Pessimism
“The human race falls into pessimism …when men fail to wait upon God.” (Dynamis 4/6/2022)
“One can…describe the attitude that comes to prevail with the so-called Enlightenment—the historical context for the historical-critical method—as being negative, or pessimistic, towards God, Scripture, nature (i.e., asserting that things are randomly arranged by impersonal, natural forces according to impersonal, natural laws), and all kinds of difficulties, whether in one’s life, or in Scripture…nature is not how it should be, so it is held that people should, and are capable of, conquering nature and forcing the establishment of some kind of utopia. If there is a God, He is so far removed and indifferent that it makes no practical difference. So in this view there is no possibility of synergy, of deification/ sanctification, or of experiencing the heavenly Kingdom now—even if there is such a thing as an afterlife, which there most probably is not. If there is any happiness possible in this life, it is all up to humanity to make.” (Dr. Mary S. Ford)
“… everyone is susceptible to the midlife crisis—both successful people who have achieved great results and have made a good career, and those people who feel that they have achieved nothing. It’s just that the former think that they’ve been striving for the wrong thing all their lives, they had to choose the right goal…while the latter begin to consider themselves complete losers; losers who have achieved nothing in life and lived it in vain…all these thoughts are from the evil one, who wants to lower us into the abyss of sadness and despondency, to bind our will. Such a pessimistic view is very one-sided and biased…However, there is no reason to be discouraged. The period of maturity and middle age is beautiful in its own way, and contains many opportunities for a happy, full life; we will talk about this later…all these dark thoughts and fears are just in our heads…the most important thing we should do in middle age is to find ourselves, our spiritual and personal growth. By the way, the realization that we have already entered the second part of life and are approaching eternity can serve as a powerful incentive for us to prepare for this eternal life.” (Archpriest Pavel Gumerov)
“Life is not one continuous evil: an unbiased mind and an unclouded moral sense will always approve of those rationally moral manifestations of life that fulfill the inner demands of goodness. Life holds many joys and bright aspects that balance, and even outweigh, suffering. In any case, suffering and displeasure do not make life worse or inferior to non-existence. A living person experiences suffering, but also experiences joys and pleasures that make him forget his misfortunes, whereas the concepts of pleasant and unpleasant are absolutely inapplicable to non-existence. By ceasing to exist as feeling and conscious individuals, we would admittedly gain absolute liberation from all displeasure and suffering. However, we would also deprive ourselves of all joys and pleasures. Will there be any gain in the end? None at all…a pessimistic attitude in the sense of a complete aversion to any form of life is neither a normal nor a universal feeling: By nature, all living things love life and recoil from death. Good is found in life, certainly not in self-destruction…And with the coming of Christ to earth, there came even greater reason for a bright outlook on life. The life and Passion of Christ provide the path and the means to restore the broken harmony, opening the gates of Paradise to us once again.” (St. Tikhon Belavin)
“The Christian attitude is one of supreme confidence that God’s plan is being carried out in our lives and in our time. It has no place for fatalism, pessimism or fear. That would be a capitulation. We are baptized. We are all agents of Him who came to transform the world from ignorance and fatalism…There’s not space or place for pessimism, pity, despair or defeat.” (Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky)
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