Optimism is a Fool's Paradise

I favour pessimism, not because I am bitter, but because I choose to see life as it is. 

Everything we see, everything we possess, and everything we build is destined to tarnish one day. People change, success fades and even empires that once looked permanent eventually turn to dust. To deny this truth is to live in a fool's paradise.  

Optimism often tells us to shut our eyes and hope that nothing will go wrong. How can you say nothing will go wrong when you can see emperors falling, people changing and your body going near to decay and death? No, we don't need this kind of optimism. It is worse than opium or liquor because they will only destroy your body, however, such kind of optimism will destroy you from inside. It will kill your natural drive to seek your true Self that is beyond decay and death. It will make you like a dove who closes it's eyes when it sees the cat coming to eat it. No, we can never be like the dove! How can we? We are human beings. And only the souls living in human body can know their very origin i.e. The Pure Consciousness. Only this is the reason I favour Pessimism. It tells us to keep our eyes open and be prepared for the worst or at least be ready for it . It is not the enemy of happiness. It is the shield against disappointment.  And mind you, all great people of past felt disappointed during the last span of their lives no matter either they were kings, warriors, politicians, leaders or those who possessed utmost wealth and honour. Why? Because they keep looking outside. They don't have courage to move inward. 

And when we accept that nothing lasts, we stop clinging. We stop looking the outside world which is subject to decay. And now we stop fearing loss. We begin to value the present without trying to own it forever.  

This is not hopelessness. This is clarity because once you understand that everything is temporary, you stop being controlled by it. And in that understanding, you find a quiet, unshakable peace and then you get the glimpse of that which is not, that which can never be touched, that which can never be tarnished, that which can never be affected by anyone or anything. And that is thou thyself.  Know thyself and stop thinking...