pessimistic and in itself contradict my whole point, I tell you that keeping pessimism at bay is possible. For starters, the carpe diem principle works well. Each time you feel depressed or down, or generally frustrated, remind yourself that one day spent fuming is one day wasted. Sometimes, the folly of man is that he thinks too much. Instead, we should act more, think less and stop watching ourselves live. Contemplation often makes life miserable. These were the words of Nicolas de Chamfort (a French, who else?).

Good and bad happens but pessimists focus on the bad and hence miss out on the good. We are here to live not rue over the matters of the Earth.

Rain

Rain

Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain
On this bleak hut, and solitude, and me
Remembering again that I shall die
And neither hear the rain nor give it thanks
For washing me cleaner than I have been
Since I was born into this solitude.
Blessed are the dead that the rain rains upon:
But here I pray that none whom once I loved
Is dying to-night or lying still awake
Solitary, listening to the rain,
Either in pain or thus in sympathy
Helpless among the living and the dead,
Like a cold water among broken reeds,
Myriads of broken reeds all still and stiff,
Like me who have no love which this wild rain
Has not dissolved except the love of death,
If love it be towards what is perfect and
Cannot, the tempest tells me, disappoint.

Edward Thomas

Chicken or Egg

“A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.”
Samuel Butler

I thought it would be apt to begin my first post with the ultimate question of the universe. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Believe it or not, I have spent time pondering over this question with friends and I have come to the conclusion that atheists and the rest of us will never come to a mutual agreement. Even so, for those who believe in the existence of God or gods or Goddesses, the fact remains that we cannot ascertain that God created any of the two first or if He (I will just use the masculine noun for convenience sake) created both at the same time.

I find it interesting, and I am probably treading the thin line of blaspheme here, that people of religion vehemently object to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The mere fact that we can think, articulate and possess superior mental faculties, as compared to the chicken, tells me that there is no reason why we should not investigate the mysteries of the universe instead of using the same old clichéd answer, God made the world as such. He made the chickens and He made the eggs and ultimately chicken tastes best with Colonel Sander’s “secret recipe” of 11 herbs and spices.

However assuming that I was to approach this question scientifically, I would agree with Samuel Butler. The egg definitely came first. Nonetheless, I would not expect you to take my word for it, so I will try to briefly explain part of Charles Darwin’s theory of natural evolution.

In any reproducing species of animal, there are no two identical individuals. When animals mate, the resulting offspring’s genome is a combination of its parents’ DNA. Half of its genome would be maternal and the other half paternal. However, the inheritance of genes is not that simple. Along the way, DNA gets rearranged and mutated before fusing to form the complete set of genetic material. These mutations give rise to different physical characteristics. The variations allow some animals of the same species to thrive in a given environment while others are less likely to survive. Individuals who survive live long enough to transfer their genes to the next generation. Over extremely long periods of time, new species are created.

Besides natural evolution, other factors can give rise to the creation of new species. For instance, consider a group of animals which migrated to greener pastures, and ceased interaction with the members of their own species that stayed behind. Both groups would lose the ability to reproduce amongst each other. At this juncture, a new species has evolved. The underlying principle though, for both cases, is that evolution takes a great deal of time. Nobody said the egg was built in a day.

In fact it is believed that it took 310 million years to build the egg. Recently, scientists have unmapped the complete genome sequence of the chicken and have proved that the humble chicken is a descendent of the fearsome dinosaurs. The chicken is a comparatively new species and it has been proven that the chicken is an evolution of the red jungle fowl. Interestingly enough, through human intervention, the first chicken egg was created.

Of course, at this juncture, many people (especially those who believe in God) would vehemently disagree. But think of it this way, just because God did not snap his fingers and made chickens appear does not necessarily mean He did not create them. Man, driven by profit and self-gain, tried to domesticate the jungle fowl and eventually, through artificial selection, choosing the fowls that were fatter and unable to fly properly, created the chicken. After years of artificial selection, two fowls got together and created the first chicken egg.

In conclusion, the egg has the distinction of appearing before the chicken, but the fact remains; Kentucky Fried Eggs would not have lasted half as long as its chicken counterpart.