My wife has commented that one of my previous posts, Moments of Reflection, where I have focused on the atrocities of life in its various forms and hence may have conveyed a feeling of helplessness, does not seem to jive with my usual optimistic outlook. I must admit that must be the result of a momentary lapse of resolve where everything looked so overwhelming.
Then I was reminded by the expose by Victor E. Frankl in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, where he expounded on the term “tragic optimism”, which seems oxymoronic at first. However, according to him, tragic here is not meant to qualify optimism, but rather as a contrast, a positive reaction you may say, to tragic events. In his words, it is optimistic in spite of the “tragic triad”, the three emotions that circumscribe human existence: pain, guilt, and death.
How so? He put it eloquently as a one-to-one correspondence:
Firstly, turning suffering into a human achievement and accomplishment.
Secondly, deriving from guilt the opportunity to change oneself for the better.
Thirdly, deriving from life transitoriness an incentive to take responsible action.
In everyday parlance and at an individual level, this would amount to picking up the pieces and eventually rising up from the ashes. Stare down life’s adversity for an indefatigable spirit never stays down forever.
4 comments:
Read Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life" on man search for meaning in life..or The Alchemist" by Paolo C..both are best sellers...as for me the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament by King Solomon has given me a glimpse of what life is all about..
Yes, I recall we did have a short exchange on the Book of Ecclesiastes, which I did not finish.
Also, I checked out 'Purpose-driven life" once from the local library but did not get to finish reading it as well.
I think different faiths arrive at a similar set of "purpose" along different paths. For me, I'm more into Buddhist books now. But thanks for the recommendations.
..i read deeply into Buddha's teachings and basically Buddhism is a way of life ..a philosohy of living...you will be surprised how similar the book of ecclesiases is to what Prince Siddhartha is seeking before he attain buddhahood...
You're right on that score. However, there's one distinct difference: Buddhists believe that to attain buddhahood and even ascencion to heaven (yes, such a notion exists in Buddhism too, called nirvana) is all self-driven. There is no divine help. I'm now reading the english translation of Four Noble Truths to cross-reference with the chiness text and am beginning to understand better some of the buddhist teachings.
From India, the birthplace of Buddhism, there are two main branches of the spread: the North Branch came to China via Tibet than onward to Korea and Japan. The sutras are in Sanskrit and have been translated into Chinese.
The South Branch went through Sri Lanka, where the Pali language flourished, then onward to Myama, Thailand and Vietnam. Most of the english buddhist texts are translated by Sri Lankan monks.
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