“Critical thinking without hope is cynicism. Hope without critical thinking is naïveté.” – Maria Popova
There is a balancing act for those of us with a creative spirit and a thoughtful disposition. We totter between hope and cynicism. This is the ongoing waltz, or slam dance.
Hope, without an anchor, leads to some inflated expectations that are soon slapped down by reality or disappointment.
But, in those disappointments, we can become wounded or hardened and grow an exoskeleton of cynicism.
Proverbs 17:22
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
The truth is, I don’t understand life that well. (Not suffering or joy. Both are weird to me, still.) All the pat answers fail desperately, as it is their nature to do. And so, when this happens a few routes remain:
1. You can shut you eyes and re-double your efforts. (You’ve molted but you want to stick the feathers back on.)
2. You can live with uncertainty. This works well for a time, if you can handle it, but in truth, no one is stagnant. This is merely a stage, not a destination, or place of solace and rest. This disposition gives way to a kind of state disenchantment or resignation, and sometimes a tart cynicism. It is the stone in the shoe of hope.
• Or, one can start over, but never in the same place.
3. You can become a contemplative (a mystic, a sage, or a seeker) and this means that you’ve let some things go, but you are still fervent on all the major points. Here, you have freedom from cynicism. You haven’t let the bitterness or the indefinite way of things beat you into a sad lump.
I’m not sure where you stand, but you stand somewhere.