{"id":17280,"date":"2020-01-07T04:00:45","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T10:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=17280"},"modified":"2019-12-31T20:53:22","modified_gmt":"2020-01-01T02:53:22","slug":"yes-pessimists-can-do-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2020\/01\/yes-pessimists-can-do-magic.html","title":{"rendered":"Yes, Pessimists Can Do Magic!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Somehow I missed Astrea\u2019s post last month asking Can Pessimists Do Magic?<\/a> But I jumped as soon as I saw it. I\u2019ve been accused of being a pessimist all my life (though I prefer to think of myself as a realist), and I\u2019ve also had an interest in magic all my life (even though it took me 30 years to figure out that magic is real).<\/p>\n

Astrea had bad news for me.<\/p>\n

Someone who believes that the worst will happen CAN NOT do magic because they don\u2019t believe that good results are possible.\u00a0 It\u2019s simply against their nature.\u00a0 How could someone who sees only impossible outcomes expect to change the world with their will?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think it\u2019s good to have, if not exactly an optimistic attitude, at least a hopeful attitude. I think Astrea\u2019s recommendations in the second half of her post are very helpful. A little success with magic reinforces the reality of magic, which makes it more likely you\u2019ll work magic again in the future, which makes it likely you\u2019ll have more magical success.<\/p>\n

But I absolutely believe pessimists can do magic. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Magic doesn\u2019t work by belief<\/h1>\n

I have a three-fold understanding of magic<\/a>. Magic works by the intercession of Gods and spirits, by the manipulation of unseen forces, and by psychological programming.<\/p>\n

Gods and spirits do not need our optimism to assist us. As autonomous beings, they simply have to choose to do so. And while it\u2019s good to believe in the Gods<\/a>, They do not call us to believe<\/em> so much as they call us to do<\/em>. The primacy of belief belongs to another religion.<\/p>\n

Unseen forces do not need our belief to be aligned with our goals. They simply have to be manipulated properly. The magical properties of plants and stones don\u2019t change with our belief, nor do the powers of the sun, moon, and stars. Do the spell right and you\u2019ll get results, whether you expect them or not.<\/p>\n

Now, psychological programming definitely works better if you believe in what you\u2019re doing. But even then, your subconscious (where the power for this kind of magic comes from) isn\u2019t directly tied to your conscious mind. It will respond to what you do even if you don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to work. While being pessimistic will diminish psychological magic, it won\u2019t automatically prevent it from working.<\/p>\n

What is pessimism, anyway?<\/h1>\n

Astrea quoted a dictionary definition:<\/p>\n

Pessimists: people who tend to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I used to work with a guy who fit that description. His most common phrase was \u201cwe are so screwed.\u201d Didn\u2019t matter if the topic was business conditions, how an executive might react to his presentation, or the weather forecast. Whatever it was, \u201cwe\u2019re screwed.\u201d But he had a good heart and he generally did the right things, and so he usually got good results.<\/p>\n

Whether he enjoyed them or not is another matter.<\/p>\n

My own pessimism \u2013 if it should be classified as pessimism, which I still argue it shouldn\u2019t \u2013 comes from two sources. The first is an awareness of how many different ways things could go wrong, and the trouble that would bring. This is simple risk management: identify potential problems, take action to prevent them, and make contingency plans in case they do.<\/p>\n

This type of awareness can make your magic more<\/em> effective, by helping you figure out where to work magic, where to apply mundane effort, and where to pay special attention to one or both.<\/p>\n

The second source was a desire to avoid disappointment at all costs. By telling myself \u201cit\u2019s not going to work\u201d I was able to avoid a let-down if it didn\u2019t. But I was usually lying to myself. I thought whatever I was doing would work (or at least there was a good chance it would work) or I wouldn\u2019t have done it in the first place.<\/p>\n

Is that really pessimism? I don\u2019t know. I just know people told me it was\u2026 and telling me \u201cdon\u2019t be such a pessimist\u201d made me that more convinced it was the right approach.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Learning risk assessment<\/h1>\n

If I\u2019m less pessimistic than I was when I was younger, it\u2019s mainly because I can now do a better job of risk assessment.<\/p>\n

There are no guarantees in life. People die driving home from work. An unexpected summons to your boss\u2019s office can mean your job is being eliminated. A magical working may accomplish nothing, or worse, it may rebound on you in a horrible way. These things can happen and they do happen.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, our intuitive risk assessment abilities aren\u2019t very good. We have a strong bias toward recent events and toward dramatic results. Many people are afraid to fly, even though flying is many times safer than driving.<\/p>\n

But with experience \u2013 and with mindful analysis \u2013 I\u2019ve learned to do a better job of estimating what\u2019s likely to happen and what\u2019s not. Yes, I could be killed in a car wreck. But I know the odds are very long, and so I don\u2019t even think about what might happen when I get into a car.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also learned to do a better job of assessing risk vs. reward. I\u2019m fairly confident in my ability to drive in bad weather (such as we get here in North Texas). I\u2019m much less confident in other drivers\u2019 abilities. More than that, though, the reward from going out now vs. waiting a day or two or at most three when things clear is minimal. If the weather is bad I stay home. Now, if I lived in a place where there was snow on the ground for weeks at a time, or if I was in a job where if I couldn\u2019t at least occasionally work from home, my calculation would be rather different.<\/p>\n

By learning to assess risk and risk vs. reward, we can do a better job of being realistic about what might happen without defaulting to pessimistic worst-case assumptions.<\/p>\n

Learning to trust your capabilities<\/h1>\n

Sometimes, even when the odds are in your favor, bad things still happen. Now what?<\/p>\n

Cars get wrecked, cars can be fixed. Lovers leave you, new lovers can be found. The Ivy League schools all rejected you, state or regional universities will accept you. Bad results may hurt \u2013 a lot \u2013 but they\u2019re rarely the end of the world. There are always alternatives, and some of them may end up better than you expected. I\u2019m now very glad my college girlfriend left me when I wasn\u2019t able to see we were a bad match.<\/p>\n

We aren\u2019t wrong to fear pain. But most pain is temporary. More importantly, humans are very resilient creatures. We can overcome much of what happens to us.<\/p>\n

Be careful with this. Trusting your capabilities is a good thing. Telling yourself you shouldn\u2019t be angry or sad or upset when bad things happen is not. Telling others \u201cdon\u2019t worry be happy\u201d is unhelpful and abusive<\/a> \u2013 particularly when you have resources and privileges they may not.<\/p>\n

But if I am less pessimistic than I used to be, it\u2019s also because I\u2019ve learned that when bad things happen I can handle them, one way or another.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Is pessimism a choice?<\/h1>\n

My work friend\u2019s pessimism didn\u2019t prevent him from doing good things. But it certainly impacted his ability to have a pleasant life. Why would he choose such a negative outlook on life?<\/p>\n

Was it really a choice?<\/p>\n

I think back to all the times people told me \u201cquit being so negative!\u201d or \u201cworrying isn\u2019t going to help\u201d or some such garbage that basically said \u201cyour discomfort is making me uncomfortable and I don\u2019t want to have to deal with it.\u201d I never chose to worry. I never chose to think about the things that might go wrong or how they would affect me. I just did.<\/p>\n

Likewise, I haven\u2019t chosen to be more optimistic as I\u2019ve gotten older. I\u2019ve simply developed better coping skills for life. And even now, I don\u2019t think any of those who know me best would describe me as \u201cpositive\u201d or \u201coptimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is who I am.<\/p>\n

And it hasn\u2019t stopped me from working some very successful magic.<\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re a pessimist, or if people tell you you\u2019re a pessimist, don\u2019t feel like magic is closed off to you. I like to tell people that the best way to believe in magic is to work magic \u2013 do the spell right and you\u2019ll get results. Beyond that, Astrea\u2019s recommendations for \u201crecovering pessimists\u201d are all good. So is learning to be realistic about risks, and developing your own resilience.<\/p>\n

But until you get there, just remember: pessimists can<\/em> work magic.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s good to have, if not exactly an optimistic attitude, at least a hopeful attitude. A little success with magic builds confidence in magic, which makes it likely you\u2019ll have more magical success. But I absolutely believe pessimists can do magic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":17289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2868,42,2874,4,5,2877,2880,2871],"class_list":["post-17280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magic","tag-astrea","tag-magic-2","tag-optimism","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-pessimism","tag-risk","tag-starlight-witch"],"yoast_head":"\nYes, Pessimists Can Do Magic!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s good to have, if not exactly an optimistic attitude, at least a hopeful attitude. 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