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Psychological studies have shown that the most happy and successful people are the ones with the most overly and unrealistically optimistic view on life, while the most depressed and unsucsessful people are the ones with the most realistic view on life.

 

What about those in the middle, applying optimism or pessimism when it matters?

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So... How is "realistic" defined in this study? Doesn't "realistic" mean "being close to reality"?

So how are optimistic people more unrealistic than the pessimistic ones? You know, it somehow seems like a self-fullfilling prophecy in this context.

If my English is bad I am very sorry. It's not my mother tongue.

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What it means is that most people wander through life not seeing anything past the end of their own nose, and even if they do accidentally glimpse something unpleasant, they ignore and forget it.

Doing that makes you happy. However, in that case you may as well just be a cat or a dog.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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Most miserable people I know always complain about punks, hippies and the youth and not about actual problems.

Most happy people talk about problems and actually try to solve them instead of complaining.

 

-Heh. So there is this kind of people who wander through life complaining about and despising everything. Cats and dogs are way too clever for that, they stick to the basics and enjoy their lives. =)

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Psychological studies have shown that the most happy and successful people are the ones with the most overly and unrealistically optimistic view on life, while the most depressed and unsucsessful people are the ones with the most realistic view on life.

 

I'm glad to see that the Department of the Bleeding Obvious is still conducting psychological studies, then.

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It depends entirely on your perspective. You seem to take it all too seriously and whilst there is an absolute necessity for serious analysis there should also be flexibility and tolerance, neither of which you display. At all.

 

And for reference of perspective I find your opinion, or at least what you express here, to be more puerile than most because it is so narrow minded. Bigoted some might say.

I want your brain... to make his heart... beat faster.

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There's no point being reasonable in an argument, because then it's no fun. We're not here to set the world straight, it's just a small mod forum, we're just here to argue about it.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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Arguing is only fun if there is anything to be gained from it. You express extreme views, are totally unwilling to see past your nose to the fact that people are different and so might have a different perspective (whilst at the same time olol claiming to be "unique" what emo kid I AM UNIQUE rage waht?) and are so sure that you are correct in all of this that we might as well argue with a broom and you might as well sit in your ivory tower admiring the ivory.

 

It's not fun, it's boring.

I want your brain... to make his heart... beat faster.

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Yes, I do consider most things to be puerile, and therefore depise them.

Modern Western culture IS completely puerile and vacuous, that's just a simple fact.

 

Ah, and because western civilisation is bad you have to be miserable?

 

By the way: It's not a fact by itself.

 

There's no point being reasonable in an argument, because then it's no fun. We're not here to set the world straight, it's just a small mod forum, we're just here to argue about it.

Funny, I argue to widen my horizon. And more funny: I can enjoy it while being serious with what I say.

If my English is bad I am very sorry. It's not my mother tongue.

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Arguing is only fun if there is anything to be gained from it. You express extreme views, are totally unwilling to see past your nose to the fact that people are different and so might have a different perspective (whilst at the same time olol claiming to be "unique" what emo kid I AM UNIQUE rage waht?) and are so sure that you are correct in all of this that we might as well argue with a broom and you might as well sit in your ivory tower admiring the ivory.

 

It's not fun, it's boring.

 

Heheh, well why are you doing it then.

I'll tell you why, because you DO like it, and can't resist. There's no point in even writing a reply, because it means I've won this point. You obviously enjoy pointless bickering for it's own sake, as does everyone else who does it.

Ok you don't like it when people blatantly admit they're only arguing for the sake of it, you like to pretend that it's a serious discussion and that your input has some importance.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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Heheh, well why are you doing it then.

I'll tell you why, because you DO like it, and can't resist. There's no point in even writing a reply, because it means I've won this point. You obviously enjoy pointless bickering for it's own sake, as does everyone else who does it.

This is a meta-discussion about YOUR pointless bickering. You'll notice I stopped contributing in any real sense to the pointless bickering you usually supply, and that's because there is no point, and it's really quite dull. I advise changing before you become a. really irritating, b.unlikeable and c. lonely.

I want your brain... to make his heart... beat faster.

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That's your neurosis. Dont try to foist it on to me as well. I don't spend my days obsessed with whether other people 'like' me.

It's your life, don't worry about them. When you're dead, they'll all just carry on like nothing happened, so don't waste your life pandering to them.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

To elaborate on my last post - my understanding is that the effects of being overly optimistic is that you don't miss opportunities - being pessimistic means you turn down a lot of things assuming they're useless. And when you focus on success, you find ways to succeed, instead of just seeing all the ways it will fail and giving up early on.

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That all depends what you mean by 'success'. In this vacuous world, and certainly in that context, 'success' means nothing but 'how much money and possessions have you managed to hoard before you die'.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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The phrase 'money doesn't buy you happiness' is true (unless what makes you happy is having lots of money and possessions of course)

Certainly none of that matters to me, I just want to be a great artist, so I'm not sure how the optimism/pessimism thing works there, because my goal is all about skill, talent, observation and hard work, not about how happy I'm feeling. I don't see how being more optimistic and happy is going to make me a better artist. It's just the opposite with artists and musicians.

So yes, if your goals in life are totally vacuous and simplistic, and no more complex than an animal, then being more optimistic will be better for you.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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I think Nietzsche had a colorful responses to the argument that the ideal in life is to be positive, compassionate, and search out "happy" lives (I feel like I already quoted this, but don't know where now...):

 

Are we not, with this tremendous objective of obliterating all the sharp edges of life, well on the way to turning mankind into sand? Sand! Small, soft, round, unending sand! Is that your ideal, you heralds of the sympathetic affections?

 

Haha, it's a strong response.

 

 

Edit: Well, I was going to recommend some reading for Odd, but looking back over it, I'm not sure if it will be his bag or not. But I may as well keep the post anyway, for the record:

 

By the way, Odd said he doesn't like reading philosophy, but if you're going to have these opinions, I think it's worth knowing they're part of a tradition of like-minded people.

 

If you want a more blog style instead of outright books or articles, there's Leiter's blogs

http://leiterreports.typepad.com/ (and maybe http://www.brianleiternietzsche.blogspot.com/ ) and then you can follow the links from the first blog (edit: they may not be as good for this now that I see he's slowed down the political/cultural commentary, though, but still in your train of thinking and the links are still good).

 

But for what it's worth, as far as books go: It wouldn't hurt to read a little Nietzsche ( http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/n#a779 ), like Zarathustra and Thoughts out of Season, some of Emerson's essays ( http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/e#a1071 ) and for a contemporary take, Leiter ( http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAu...m?per_id=119223 ). Two or three papers I think you might appreciate from Leiter are:

1. Why Tolerate Religion? - http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1012910 (email full text paper, at the bottom)

2. Morality Critics (the Nietzsche chapter) - http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=952771

and maybe

3. The Case for Nietzschean Moral Psychology - http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=816224

Edited by demagogue

What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

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The phrase 'money doesn't buy you happiness' is true (unless what makes you happy is having lots of money and possessions of course)

Certainly none of that matters to me, I just want to be a great artist, so I'm not sure how the optimism/pessimism thing works there, because my goal is all about skill, talent, observation and hard work, not about how happy I'm feeling. I don't see how being more optimistic and happy is going to make me a better artist. It's just the opposite with artists and musicians.

Well this is my opinion, but I'm sure most people agree that if you're positive and excited about what you're doing, you have a greater drive to progress, find it easier to be creative, etc.

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