Every year, I’m impressed by people’s faith behind their resolutions, those hardy perennials that crop up on a regular basis: lose weight, start exercising, take up a new hobby. Regardless of the resolution, the faith remains in hope: we can all be better people tomorrow. Of course, anyone can say that this is not supported by evidence since they are repeated so often, we could hardly be making good on our promises, can we? Montaigne once said, “Is it not stupidity to let myself be fooled so many times by one guide?”
I’m not sure I agree because as cynical and sceptical as I am, I don’t underestimate the value of hope. I try to think of myself as glass-half-full and I usually am, but it’s not easy. Don’t let those pessimists let you think that being an optimist is the easy side cuuz it ain’t. Think about it, to have to keep believing in other people (who sometimes let you down), to have faith in your ability to stand by your resolutions (even though history suggests otherwise), is not an easy task. I disagree with the great philosopher (with all due respect) because resolutions represent a distinct and oddly inspiring sub-category of error: ‘wrongness as optimism’.
This doesn't slumber quietly all year, waiting to make an appearance in the final week of the year as we begin to reminisce and take notes on what we achieved this year. On the contrary, it is with us all the time, such as when my friend says he’s smoking his last cigarette. Why I lug 5 books about philosophy on a 2 week holiday, none of which is even opened. It is why I went to sleep last night, saying I’ll wake up early this morning, go to the gym and continue working on college applications (In reality: I had breakfast, rearranged the living room with my mother – counts as gymming, right? – and browsed the newspaper.) It applies to everyone. Politicians, once elected, who had good faith in their campaign, break their promises, because they, like the rest of us, overestimate their ability to make good on their hopes and dreams. It explains why ardent sports fans continue to support the hopeless underdog teams.
As easy as it is to mock our species for falling for this trick time and again, the truth is we are wise to be this particular kind of wrong. In most aspects of life, climate science for example, we do not want blind faith to outweigh the importance of facts and the evidence. But, in the case of murkier terrain such as our sense of self, a small sense of delusion serves us well by preventing us from falling into existential despair; The classic Waiting for Godot-complex, but never finding out the truth, nor believing in your ability to achieve and create change in your life. In fact, a lack of faith that our lives will get better in the future is a classic warning sign of depression.
The second reason is that sometimes, wrongness as optimism, wonderfully transforms into rightness. Human beings can never become something without pretending to be it first; so, in other words, resolutions are successful acts of the imaginations, not just the failure of will. That is not to say that you will lose 20 pounds, stop eating chocolate or spend more time with your children in 2012 just by resolving to do so. However, you will be doomed to failure if you never even dreamed of those resolutions in the first place.
Just as our other forms of wrongness as optimism propel out of bed after a wasted day watching all seasons of Dexter, our annual resolutions propel us into the new year, hopeful all over again that we will be better people in the days to come. So here’s to that, and to 2012 – the year that I shall finally figure out what I want to do in life, attain my goal dress size and ride every roller-coaster in the world (and hopefully, not die, but that’s for another post!)
I’m not sure I agree because as cynical and sceptical as I am, I don’t underestimate the value of hope. I try to think of myself as glass-half-full and I usually am, but it’s not easy. Don’t let those pessimists let you think that being an optimist is the easy side cuuz it ain’t. Think about it, to have to keep believing in other people (who sometimes let you down), to have faith in your ability to stand by your resolutions (even though history suggests otherwise), is not an easy task. I disagree with the great philosopher (with all due respect) because resolutions represent a distinct and oddly inspiring sub-category of error: ‘wrongness as optimism’.
This doesn't slumber quietly all year, waiting to make an appearance in the final week of the year as we begin to reminisce and take notes on what we achieved this year. On the contrary, it is with us all the time, such as when my friend says he’s smoking his last cigarette. Why I lug 5 books about philosophy on a 2 week holiday, none of which is even opened. It is why I went to sleep last night, saying I’ll wake up early this morning, go to the gym and continue working on college applications (In reality: I had breakfast, rearranged the living room with my mother – counts as gymming, right? – and browsed the newspaper.) It applies to everyone. Politicians, once elected, who had good faith in their campaign, break their promises, because they, like the rest of us, overestimate their ability to make good on their hopes and dreams. It explains why ardent sports fans continue to support the hopeless underdog teams.
As easy as it is to mock our species for falling for this trick time and again, the truth is we are wise to be this particular kind of wrong. In most aspects of life, climate science for example, we do not want blind faith to outweigh the importance of facts and the evidence. But, in the case of murkier terrain such as our sense of self, a small sense of delusion serves us well by preventing us from falling into existential despair; The classic Waiting for Godot-complex, but never finding out the truth, nor believing in your ability to achieve and create change in your life. In fact, a lack of faith that our lives will get better in the future is a classic warning sign of depression.
The second reason is that sometimes, wrongness as optimism, wonderfully transforms into rightness. Human beings can never become something without pretending to be it first; so, in other words, resolutions are successful acts of the imaginations, not just the failure of will. That is not to say that you will lose 20 pounds, stop eating chocolate or spend more time with your children in 2012 just by resolving to do so. However, you will be doomed to failure if you never even dreamed of those resolutions in the first place.
Just as our other forms of wrongness as optimism propel out of bed after a wasted day watching all seasons of Dexter, our annual resolutions propel us into the new year, hopeful all over again that we will be better people in the days to come. So here’s to that, and to 2012 – the year that I shall finally figure out what I want to do in life, attain my goal dress size and ride every roller-coaster in the world (and hopefully, not die, but that’s for another post!)
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| I wish I were that confident. That would be half the battle, right? |
"and hopefully, not die" LMAOOOOOO what an ending haha!
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