The power of positive thinking is supposed to be a panacea, or remedy for all ills. Well, it’s true according to Norman Peale, who has become wealthy from the sales of his book on the topic, aptly titled, The Power of Positive Thinking, and even the articulate Winston Churchill must have been an advocate, saying, “The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.”
However, it’s not always the reality of the situation that they can be changed, or even improved, simply by thinking good thoughts, and I’m not thinking this through any overwhelming disappointment, not rejecting it through any particular insight or superior intelligence, but because there are some things that we clearly cannot change through the power of smiles
and platitudes.
The romanticist in me wants to believe that there is such a ‘force’ available to us, especially in times of what we perceive as significant need, but this Utopian view is certain to disappoint us, and in doing so, our reliance upon that delusion can only drive us further into despair.
In the same way that levitation is best left to Penn and Teller, we will never reach the stage of suspended reality by wishing, and thinking positively. No, we must anticipate and prepare for consequences that lie in wait perhaps taking a more effective perspective that if we see change is required, but we cannot visualise its implementation, then maybe we should change the way we look at the issue, but for goodness sake, let’s not paint the picture brighter than it is.
It’s ironic isn’t it? I write of philosophical matters, morals, morale and morality most weeks, yet here I am advocating pragmatism, and the worst thing about that, is that pragmatism is seen as the ‘darker’ alternative to both philosophy and religion, staples of most societies. The politics and commerce of today are all about short term pragmatism in order to retain power, control and reputation, so am I ‘cheating’ on myself in promoting a level of pragmatism in our achievement of whatever our goals and objectives have become?
I know, I’m asking more questions than I’m offering responses, but this is a tricky balancing act I’m on here. On one hand I advocate our being driven by philosophical imperatives, faith, relationships and morality, yet I also advocate recognition that work, exertion, industry, effort, toil and drudgery are the most necessary companions of thought and consideration. In this respect I do like the words of one, Charles de Lint, who said, “Every time you do a good deed you shine a light a little farther into the dark. And the thing is that when you’re gone, the light is still there, still shining, and will keep shining, pushing the shadows back.”
I want for each of us to want a legacy of being remembered for what we have done, rather than what we have said, because talk is cheap, and appearances can be deceptive. We are capable of building our own monuments to our own achievements, but not like the pyramids or the Sphinx. No, rather our legacy must be, and can easily be in our physical, pragmatic, achievements.
Not for us, self-important pronouncements made safe in the knowledge that a lack of transparency will never see our words come back to bite us.
Even the Islamic faith refers to our creation being in order to “perform great deeds,” inviting us to do naught for the sake of appearance, rather than for the sake of having done right, does it not?
The noted Russian author Feodor Dostoyevsky wrote longingly of the day when mankind would find simple joy in “noble deeds of light and mercy,” rather than in the course indulgences of his day; gluttony, ostentatiousness, envy and boastfulness, “in the vain hope that day will come soon.”
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