Vol 2 Issue 7
I’ve had a long battle with my son as to the best perspective on life – pessimism or optimism. What I call optimism, he calls pie-in-the-sky naivety and what I call pessimism he calls being realistic. Is there really a resolution or, in some strange way, are we both right?
Martin LeFevre, who describes himself as a non-academic religious and political philosopher, wrote an insightful and hard-hitting article on this very issue. He was rather brutal in his comments about the good old American belief in “positive thinking.” Blaming the late Norman Vincent Peale for fathering this apparent foolishness, he even described Peale’s divinely inspired book The Power of Positive Thinking as a “puddle-deep tract.” Now that takes a lot of nerve.
If you believe, like a card-carrying pessimist would, that human nature is basically bent on evil and all you see and think about is the growing darkness in the world, you are very likely to be an unwitting part of creating that darkness yourself. Even what may be wholesome and good you turn into darkness through this mindset. Money, for example, becomes the root of all evil instead of a tool for good. And you don’t want to have sex standing up because it will lead to dancing – and it doesn’t get any darker than that as any of us who were raised Baptist will tell you!
Your other choice, of course, is to see human nature as essentially good and you go through the day with your heart overflowing with light, joy and positive expectations no matter what happens. You’re always having a “GREAT day” and know more motivational slogans than The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. At first glance this does seem like a much better way to go through life. A shuddering, however, comes with the second glance.
The point LeFevre makes is that “willfully staying on the sunny side of life in a culture drenched in collective darkness insures that one becomes a conduit [for that darkness].”
In other words, by believing so strongly that the glass is half full you are literally unable to see that someone else is sipping your water.
When we refuse to acknowledge that there are evil intentions out there, some of which are aimed at us; or if we see them and then look the other way, we actually enable that evil to happen.
All this puts us in a bit of a conundrum. If all we see is evil we help sustain evil. If all we see is goodness, we still help sustain evil. Finding our way out of this paradox requires us to look deeper.
The first lesson, and the key message of the LeFevre article, is that in fact we all have darkness within us and we have to take total responsibility for it. “Collective darkness,” he writes, “can only act through a person as long as one acts out of hidden regions that one refuses to own.” As much as it challenges logic, the fact is that we weaken our power for good by denying our own dark side. Ignore the weeds in your garden and you’ll soon have a garden of weeds. We are made stronger by being aware of the weaknesses that are within us.
What does this darkness look like for those of us who genuinely believe in the power of positive thinking? We’re not going to blow up innocent people in Jordan or Spain or New York. Our hearts aren’t filled with hatred for others. It’s likely to be a different kind of ‘terror’ that we inflict through ego, greed, pride, impatience, disparagement of others, self-centeredness, opportunism, stress, and just being too busy achieving our own success to truly care about those closest to us. These are the dark things latent within us that we need to disarm by admitting they are there and looking them square in the eye.
The second lesson is on how to deal with the light and the darkness at the same time. I recall an old story of a king who, having fought battle after battle against his enemies, decided he needed an elite group of soldiers to stay close to him. But how was he to choose which were worthy of this great honor?
Taking his exhausted army to an oasis he watched as most soldiers
threw aside their swords and armor to enjoy the beauty and refreshment of the
oasis with positive abandon. A few soldiers kept their armor on and their
swords in their hands and, with a watchful eye for any enemy who might still
be lurking about, drank from the same refreshing stream. The king chose
those who stayed alert for the enemy even while they drank and revitalized
themselves.
Maybe that’s our answer. We’ve been given such incredible
abundance and unlimited potential and we can and must be part of creating a
world of good. While we project, anticipate and work toward that positive
outcome of our desires, however, we need to keep our armor on, our swords in
our hands and our watchful eye on the darkness in and around us.
Until next time – be purposeful!
Ian
PS: Our Percy – on Purpose list grew in quantum measure this week thanks to the incredible members of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. A warm welcome to you all!
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