Giving My Inner Cynic a Time-Out
Giving My Inner-Cynic a Time Out
"It's hard to argue against cynics - they always sound smarter than optimists because they have so much evidence on their side"
Molly Ivins
"The opposite of creativity is cynicism" Esa Saarinen
As a born and raised New Yorker, born to and raised by other New Yorkers, I would have to guess that cynicism is in my DNA. It's in the water there. In fact, the reason we moved out of the city when I was 11, was that my parents realized I had already become way too jaded. ("Ugh, Lincoln Center AGAIN!?!?")
I've been thinking about the nature of cynicism a lot lately, because I've actually found myself feeling... um, what do you call it? Hopeful?!? (Full disclosure here: I have an eight month old baby, and it's HARD to be cynical around a baby... even for me!) I'm starting to feel like maybe it's time to lose the "been there, done that" attitude and maybe look forward to some things for a change...
I think Saarinen is right. As an artist of any kind, you have to be hopeful in SOME way. I mean, if I felt cynical every time I sat down to write a song, I wonder how many songs I would ever get written? So this is a song I wrote with my friends Kay Hanley and Kara DioGuardi for our band The Dilettantes, which kinda sums up what I'm trying to impart here.
Now I'm not saying...you know... "drink the Kool-aid." I'm just saying, let's be open to the possibility that things can change for the better. Yes, I'm talking about the upcoming election. But I'm also talking about the Green movement, which seems to moving out of Vermont and Santa Monica and into the rest of the country. I'm talking about music, and film and television... which we now have the power to say yes or no to. ( I mean, look at what Jill has done with her website for her next record! That wouldn't have happened 5 years ago! ) Oh, the economy is rotten and we're still in Iraq and the healthcare system is completely, utterly f**ked. There's a litany of reasons to be bummed out. But let's not!
Who's with me?
addendum: after the other night's State of the Union address, I am no longer with me. But I'm going to post this anyway, because maybe you readers can tell me why you think things may be looking up (other than "cuz it can't get any worse." I've already thought of that one.
That makes me a little less cynical, finding the good that I know is in people, and enjoying that. I know that sounds simple -- but it isn't. I've got to dig VERY hard to find the good in some people -- and sometimes I do just give up. And that sends me into one of my black moods. I think it must be my fault that I didn't find it. I must get over that.
What a lovely song, well done, indeed.
I think you raise a great point about finding hope and a reason for striving.
It reminds me so much of William James who is one of my favorite philosophers. He is famous for his "stream of consciousness" model. James was a pragmatist and believed that ultimately we probably do not have free will. However, he also said we should ignore this fact and live as if we do. A happy delusion is much better than a hopeless feeling of doom and dread. When I need inspiration I often look to James. I would like to share a few of his observations about life. They are inspiring to me and I hope they may inspire you and others as well...
Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.
Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.
Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.
I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing.
I will act as if what I do makes a difference.
If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system.
Is life worth living? It all depends on the liver.
It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true.
One hearty laugh together will bring enemies into a closer communion of heart than hours spent on both sides in inward wrestling with the mental demon of uncharitable feeling.
Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.
These then are my last words to you. Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
William James
PS
Tell your inner cynic he can come out of the time-out chair as long as he can tell you the reason you put him there in the first place.
cynical: 1. believing that people are motivated purely by self interest, sceptical, contemptuous, 2. proceeding from a concern only with one's own interests, ,3. popularly taken to mean 'doglike, churlish',4. a group of ancient greeks characterized by an ostentatious contempt for wealth and pleasure. '
Hey, all you cynics out there, get a life :)
That piece makes me appreciate things a lot more, and I see the world differently for the few minutes after I've read it. Then I turn on the 6:00pm news and out comes the cynic again...
But hey, it's still a lovely piece of writing.
(By the way, LOVE the My Little Pony picture)