THE OPTIMISTIC EXISTENTIALIST
FOCUSING US ON A GLIMPSE OF OUR REAL AND HUMAN POTENTIAL
AN AWARENESS OF FREEDOM
To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
To defy Power, which seem omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope till Hope itself creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;
This, like thy glory, Titan! is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;
This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory!
Shelley, "Prometheus Unbound"
Our literature, philosophy, music, films and TV programs are full of expressions of hopelessness and despair. And surely if we examine our own attitudes, most of us will admit to finding it much easier to believe in failure than in success. After all, it's much easier to justify apathy by assuming that a cause is hopeless than it is to battle it out with a sense of what is possible. John Morgan
There is something inside of me that hungers for triumph and conquest. The Literature of Hope assures us that it's possible.
EFFORT, FOCUS, CONCENTRATION, PRACTICE, PATIENCE, FORGIVENESS, AN AWARENESS OF MYSELF AS PART OF ETERNITY - This is what the literature of hope is all about.
A literature of hope is about leading an optimistic life and writing about it. Letting others in on the secret that life really can be lived. The purpose and the focus quell the existential, "pessimistic," habit that wants to dominate - cementing another brick in the wall.
This is what it's all about: "Existing" isn't enough for me. "Existing with quality" is what I'm after. That, and the ability to touch type.
Robert M. Hutchins asked, What do we read to hold before us what Whitehead has called "the habitual vision of greatness?" The Great Conversation. (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1952).
We should impart our courage, not our despair. Thoreau, Walden
HERE ARE SOME BOOKS THAT MEET MY CRITERIA
A Walk in The Woods, Bill Bryson
Cannery Row, Steinbeck
Chasing the Hawk, Andrew Sheehan
Chi Kung, Way of Power, Master Lam Kam Chuen
Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis
East of Eden, Steinbeck
Ecclesiastes, Solomon
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Wolfe
Endurance, Shakelton
Four Minute Mile, Banister
G.K. Chesterton
Going Lite, Ray Jardine
Going the Distance, George Sheehan
Hardcore Zen, Brad Warner
Huckleberry Finn, Twain
King Arthur, tales from the Round Table, Andrew Lange
Love, Leo Buscaglia
Never Cry Wolf, F. Mowat
Personal Best, George Sheehan
POGO, Walt Kelly
Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Kiosaka
Robin Hood, Roger Green Lancelyn, et al
Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
Running and Being, George Sheehan
Self Reliance, Emerson
Swiss Family Robinson, Johann Wyss
The Art of Loving, Eric Fromm
The Education of H*Y*M*A*N* K*A*P*L*A*N*
The Gay Genius (The Life and Times of Su Tungpo), Lin Yutang
The Books In My Life, Colin Wilson
The Importance of Living, Lin Yutang
The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
Towards a Psychology of Being, Abraham Maslow
Treasure Island, Stevenson
Tuesdays with Morrey, Mitch Albon
Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe
Walden, Thoreau
What Makes Life Significant?, William James
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig
I am searching for a literature that leaves frustration and boredom behind, replaced with a confidence and assuredness about the value of my effort, focus, concentration, practice, patience, forgiveness, and an awareness of myself as part of eternity
This is writing that helps me explore what to do with my life, rather than just telling an interesting story or championing futility. This is the art that assists me to arrive at the Yes! that combats the everlasting triviality and sameness. This literature shines a light on the unthinking pessimist in me who paints life as meaningless, poor entertainment, a waste of time. I am more than a passive observer unable to influence my life or destiny. In fact, every day is filled with infinite possibilities, just as soon as I take the time to concentrate, to praise the Lord, to appreciate.
"American psychologist and philosopher Abraham H. Maslow (1908-1970) coined this term to describe nonreligious quasi-mystical and mystical experiences. Peak experiences are sudden feelings of intense happiness and well-being, and possibly the awareness of "ultimate truth" and the unity of all things. Accompanying these experiences is a heightened sense of control over the body and emotions, and a wider sense of awareness, as though one was standing upon a mountaintop. The experience fills the individual with wonder and awe. He feels at one with the world and is pleased with it; he or she has seen the ultimate truth or the essence of all things.
"Maslow's work has been called ground breaking because it concerned the spiritual yearnings of humankind and focused a scientific interest on mysticism. Such an endeavor had been absent since the work of psychologist and philosopher William James at the beginning of the twentieth century.
"Maslow described peak experiences as self-validating,
self-justifying moments with their own intrinsic value; never
negative, unpleasant or evil; disoriented in time and space; and
accompanied by a loss of fear, anxiety, doubts, and inhibitions."
A.G. Hefner, Peak Experiences.
Read. And read a literature of hope.