I sometimes get asked, “Visa, why are you so optimistic/deluded? Why do you believe in people? Why do you care about people? What’s the point? Why bother, when you’ll only get hurt and disappointed?”
The reasoning is as follows:
1: I believe in myself.
2: I believe that I am in no way inherently superior or inferior to anyone else.
3: If I am to believe in myself, I must, by extension, believe in others, who are no different from me.
4: I believe in others.
There are a few interesting facts/ideas you can distil from this series of reasoning while remaining logically consistent, and they are as follows:
– People who believe in themselves but not in others must likely be convinced that they are inherently superior to other people, or that others are inherently inferior to them. This is the sort of ignorant reasoning that fuels prejudice, racism, hatred and bigotry.
– People who believe firstly that nobody is superior to anybody else, and secondly that others are not worth believing in, subsequently cannot believe in themselves. I think that this is the sort of reasoning that fuels depression, self-harm and suicide. (I’m not saying that everybody who is depressed or suicidal necessarily got there through this kind of reasoning- merely that this kind of reasoning is one of the many ways you can get there.)
Why believe in yourself? Well, you have much to gain and little to lose. (See Pascal’s Wager.) Not everybody who believes in themselves wins a Nobel prize, but nobody wins a Nobel Prize without first believing in themselves. It is arguably rational to consciously choose to “delude” yourself that you are worth believing in. (See Self-fulfilling Prophecy.)
Interestingly, I find Pascal’s Wager to be convincing justification for belief in oneself, but unconvincing justification for belief in God. But that’s a story for another day.
Why I believe in people.
I sometimes get asked, “Visa, why are you so optimistic/deluded? Why do you believe in people? Why do you care about people? What’s the point? Why bother, when you’ll only get hurt and disappointed?”
The reasoning is as follows:
1: I believe in myself.
2: I believe that I am in no way inherently superior or inferior to anyone else.
3: If I am to believe in myself, I must, by extension, believe in others, who are no different from me.
4: I believe in others.
There are a few interesting facts/ideas you can distil from this series of reasoning while remaining logically consistent, and they are as follows:
– People who believe in themselves but not in others must likely be convinced that they are inherently superior to other people, or that others are inherently inferior to them. This is the sort of ignorant reasoning that fuels prejudice, racism, hatred and bigotry.
– People who believe firstly that nobody is superior to anybody else, and secondly that others are not worth believing in, subsequently cannot believe in themselves. I think that this is the sort of reasoning that fuels depression, self-harm and suicide. (I’m not saying that everybody who is depressed or suicidal necessarily got there through this kind of reasoning- merely that this kind of reasoning is one of the many ways you can get there.)
Why believe in yourself? Well, you have much to gain and little to lose. (See Pascal’s Wager.) Not everybody who believes in themselves wins a Nobel prize, but nobody wins a Nobel Prize without first believing in themselves. It is arguably rational to consciously choose to “delude” yourself that you are worth believing in. (See Self-fulfilling Prophecy.)
Interestingly, I find Pascal’s Wager to be convincing justification for belief in oneself, but unconvincing justification for belief in God. But that’s a story for another day.