Sunday, July 19, 2015

Cynicism



There's a difference between Skepticism & Cynicism.


While skeptics may doubt, and do not accept an IDEA without understanding it fully through logic/experience, Cynics take a PERSON, or worse, Human beings in general to be flawed, by nature, and as driven by selfishness, greed, anger, lust, false ego. 


Doubts come and go. A cynic assumes beforehand the worse to be true. Not trusting the goodness of people around, often without a thorough examination. There is no margin for imperfections left before adjudging a person as untrustworthy. If a person is not seen as pure white, that has to be black, in a cynics book.


What is beyond a cynic’s grasp is, the thoughts, emotions or tendencies of the mind do not define a person. Neither are qualities - good or bad - permanent. Any thought or action is a product of a person’s state of mind at that moment, the situation, and past impressions – that is Karma. 


Judging a person by any of his past action or word, taking it to be a line on stone is not only unwise, it transforms healthy skepticism into hard cynicism, turns love into hatred, alienates a person from people around, brings loneliness and depression, and in turn, makes a person fiercely defensive of his views, going in a stonewall so as to be somehow guarded from pain. They begin to see sensitivity and innocence as fragility and vulnerability – a weakness. And take pride in smart cynicism as an ability to ‘see through’ people.


But pain is as much a beautiful part of life as joy is. One just cannot insulate oneself from pain. And neither should try. As anything one tries – So called ‘positive attitude’, defensiveness, sarcasm, escapism - will be superficial. Pain is there for a reason. It gives depth and new insights, brings loved ones closer to support you, and reminds you of impermanent nature of things.


Human beings do not come in Black or White. There are all shades of colours, different at any given moment. Thoughts change, emotions change, opinions change. Nothing is worth holding on to, except the realization that our true nature is pure consciousness, which gets hidden by imperfections, which are just distortions because of ego and past karma. This is an understanding that Indian mind sciences give, with its source in the Upanishads, and is best achieved through experience, not by intelligence alone. 


A cynic’s view that human beings are essentially flawed and have to be disciplined - or have to be fearful of God sitting somewhere in heaven - in order to behave is more reminiscent of desert religions.  And that gets reflected in psychological theories that originated in the west. That thoughts and actions are a product of deep-rooted fear or memory of some events of the past, and that makes up a personality. The same discipline of psychology does take different phobia or emotional disturbance or depression as issues that need help. 


The point that i look to arrive at in this write-up, essentially a reflection at the approach taken by many to make sense of the world, is that cynicism causes so much negativity that it is a sure-shot path to depression. (As emphasized in paragraph 5 above.) As such, it should also be viewed as a tendency that needs help to come out of. A vicious spiral not only harmful to the person involved, but also the people around who get pulled down by the negativity. 


Thanks for reading. Please do leave your comments, as i look forward to your views and a good discussion and new insights.

लोकः समस्त सुखिनो भवन्तु

-BhairaviParag


4 comments:

  1. Dr Bithika Shukla20 Jul 2015, 11:01:00

    I enjoyed reading this. A very interesting poibnt to me was "Human beings do not come in Black or White. There are all shades of colours, different at any given moment".
    What a profound truth ! Apparently so simple and yet elusive to grasp esp when we are in the throes of emotion whether positive or negative. If only we could remember that all the time we wouldn't go overboard either in our appreciation which frequently leads to later disappointment ; or condemnation which breeds negativity.

    As for cynicism per se, a healthy dose of it is an essential survival tool in today's times. But only enough to protect us from those who would take advantage of us. Being overly trusting can come at a great cost, sometimes more than one can afford and affects your life really long term. I speak that from personal experience.

    But I completely agree with you that once it degenerates into negativity it becomes a destructive force. As with simply everything in this world, moderation is important there too. As they say , " A cynic is someone who knows the price of everything anfd the value of nothing " A sad state to be in indeed. And as you say, they drag others down as well.

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    1. Yes, Dr. Bithika

      That is why i seek to differentiate between healthy skepticism, to examine any ideas words actions of a person whenever a doubt arises, as against cynicism as a worldview - as an approach to life, seeing human beings in general to be essentially flawed.

      They may trust someone as long as they do not come across any imperfection, and then if disillusioned for some reason, get further grounded in cynic tendencies, perhaps feeling vindicated, leading often to breakdown of communication. As 'ad hominem' arguments, the flawed logic stops one from learning or appreciating many good things about people they 'write off'.

      As such, they miss out on so much beauty in life, that it is unhealthy.

      Thank you very much for taking time out to comment. :)
      -Bhairavi

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  2. This is such an eye opener Bhairavi!
    You have to be told about the stain on your face. There are truths one is intuitive about but has to hear from others to internalize. I think i've been a cynic for a while.
    Thx for this piece. Write on.

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    1. That's about the most encouraging response any expression can get, that it was relatable.
      Thanks!

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