h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I set out with high hopes like most I suppose. Expecting more good things than bad..and like most discovered the opposite.

Of course unless one tops oneself you live with it.

That's the hard fact of life we all have to face. There's not really anything other than that to really know.

And never trust people. That's a silly Christian idea. People are fundamentally nasty. There's a few who aren't..but if you go around expecting people not to kick you in the teeth you will come a right cropper every time they do. Because as sure as eggs are eggs plenty will.

The only thing to be done is to express it. Some will by smashing up things..people or objects...or there can be art. But when even that fails..you can smash yourself up.

You can do it slowly or quickly.

But for god sakes learn...especially if you are a vulnerable type with an open heart. you will have a lifetime of teeth being kicked in..best accept that and learn to deal with it.

Sooner or later we all get cynical.

I've just started reading Keats' Endymion again and thought I'd mention it here.

A THING of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. . . .



I guess he didn't live long enough to become cynical.

Yes he didn't live long enough for that.

But he may well have been lying in any case to make great poetry

<>

Perhaps we all do a bit, but to different degrees.

Cynicism is basically an alien concept for me...but in certain circumstances it can be really helpful to clarify things.

But its never going to be something I feel that at home with. But yes now and then a dose of it is good.

I think cynicism is most useful when you encounter people behaving in unexpected ways that cause you upset..and that can be in all sorts of ways. Direct viciousness, abject cowardice of confronting things in themselves which affect the way they relate are examples.

As I'm someone that is naturally optimistic about relationships its deeply crushing to discover other people's attitudes often.

Cynicism can embitter you. But better to be a bit embittered than receive endless kicks in the teeth of various kinds because you are too childlike trusting.