Optimism

Alysia and I have many discussions about the future. We see an enormous feedback spiral of concentrated money corrupting politics in ways that allow greater concentrations of money which fund more corruption. As part of that spiral, we see money flowing into attack ads and “news” that generate innuendo, rumor, and lies. I remember one of the greatest lessons Michael Butler (director of the UCI Farm School) taught me. When I reflected upon an “argument” we once had in which I was too intent on winning, he replied with something like: “if your intention is discovering the truth, then it becomes your obligation to help your opponent frame the best counter-argument to yours.” That noble perspective is so lacking in our current politics! Alysia and I look at the upcoming mid-term elections and the flow of money around it and we feel deep concern about the future. But as we discuss events, the discussions make me increasingly aware of a bedrock optimism within me which I didn’t always have.

E.F. Schumacher (author of Small is Beautiful) said something that guided me for a long time. It went something like this: “I am often asked if I am optimistic or pessimistic about the future. If I was optimistic, I would grow complacent and stop doing the work. If I was pessimistic, I would fall into despair and stop doing the work. The best thing is to ignore the question and keep doing the work.” As Alysia and I talk, I realize that my sense of “optimism” has changed since I first encountered that quotation.

When Ernest Shackleton, the early 20th century Antarctic explorer renowned for his ability to recruit and create strong teams of men, was asked by a reporter what was the most important characteristic needed by an explorer, he replied, “Optimism.” After a lifetime of exploring “off the trail,” I’m coming into full understanding and affirmation of what he meant. So many times the shape of the land has led me to great beauty. So many adventures have led to outcomes more mysterious than I had ever imagined. When times grow hard, when the future appears dark, that bedrock optimism keeps one going.

It’s not naïve optimism. If one were to ask about the future, the answer would have to include that thousands of species are already extinct and are continuing to become so. Millions of people are suffering and dying in ways that create a heavy spiritual weight upon us who remain. One must acknowledge this. My optimism does not lie at all in the direction of what will be but in the direction of what could be. What could be is untouchable by all that is. That’s why Shackleton’s teams could keep going. “What could be” lies over the horizon and is approached through the thousands of tiny decisions we are making every hour. Many of these possible decisions (or the fuller range of choices within them) are invisible if one gets swept into the momentum of what is. As I grow deeper in optimism, the world increasingly fills with opportunities to nourish upward spirals all around me.

Joseph Campbell taught that certain myths are universal because they are the distillation, from hundreds of generations, of how one should live one’s life. He particularly wrote of the hero’s journey as a guide to how each of our lives is an opportunity to journey on a unique path and discover a gift that can enrich us all. Ever since reading Campbell during my college days, I’ve tried incorporating his insights into my life path. Most stories about the hero’s journey focus on the adventures of the young hero during the outward journey of the quest. Perhaps the main thing I bring back from my “quest” is this optimistic sense of what is possible that, for me, had been locked away and guarded by the omnipresent dragon of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

The final part of Campbell ’s journey is bringing back what has been found so it may benefit one’s people. As I enter my sixties, I find this bringing back perhaps the most challenging part of the journey. It’s hard to carry this optimism back through the city gates. Sophistication carries a tang of jadedness. It’s not sophisticated to get enthusiastic about hope. Joyous optimism is associated with the Disney movies of childhood.