Cioran's philosophy: Can we get wisdom from a pessimist?

Caspersen Beach in the Gulf of Mexico - Photo: Still Gravity.
Decaying in the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. The trees are falling one by one in this sandbar under the patient beating of the sea. Photo taken at Caspersen Beach, Florida - License our images here. 

Pessimism is a bad word in our times. It carries a bad reputation. But pessimism is all around us. It survives in individuals, religions, and philosophies in a time where most humans are or pretend to be optimists - at least in the developed world. Goals, motivation, and growth - add your own list here -, point to an optimist perspective of life. 

The problem with the common dislike for pessimist ideas is that this way of thinking leaves us like chickens without feathers. Pessimism removes all comfort and protection from our minds. It even can open the door to the dark world of depression. 

Seen from another angle, pessimism can show realities that we don't want to see because of our voluntary exodus to a fictional mental world. Yes, it's always better "to live" in the realm of fantasies, even if sometimes they are not the safest bet for our survival. 

The point is that a small dose of pessimism can bring us closer to the "way" of the universe. It can make us see many things like they are and embrace life like it is. This may translate in living with passion and better tolerance to change. 

Under the eye of the pessimist philosopher our life experiences are curated images. Lives in denial, always looking for distraction. 

Emil Cioran would come with these points:
  • All exists and nothing exists.
  • Injustice is the norm of the universe.
  • Everybody is miserable in some way.
  • We crave what we don't have. 
  • Nobody comes to the world with a task. 
  • When idle, we can learn more things.
  • We can't endure monotony and hate inaction.
  • Beauty and exaggeration live together.
  • Most people understand everything after witnessing death and suffering.
  • Deep inside, everybody has prejudices and suffer from intolerance to something.
  • We can accept the concept of death, but not the time of our own death. 
  • Your future is death. 
Cioran studied the ideas of Arthur Schopenhauer since his youth and took a lot from him. 

In his thoughts you see the continual wishing and never being satisfied, our unhappiness and the perennial quest for happiness, the foolish idea of seen life like a task, the missing of the present in working for the future, and the becoming and never being from Plato. 

He also saw a humanity lost in the timeline of life where "every evening we are poorer by a day" - this line is from Schopenhauer's essay "The Vanity of Existence."

Emil Cioran was a secluded philosopher that never accepted awards. Strangely, it's said that this pessimist had many friends. Sounds like a contradiction, right?

As incompetent in life as in death, I loathe myself and in this loathing I dream of another life, another death. And for having sought to be a sage such as never was, I am only a madman among the mad...

          Emil Cioran, A Short History of Decay.  

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