How did we get here?

Beliefs

Optimism is core to me. I don't have some fancy question for you to ponder or some dramatic hook here. There's not a better way to describe my beliefs other than "optimism." I did used to believe that there was a bit more cruelty in the world than I do now, but over time, learning new things has led me to believe that we need to be more hopeful and optimistic. When I say this, I mean that we should see the best in people, give them more credit, and look for answers to even the hardest problems because there are always answers. As I went into much detail about earlier, my experiences shaped these beliefs a bit, but I'm pretty proud of them in a way. If you take the chance to hear me out on my optimism, I think that I could make a pretty solid argument. As a result, this chapter will be largely based around opinions of mine and less around stories. Sorry?

Before I say anything, I need to make this clear: As far as religious beliefs, I am an atheist. It feels weird to type that here knowing that it could be public because I haven't actually yet told my family that I don't believe in God, but I don't. I have no idea who of them will read this if any, but I've been an atheist since I was 14, and I'm very happy with it. I'll admit that I'm a bit agnostic-leaning in the sense that I acknowledge the very real possibility of there being some creator or higher power in the universe, but I generally believe that we exist in an infinite realm of time that exists beyond our basic human understanding, and that atheist theories have more validity to them than any other. No, I'm not going to sit here and try to disprove certain religions because anyone who's had an argument about religion knows that it just doesn't work like that. Nothing that I write here will make anyone leave their religion. It's a slow and personal process. I feel this is important to bring up because a result of my atheism is that I hold no pre-determined moral beliefs and I believe that morals are subjective (mostly... at a basic level anyway). It's just important to keep in mind, so nobody will think of using "But God said..." or "But The Bible said..." as a counterargument. I don't care and that doesn't apply to me. I am free from the cuffs of a religion and my mind is more open than ever.

Back to optimism now: I think it's a moral system worthwhile for anyone to explore. See, some people are obsessed with the idea of being a "realist." It seems a little ridiculous to me. Call me prune, but I think "realism" is a buzzword of an idea that doesn't actually mean anything. Those who call themselves such think that they're being real because they "see the world for what it truly is" or whatever. They think that everything is dark and depressing, and that positivity only hides you from an ugly truth. Maybe I'm exaggerating it a little bit, but you get the idea. They're the ones who see reality, but why can't my ideas be reality? Because my ideas are the ones that people would seek out in times of crisis, that makes them less real, apparently. People want to be told good things, and that's a problem to realists. When it actually becomes a moral debate about beliefs, the whole idea of realism is based on just that: being open to an "ugly truth." Maybe this is an attack on them, but I don't care. The point is that some people think optimism is inherently bad because it's not a "realist" idea, when my ideas may be just as real if you are willing to be open to them and consider them like you would a negative reality.

Of course, I should probably actually explain what my optimist beliefs are. As I mentioned, I see the best in people and I give benefit of the doubt. Yeah, I truly do think that people are inherently selfless. I think selflessness exists on different levels. For example, I consider myself a selfless person, but even I have a limit to it. There are people actively exploited in what is basically slave labor every day so people like me can live relaxed lives, and I do nothing about that, as do most people in the developed world. It's not something that we are yet comfortable with, even if a true altruistic standpoint would call us selfish for that. I'll admit that it is selfish on a level, but when it gets to levels that I am comfortable with - which I think are much lower than the average person, - I am very willing to be selfless. The whole idea is not a black-and-white argument between who is selfish and who is selfless. Rather, it is a spectrum of how selfless one really is. Maybe we are all terrible people for not doing more about international slave labor, but besides that, we are pretty selfless to each other. At that point, I would argue that most people are selfless to a reasonable level in this society at a point not much higher than my own.

As I keep living, I learn about more things that fuel optimism for me. Last month, I learned about game theory. No, not "GGGGAME THEORY! THANKS FOR WATCHING!" I mean game theory. Did you know that experiments based around the effectiveness of teamwork found that we work better together than against each other? That may sound obvious or even a little corny, but it mainly suggests that selflessness and trust are the best ways to go. Game theory is built around this where if life is a game, then we can win by working together. Trust is key. Forgiveness is key. Simply understanding that people are not out to get you is key. Sometimes, our emotions lead us to thinking that we can't trust and forgive, and that we need to be protecting ourselves from other people at all costs, but this is just our primate ways of thinking. How many ACTUALLY bad people do you know? Not people who did a bad thing that hurt you, but people that you know for sure are inherently bad people through and through. It's probably less than you'd initially think.

There are so many good reasons to believe in humanity. Climate change is getting better even if there's a lot of work to do still. Our most optimistic predictions a few years ago for climate change are actually in line with what are now our most pessimistic predictions. People are becoming more peaceful and less violent with time. Are you really scared of the people surrounding you? For what good purpose is there? Do you truly believe that you being a normal person is an anomaly, or are you just caught up in your misery? I don't want this to sound like I'm berating anyone for being stuck in a self-intoxicating mindset, but I don't want anyone to hurt themselves. I have a vision where one day, we will all see the best in each other. I know that I've been called a bad person in the past when I certainly didn't feel like one. What could have open-mindedness and compassion done for me instead of calling me that? How often do we call people bad for the things that they do when maybe they feel that they're innocent and just misguided? Good and evil is not everything.

Being attacked for my beliefs saddens me. Yes, I know that I just did a minor attack on realists for their negative belief system, but I still don't think they're bad people because of it. I just think they've gone through a lot and are misguided to be comfortable in their misery. At that point, it almost becomes my civic duty to share the beauty of optimist beliefs with others. If I do share a valid belief system that some people don't have access to due to their emotions, then who am I to shame them for that? I want to help people, and that's my only intent with it. Maybe those like me are the lucky ones. I was talking to a friend and fellow optimist about this - she asked me "Why can't other people be like us?" (not word-for-word) and I didn't have a great answer. Maybe it is luck to be able to view like this, but that doesn't mean I can't help others. Optimism may very well define me, and I'd love to give others the opportunity to see a similar light.

Aside from optimism, though, I enjoy random philosophy. I wouldn't say that I want to be a philosopher one day, but it's an interesting thing to me. I know that I just went on about sharing ideas when I was talking speech and debate, but it's just the truth. We benefit from sharing ideas. My ideas have been rejected before, and I feel like, at times, it was sorely unfair. The marketplace of ideas is a beautiful thing that should be embraced. Who was ever hurt from hearing a new idea? Humans are creative and innovative, so let's use that as much as we can. I'm not saying that we can't have priorities, but you never know where a good idea could come from. I have heard random things from random people that I thought made 0 sense at first glance until I actually sat and thought about it. Some of my best ideas came from very unexpected places. There wasn't some higher council that built them for me. Anyone can come up with a truly great idea, and I think some people don't appreciate that enough. How many great businesses started in a garage?

Beliefs as a whole get very in-depth, so there may be some things that I'm omitting. I'm also very existentialistic, but that idea gets so in-depth that I could write a whole book on my ideas in that realm alone, so it's not really worth trying to condense here. My goal of this section is mainly to show the most fundamental beliefs (optimistic ones) that make me up. There's no point in rambling about random philosophical ideas. I'd rather just share the beliefs that I view as important. It's worth noting that I'm not afraid of sharing certain beliefs (mostly... sometimes my social reputation is begging me to stay quiet), but I do have to prioritize them a bit. Damn to unpopular opinions. I'm just happy to be me. The only thing that I can lose are friends, and I care about them, but I believe that true friends prioritize actions over thoughts in a friendship too. Either way, you can lose others, but never lose yourself, right?