Signs of pessimism. A pessimist - what kind of person is this? Taking care of your health

Pessimism- 1) state of mind, the tendency to look for and see the bad or worse in everything; 2) a tendency to look at oneself and the world around us through the prism of unreasonable dissatisfaction; 3) attitude, caused by a negative, unnatural attitude towards.

What is the basis of a pessimistic attitude?

1) Often the cause of a pessimistic mood is the sinful ones nesting in a person, the first place among which belongs to ). A proud person, believing that he is a priori better than others, longs to see himself as nothing less than on top. If this cannot be achieved, a gap of inconsistency forms between the desired and the actual. Unable to achieve what he seeks and unwilling, the proud person falls into a state of deep dissatisfaction, and sometimes becomes disappointed in life. Everything is wrong for him, he looks at everything in a gloomy light. Pessimism can be intensified by the intervention of such vicious passions as hatred, etc.

It happens that the root of a pessimistic mood lies not in high self-esteem, but, on the contrary, in low self-esteem (read more:). Pessimism manifests itself especially acutely when external unfavorable factors are superimposed on this internal state: loneliness, troubles in family relationships, the inability to realize oneself in a profession, creativity, etc. The result can be a person’s loss of confidence in his own abilities; increasing feelings of defenselessness, hopelessness, lack of demand or uselessness. All this can be accompanied and aggravated by fear of tomorrow. Hence - despondency, outbursts of despair.

It happens that the cause of a pessimistic state is a person’s inability or even unwillingness to enjoy life, both in general and in unimportant things. Therefore, what one sees as a reason for optimism (for example, the birth of a child, a multi-day visit from elderly parents), another will find a reason for great sadness and discontent. Since it is unnatural for a person to live a completely joyless life, such an existence often leads to mental and physical illnesses.

2) Another spectrum of causes is outlined by the activity of fallen spirits. By influencing various spheres of the human soul, suppressing or stimulating certain movements in it, demons can push a person to various psychological states, including pessimistic ones (see:).

Why is pessimism dangerous and is it a type of sin?

Pessimism, of course, can also be caused by external everyday reasons, for example, a series of misfortunes and disasters that befall a person. In addition, it may be the result of psychological trauma or a serious illness.

Meanwhile, such manifestations or companions as despondency, a feeling of uselessness, hopelessness, inflated uncertainty about the future, the desire to blacken with black paint, can indicate not only moral imperfection, but also deep sinfulness.

Thus, the Lord reproached His listeners for the fact that they, not wanting to see the beams in their own eyes, see the specks in the eye of their brother (). This, of course, is characteristic not only of a coarse pessimist, but also of anyone who loves to condemn. However, a pessimist often acts this way. After all, his tendency to see the bad in everything extends to his neighbors. Moreover, condemnation of a brother is not always limited to internal assessment, and then the sin of gossip and slander is mixed with pessimism.

What can we say about the type of pessimism that is formed on the basis of pride? After all, pride is the “mother” and “door” of all sin.

But most importantly, pessimism suppresses faith and hope in God in a person, and often pessimism is precisely due to the absence of such. That is why demons are so eager to move a person to despondency or, worse, to despair (see:).

How to cure pessimism?

Pessimism, like any other unnatural human tendency, can be treated.

The basis of healing is the rooting in a person’s consciousness of the correct attitude towards himself and the world around him, the correct organization of life. All this is achievable through a person’s involvement in the Church of Christ, through active life with Christ, according to Christ, in Christ.

PESSIMISM

PESSIMISM

(from Latin pessimum - worst) - one of the two main types of perception of the world, expressing negative, suspicious, distrustful of it; opposes optimism. In the ordinary understanding - depressed, a tendency to see and emphasize the negative sides of reality, hopelessness and aimlessness of life, too painful for failures. In philosophy A pessimistic understanding points to the predominance of suffering in the world and the futile struggle between good and evil, the triumph of injustice, the meaninglessness of human life and the historical process. In philosophy Pessimistic thinking first emerged from some religious worldviews. Thus, asserting that “there is suffering,” although he points out the way to get rid of it and achieve nirvana, he recognizes the nature of the world as false and illusory, and ours as aimless rotation in a circle of constant rebirths.
Considering all the complexity and multidimensionality of antiquity. worldview, one can find in it pronounced pessimistic traits, which have become the main content of the Greek. tragedy. Sophocles owns, which can be considered a classic formulation of the principle of pessimism: “The first is not to be born at all, the second is, having been born, to die quickly.” Pessimistic motives are inherent in the views of Hesiod, who regretted that the happy “golden age” was in the distant past, and Heraclitus, who despised the crowd and taught about the impermanence of the fluid world, which periodically burns out in cosmic fire. Among the Stoics, despite the heroic desire for a virtuous life according to the logos, life itself and its benefits are considered indifferent, and the sage cannot count on either earthly or posthumous reward.
In some religious doctrines (Gnosticism, Manichaeism), pessimistic moments consist in the recognition of evil as an ontological principle that is not inferior in power to good. The Old Testament book is distinguished by deep P. Ecclesiastes, filled with experiences of the vanity of everyday life, the futility of human efforts to find happiness in work, family, and wisdom. Christian, although its main position about the resurrection of the God-man is brightly optimistic, is imbued with tragic experiences of the sinfulness of man, through whose fault he “lies in evil.”
In modern European culture, in addition to the triumph of rational scientific knowledge, one can also see other intellectual movements based on irrational foundations. Thus, pessimistic motives under the influence of Gnosticism are heard in his reasoning. mystics (I. Eckhardt, J. Böhmö), as well as in the philosophy of F.V.I., close to romanticism. Schelling about the “dark side of God” and the ominous “abyss” in the human soul. However, he was also not one-sidedly optimistic: the late I. Kant wrote about “radical evil” in human nature, which is expressed in the inability of the individual to resist the sensory principle and act according to the dictates of reason. The philosophy of life rejected the optimistic sentiments of the New Age. P. is carried out most consistently by A. Schopenhauer, extending it to his metaphysics. Our world and the people in it are the products of a blind, insatiable will, which, for the sake of its amusement, dooms a person to suffering. Therefore, “ours is such that it would be better if it did not exist at all,” “it is cruel, and people are pitiful.” F. Nietzsche sharply criticizes Christian culture, believing that the modern European has degenerated into a “domestic animal” and the next two centuries will become the triumph of nihilism. Nietzsche's “revaluation of values” influenced cultural studies. According to O. Spengler, a living “organic” civilization, subjected to “inorganic” industrial expansion, turns into a dead civilization; such a fate will soon befall Europe.
The 20th century, with its world wars and revolutions, provided rich food for pessimistic sentiments. The philosophy of existentialism emphasizes that feelings of fear, anxiety, despair, and abandonment have become the main mentalities of the era. In the world of “reification”, one loses insight into the deep meanings of existence, becomes convinced of the absurdity of reality (A. Camus), and all unique bursts of genius are stifled by the dominant mass culture (X. Ortega y Gaset).
Today, despite the optimistic complacency associated with building a humanistic open society, philosophers. directions (traditionalism, postmodernism) are pessimistic about the future of the West. culture, believing that in conditions of rapid development of the material side of civilization, to the detriment of the spiritual, a person loses freedom and his purpose.

Philosophy: Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M.: Gardariki. Edited by A.A. Ivina. 2004 .

PESSIMISM

see Optimism and pessimism.

Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. editor: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983 .

PESSIMISM

(from Latin pessimum worst, worst)

in ordinary usage, a worldview imbued with despondency, hopelessness, and disbelief in a better future; portraying everything in a dark light. That personal or philosophical tendency which, in optimism, considers the world first of all its negative aspects, considers the world hopelessly bad, and human existence completely meaningless. Religious pessimism is found, in particular, in Buddhism, the Old Testament and Christianity. Melancholy – pathological pessimism. Representatives of philosophical pessimism are Schopenhauer and Hartmann. Pessimist – a person prone to pessimism; pessimistically and - imbued with pessimism.

Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2010 .

See what “PESSIMISM” is in other dictionaries:

- (from Lat. pessimus bad, nasty, with Greek ending). The doctrine or belief that everything in the world is bad, the tendency to see everything in black, the opposite of optimism. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

pessimism- a, m. pessimisme m. lat. pessimus is the worst. 1. The opinion that everything in the world is bad. Poppy. 1908. Designation of the tendency to see the bad side in everything, to paint the future in a gloomy light. Pavlenkov 1911. Attitude imbued with despondency... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

Pessimism- Pessimism ♦ Pessimisme “- Do you know the difference between an optimist and a pessimist? - How? “A pessimist is a well-informed optimist.” This anecdote, which came to us from Central Europe, is in itself pessimistic. Obviously, that's why he... Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary

Pessimism, whose main exponents are the German philosophers Schopenhauer (1788–1860) and Hartmann (born 1842), represents the opposite view of the quality of the world from optimism. These philosophers treated life with unheard of contempt and... ... Guide to heresies, sects and schisms

Gloominess, doom, attitude Dictionary of Russian synonyms. pessimism noun, number of synonyms: 6 Weltschmerz (7) ... Synonym dictionary

- (from Latin pessimus worst) negative assessment of human and world life. We find a very common elementary form of such an assessment in comparatively historical literature; from Hesiod to the present day, each era considered itself the worst. What… … Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

pessimism- PESSIMISM, apathy, indifference PESSIMIST, colloquial. whiner PESSIMISTIC, apathetic, apathetic, hopeless, depressive, gloomy, pessimistic, sad PESSIMISTIC, apathetic, hopeless, gloomy, pessimistic, sad ... Dictionary-thesaurus of synonyms of Russian speech

- (from the Latin pessimus worst), the idea that the world is dominated by a negative principle (chaos and evil), moods of hopelessness, disbelief in the future, etc. A. Schopenhauer was the first to call his teaching pessimism. The opposite of pessimism... ... Modern encyclopedia

What is "pessimism"? How to spell this word correctly. Concept and interpretation.

pessimism (from Latin pessimus - worst) - a negative assessment of human and world life. We find a very common elementary form of such an assessment in comparative historical literature; from Hesiod to the present day, every era has considered itself the worst. That people subjectively have a special sensitivity to the disasters of their time does not require explanation, and the mentioned type of P. is a completely natural and practically inevitable illusion, from which we are theoretically freed as soon as we learn the fact of its repetition in different eras, under a wide variety of historical conditions . The pessimistic view of history is opposed to the idea of ​​a constant increase in human well-being (see Progress). The consciousness that there is evil in the world and that it is not abolished by the mere progress of social conditions of life raises a fundamental question about the assessment of world existence, and with an extreme negative answer is P. unconditional, expressed in the Buddhist religion and received the latest philosophical treatment in the systems of Schopenhauer and Hartmann . We find the complete formula of unconditional P. in the main Buddhist teaching about the “Four Noble Truths”: 1) existence is torment, 2) its cause is a meaningless desire that has neither reason nor purpose, 3) deliverance from painful existence is possible through the destruction of all desires, 4) the path of such deliverance leads through knowledge of the connection between phenomena and observance of the perfect moral commandments given by the Buddha, and its end is Nirvana, the complete “extinguishing” of existence. This basic pessimistic view of existence as suffering or torment and non-existence as deliverance from torment - to which the newest supporters of absolute P. have not added anything significant - is supplemented in Buddhism by two theories: about the conditions of existence (nidana) and about aggregates (skandas). components of a person. Of the 12 “nidanas”, the following are of fundamental importance: 1st - ignorance or meaninglessness (this excludes the concept of rationality or purposefulness of existence); 2nd - the law of moral causation (karma), by virtue of which every act has its own fatal consequences, independent of the actor; 8th - thirst for being; 11th - birth in a certain form; 12th - old age and death. "Nidanas" define the process of painful existence; As for its subjects, Buddhism resolutely denies their independence in the sense of a spiritual substance and in every living being sees only an aggregate of several aggregates (skanda), physical and psychological, disintegrating at the moment of death. By virtue of the law of moral causation, the deeds committed by each person create, after his death, a new aggregate subject to corresponding suffering, and so on ad infinitum. Salvation from this “samsara” (eternal torment) is possible only through the indicated path of renunciation of all will and, consequently, the cessation of all actions, due to which, after covering the previous karma with the rest of the suffering, all existence is extinguished in the absence of any new reasons for it. When assessing this system of unconditional P., one must pay attention to the specific point of departure that the Buddhist tradition itself indicates. An Indian prince, who gave his first youth to all sorts of worldly pleasures, in his 30th year, having met a beggar, a sick person, a cripple and a dead man, thinks about the fragility of everyday well-being and leaves his harem to reflect in solitude on the meaning of life. Whatever the degree of historical authenticity of this legend, it clearly expresses the simple truth that material life, even under the most exceptionally favorable conditions, is in itself unsatisfactory. All worldly blessings are fragile, illness, old age and death are the common lot of living beings: such P. is an axiom. The broad system of unconditional negation of being, erected on this solid but narrow foundation, is, however, deprived of any stability and is disintegrating from internal contradictions that have not been eliminated, but rather strengthened and multiplied by the latest metaphysics of despair. The first internal contradiction is expressed in the ambiguous role that the fact of death plays in this construction. At first he seems to be the crown of all evils: only at the sight of a dead man does unconditional P. and the determination to take the path of renunciation mature in the mind of the Buddha. Meanwhile, such a view of death makes sense only for optimism, which recognizes life as a blessing and a condition for all blessings: deprivation of life, from this point of view, is the greatest evil. For P., who recognizes that life is essentially torment, the end of this torment should, on the contrary, be the greatest good - and in this case, the general worldview again takes on an optimistic tint: the world turns out to be so well-ordered that along with a painful illness, a radical there is a cure for it. This conclusion is only mistakenly opposed by the Buddhist theory of many successive births, which supposedly takes away the character of final deliverance from the fact of death. In fact, according to the Buddhist view, for a suffering being, death is the end of all suffering, for this being is only a collection of aggregates that disintegrate at the moment of death. Buddhism does not allow any substance that survives this moment and preserves its unity; the connection between the deceased and the new being that will be born from his deeds according to the law of “karma” is outside of both of them: the theory cannot affirm their personal identity or unity of self-consciousness, because this contradicts the evidence: no one remembers their previous existences, i.e. ... previous incarnations of one’s “karma”, although for each such incarnations there are supposed to be countless numbers. If the unity of self-consciousness is limited each time by the boundaries of one incarnation, then real suffering for each being is also limited by them. The newest form of absolute P. (in Schopenhauer and Hartmann) also does not provide any grounds for the transformation of evil into some kind of transcendental attribute of being. Evil here, in fact, comes down to suffering, but suffering really exists only because it is conscious - and consciousness for P.’s philosophy is nothing more than a cerebral phenomenon (Gehirnphanomen) and, therefore, is possible only for organisms that have a nervous system and suffer from a certain degree of irritation of the sensitive nerves. Consequently, the suffering of every being is limited to the limits of its given bodily existence and completely ceases with the destruction of the organism in death. Schopenhauer and Hartmann talk a lot about “world suffering”, but from their point of view this can only be a rhetorical figure, for the world, i.e. its single metaphysical principle - “will”, “unconscious”, etc. - is not can suffer: for this it would have to at least have its own sensory nerves and brain, which it is not provided with. The universal cannot suffer; Only the individual suffers in its organic embodiment, destroyed by death. Really existing suffering is limited only to the area of ​​consciousness - people and animals; all these beings suffer, but each separately, and the suffering of each completely ceases with the end of his life. If Schopenhauer is right that one cannot feel, imagine, know “beyond one’s skin,” then it is equally impossible to suffer beyond these limits; therefore, the suffering of others can be painful for everyone only through their reflection within his “skin,” that is, through his body, and with his death they completely disappear. Thus, unconditional P., neither in its ancient Indian nor in its new Germanic form, is able to take away from death its meaning as the final deliverer from the disasters of life, and from this point of view, nothing logically prevents everyone from accelerating such deliverance through suicide. The attempts of Schopenhauer and Hartmann to reject this conclusion with their extreme weakness confirm its inevitability. The first says that suicide is a mistake, because in it it is not the essence of evil (the world's will) that is destroyed, but only a phenomenon. But no suicide sets himself such an absurd task as exterminating the essence of things. As a suffering phenomenon, he wants to get rid of his life as a painful phenomenon - and he undoubtedly achieves this goal from the point of view of Schopenhauer himself, who, with all his pessimism, cannot claim that the dead suffer. Hartmann, fully recognizing that the last goal is precisely suicide, demands that the individual, in the interests of humanity and the universe, refrain from personal suicide and devote his energies to preparing the means for that general collective suicide with which the historical and cosmic process must end. This is the highest moral duty, while killing oneself in order to get rid of one’s own suffering is characteristic of people at the lowest, eudaimonic level of ethics. The latter, of course, is true, but the own principle of unconditional P. logically excludes any other ethics. If the whole point is to destroy a painful existence, then there is no way to rationally prove to anyone that what he should have in mind is not his own actually experienced torment, but the supposed torment of that distant posterity who will be capable of an act of collective suicide; and even for those future pessimists, the current personal suicide of a given subject can be (in Hartmann’s sense) useful as an example to follow, for it is clear that if everyone kills himself, then the common goal will be achieved. - In fact, the unconditional P., both initially appearing and until the end, remains only the fruit of satiated sensuality. This is its true meaning and its limitations. A fair assessment of material life, which, taken separately, is only “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life,” leads the reflecting mind to the true conclusion that “the whole world lies in evil,” which is the only truth P. But when a person, who has known to the point of satiety the unsatisfactoriness of carnal life and is not animated by a predominant interest in something else, something better, unlawfully generalizes and expands the negative result of his experience, then instead of a true pessimistic attitude towards the one-sided material direction of life, one gets a false statement that life itself, the world itself and existence itself is evil and torment. In this principle of unconditional pessimism, 1) moral evil is not distinguished from suffering and disaster, or physical evil, and 2) evil, so vaguely understood, is accepted as the true fundamental principle of all existence, which is not only based on nothing, but also leads to obvious absurdities. Thus, consistently applying this point of view, one would have to recognize illness as a permanent normal state, and health as a random and incomprehensible anomaly; but in this case we would not notice the disease and would painfully feel health as a violation of the norm; meanwhile, on the contrary, health is usually not noticed by us precisely as a primary, normal state, while illness is painfully recognized as an incidental, random deviation from the norm. Unconditional P. leads to similar absurdities in the moral sphere. - Sometimes P. is called any view that recognizes the reality and importance of evil in the world, but only as a secondary, conditioned and overcome factor in human and natural existence. Such relative pessimism is contained in many philosophical and most religious systems; but it cannot be considered outside the general connection of one or another worldview, into which it is included as one of the constituent elements (see especially Gnosticism, Manichaeism, Plato, Plotinus, Swedenborg, Christianity, Schelling, as well as Free Will, Ethics).

PESSIMISM

(from Latin pessimum - worst) - one of the two main types of perception of the world, expressing a negative, suspicious, distrustful attitude towards it; opposes optimism. In the ordinary understanding - a depressed mood, a tendency to see and emphasize the negative sides of reality, a feeling of hopelessness and purposelessness in life, an overly painful reaction to failures. In philosophy understanding, a pessimistic worldview points to the predominance of suffering in the world and the futile struggle between good and evil, the triumph of injustice, the meaninglessness of human life and the historical process. In philosophy reflection, pessimistic motives first come from some religious worldviews. Thus, Buddhism, claiming that “life is suffering,” although it indicates the way to get rid of it and achieve nirvana, recognizes the nature of the world as false and illusory, and our existence as a purposeless rotation in a circle of constant rebirths.
Considering all the complexity and multidimensionality of antiquity. worldview, one can find in it pronounced pessimistic traits, which have become the main content of the Greek. tragedy. Sophocles has an idea that can be considered a classic formulation of the principle of pessimism: “The first good is not to be born at all, the second is, having been born, to die quickly.” Pessimistic motives are inherent in the views of Hesiod, who regretted that the happy “golden age” remained in the distant past, and Heraclitus, who despised the crowd and taught about the impermanence of the fluid world, which periodically burns out in cosmic fire. Among the Stoics, despite the heroic desire for a virtuous life according to the logos, life itself and its benefits are considered indifferent, and the sage cannot count on either earthly happiness or posthumous reward.
In some religious doctrines (Gnosticism, Manichaeism), pessimistic moments consist in the recognition of evil as an ontological principle that is not inferior in power to good. The Old Testament book is distinguished by deep P. Ecclesiastes, filled with experiences of the vanity of everyday life, the futility of human efforts to find happiness in work, family, and wisdom. Christian philosophy, although in its main position about the resurrection of the God-man is brightly optimistic, is imbued with tragic experiences of the sinfulness of man, through whose fault “the world lies in evil.”
In modern European thought, in addition to the triumph of rational scientific knowledge, one can see other intellectual movements based on irrational foundations. Thus, pessimistic motives under the influence of Gnosticism are heard in his reasoning. mystics (I. Eckhardt, J. Böhmö), as well as in the philosophy of F.V.I., close to romanticism. Schelling about the “dark side of God” and the ominous “abyss” in the human soul. However, rationalism was also not one-sidedly optimistic: the late I. Kant wrote about “radical evil” in human nature, which is expressed in the inability of the individual to resist the sensory principle and act according to the dictates of reason. The philosophy of life rejected the optimistic sentiments of the New Age. The principle of P. is most consistently pursued by A. Schopenhauer, extending it to his metaphysics. Our world and the people in it are the products of a blind, insatiable will, which, for the sake of its amusement, dooms a person to suffering. Therefore, “our existence is such that it would be better if it did not exist at all,” “fate is cruel, and people are pitiful.” F. Nietzsche sharply criticizes Christian culture, believing that the modern European has degenerated into a “domestic animal” and the next two centuries will become the triumph of nihilism. The Nietzschean pathos of “revaluation of values” influenced cultural philosophy. According to O. Spengler, a living “organic” culture, subjected to “inorganic” industrial expansion, turns into a dead civilization; such a fate will soon befall Europe.
The 20th century, with its world wars and revolutions, provided rich food for pessimistic sentiments. The philosophy of existentialism emphasizes that feelings of fear, anxiety, despair, and abandonment have become the main mentalities of the era. In the world of “reification,” a person loses the ability to delve into the deep meanings of existence, becomes convinced of the absurdity of reality (A. Camus), and all unique bursts of genius are stifled by the dominant mass culture (X. Ortega y Gaset).
Today, despite the general optimistic complacency associated with building a humanistic open society, a number of philosophies. directions (traditionalism, postmodernism) are pessimistic about the future of the West. culture, believing that in conditions of rapid development of the material side of civilization, to the detriment of the spiritual, a person loses freedom and his purpose.

Philosophy: Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M.: Gardariki.Edited by A.A. Ivina.2004 .

PESSIMISM

see Optimism and pessimism.

Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia.Ch. editor: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov.1983 .

PESSIMISM

(from Latin pessimum worst, worst)

in ordinary usage, a worldview imbued with despondency, hopelessness, and disbelief in a better future; portraying everything in a dark light. That personal belief or philosophical tendency which, as opposed to optimism, considers the world first of all its negative aspects, considers the world hopelessly bad, and human existence completely meaningless. Pessimism finds religious expression, in particular, in Buddhism, the Old Testament and Christianity. Melancholy – pathological form of pessimism. Representatives of philosophical pessimism are Schopenhauer and Hartmann. Pessimist – a person prone to pessimism; pessimistically and - imbued with pessimism.

Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary.2010 .

People have 2 types of perception of the world: optimistic and pessimistic. Both views have their place. Negative or positive thinking has a huge impact on life. Any perception becomes the basic value of a person’s character. Often, pessimists do not identify themselves as such, believing that they have a very real view of things, and not an embellished one. An optimist considers any negative moment in life to be an accident, joyful events are constant and completely natural. So who is a pessimist, and what is a pessimistic mood?

Pessimist- what kind of person

A pessimist is a person with a negative way of thinking. At any time, in any era, there have always been optimists and pessimists. In real everyday life, a pessimist is a person who evaluates any situation as a permanent negative moment, complaining that everything could have happened differently, but not with him and not in this world. Pessimism has always been opposed to optimism. An optimist, in turn, is not afraid of any changes, highlighting only the positive aspects of the situation and talking about them as a matter of course.

In philosophy, optimistic perception indicates that there is a lot of joy in the world, many moments that give happiness and peace, many places that show the beauty of nature, etc. Pessimist - who is this in religious interpretation? In most religions the negative motive predominates. For example, Buddhism advocates a life of suffering and sorrow, despite the fact that the true goal of this religion is to achieve nirvana.

Definition of Pessimism

Pessimism is a depressed mood, a vision of the world in gray colors, a constant feeling of mental pain, lack of well-being and positive thoughts, sadness, and a depressive state. Since both women and men can be pessimists, the question “Who is a pessimist?” should not arise.

What does the word pessimist mean? Translated from many languages, a pessimist or pessimist are people who have a negative outlook on life.

Note! Due to the pronunciation in different languages, many people wonder about the correct spelling of the word: pessimist or pessimist. The correct spelling is pessimist (this word is of foreign origin, so there is no test).

Is it good or bad to be a pessimist?

It is impossible to answer the question “is it good or bad to be a pessimist.” Firstly, the emotional reaction of a person with this way of thinking to what is happening is not always clear. Some pessimists eat themselves up from the inside with constant thoughts that everything in life is bad and they cannot change anything. Others know how to abstract themselves from a bad situation and do not experience the stress of constantly evaluating it; they simply forget about what is happening. Secondly, their reaction to criticism and the attitude of others is unclear. As a rule, pessimists are more loyal to criticism than optimists, but there are also those who will try to prove that their concepts are the only correct ones, driving themselves into a manic-depressive state.

More often than not, because pessimists do not expect anything good from life, they experience euphoria from any positive outcome. This is more difficult for optimists, since they are initially aimed at an excellent result, and for them this does not become a pleasant “surprise”.

Important! Dividing people into “bad” pessimists and “satisfied” optimists is a stupid and useless exercise. It is much easier to monitor your own worldview and try to avoid judging someone else’s.

Types of pessimists

Pessimists are conventionally divided into 2 categories:

1. Irrational;
2. Rational.

Irrational – do not know how to objectively assess the situation and situation. Due to low self-esteem, they constantly feel that they are involved in one or another negative situation. Irrational negativists love noise around themselves, prefer to inform everyone about their thoughts and reasoning, and try to impose their opinions on others. They are accustomed to seeing fatality in everything; with age, this problem only gets worse. As a rule, they are ineffective, since they consider any manifestation in order to improve the situation impossible.

Rational pessimists are more objective. They can analyze a situation into its components and adequately assess their chances of winning. Most often, rational pessimism is widespread. This can be noticed in some global situations, for example, during elections or in the process of preserving and restoring the world ecology, etc.

How to recognize a pessimist

Is it possible to recognize a pessimist? There are no physiological differences between pessimists and optimists. It is possible to identify a pessimist only by communicating with him. People with negative thinking cannot hide it from others. They are usually extremely skeptical and prone to spleen and depression. Pessimists rarely consider themselves as such. More often they call themselves realists. Despite any advantages they have, they always doubt the successful completion of the matter.

According to some studies, scientists have come to the conclusion that a person who is accustomed to seeing the negative in everything lives a shorter life, looks older than his age, can constantly find various diseases and fight them unsuccessfully.

Women's pessimism is often more pronounced than men's. What is a pessimist? Due to frequent hormonal imbalances, women tend to dramatize some life situations and complain about them.

How to deal with a pessimist

Communicating with a negativist is quite difficult, especially for those with an unstable psyche. After all, there is a possibility that a person will become infected with a pessimistic attitude. What does a pessimistic negative attitude mean? This is a vision of the situation only in a negative form. Pessimists can be good manipulators. The purpose of manipulation is to increase the need for attention and participation in constant problems. This means that pessimists are trying to induce a feeling of guilt that someone is luckier than them.

The most important thing in dealing with pessimists is not to succumb to these very manipulations. You can sympathize with the problem, you can even try to help solve it, but you cannot take responsibility for the fate and life of a person. Even a stable optimist will not have enough strength and energy to solve all the world's problems. And is it worth doing this if the pessimist still will not be satisfied with the favorable outcome of the matter?

You can help a person take responsibility for his life on his own, showing that not everything is so bad in this world. If things are worse for him than for others, then only he has the power to change the situation for the better.

How do people become pessimists?

Most often, worldview is inherited. It is impossible to change a person at the genetic level, or scientists have not yet figured out how to do this. That is, pessimism or optimism is more or less embedded in a person’s head when he is in the womb. But genetics does not guarantee that a pessimistic mother will have the same child. Worldview also depends on the pressure of external factors. This does not only apply to situations or the surrounding society that influences a person. Even ecology can influence one’s attitude towards life. Under hormonal influence, some genes become more active, others more passive. From this it follows that genes can be controlled.

Glucocorticoid receptors also influence gene activity. The more active receptors a person has, the stronger he resists stressful situations, depression, negativity, etc. To a greater extent, the work of these receptors begins at a very young age and depends on the abundance of maternal love. If at a very young age a child had enough maternal warmth and affection, it is more likely that stressful situations will not affect the worldview of an adult.

According to some studies, it has become clear that pessimists have a more active right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for the manifestation of emotions. It is this hemisphere that is responsible for anxiety, negativism, frustration, tearfulness, etc. Moreover, nothing bad may happen in the lives of people with such an attitude, but they will live with a constant feeling of anxiety and foreboding, this reduces their resistance to stress.

As an adult, it is unlikely that you will be able to retrain from a pessimist to an optimist. There are a number of techniques that can correct pessimistic thoughts and add a few optimistic notes to your outlook on many things. You can take a course in cognitive bias modification and take up meditation. This will help you find a balance of thoughts and not oppress yourself for no apparent reason.

Should we get rid of pessimism?

Pessimism must be eliminated if such an attitude is harmful to a person’s health and life. For example, if, in addition to a pessimistic attitude, there are deeper psychological problems, such as a tendency to depression. If negative thinking does not harm common sense and does not contribute to the desire to harm others, then you can live with such a view of the world and even enjoy it, in rare cases.

Pessimists are not “bad” people. These are not necessarily criminals or mentally ill individuals. These are those who see the world in their own way, who do not expect unexpected luck from fate. I would like to believe that pessimists, thinking about the worst, still hope for the best.

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