Re: Extropian Optimism

From: QueeneMUSE@aol.com
Date: Sat Nov 16 1996 - 10:32:42 MST


David M writes:
"What the hell is Dynamic Optimism?... how would you go about teaching
someone to be... "

Ira B writes:

>>The key lesson is that life continually presents positive opportunities.

Yes! Opportunity is definetely there, if you are
willing to take the risk. It is an art. A WAY OF
THINKING! " heh, a state of being..... zenlike, etc.

I agreed with your post , some form of D.O is included
in well thought out philosophies (dragging in Carlos
Casteneda confused me a bit because from what
I have heard from Casteneda people, there is a
mysticism and magic, something about hidden doors,
reality not being real, and energy leaks throughout the
body- ie: a whole lot of mumbo jumbo that I could
hardly follow; - )

>>Most people miss those opportunities because they err on the side of
skepticism.

Here I agree with the premise... but...
The thing I would change: is say, rather than skepticism,
"err on the side of *pessimism* " OR err by
"beating one's self up".

Skepticism and optimism work REALLY well together.
A good dose of both and one will avoid many pitfalls.

The true skeptic is open minded. I know that cynics and
skeptics look much the same, but it is a totally different
mind set ; )

Dynamic (ever changing) and Optimistic (looking at,
expecting, the best) are best achieved by being
*very good to one's self*, a lesson that the most
intelligent of us often overlook in the quest
for being "right" or perfect.

Max More has some great insights on this. Even, I
I believe, a well developed curriculum on D.O.

Maybe he could be inticed to post a minimized
version of this most excellent course
on the Extro page...
Nadi



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:35:50 MST