The tragic Optimist's Guide to Surviving Capitalist Nihilism

the point is ladies and gentlemen that Greed for lack of a better word is good greed is Right greed works I walk through these cities the cities of the Western World London New York and sometimes it resembles the most poverty stricken cities of the East there's been a breakdown a betrayal of the social contract in Western life are you depressed or is it just c a p i t a l i s that I we live in a society and this particular brand of society is dominated by never-ending consumerism endless competition and the pursuit of profit slaves worked all the hours they were awake for their entire lives I think like if they can do it so can I and while existing in this Society a lot of us have found ourselves grappling with a profound sense of emptiness we wake up we work to survive and consume to feel whole and yet the promises of capitalism Prosperity happiness fulfillment these things seem increasingly Out Of Reach In America consumerism and individual success are celebrated as the highest forms of human achievement yeah I just want a house in Florida but why I I don't know and on the surf it sounds great but if you just look a little bit deeper it can feel as though the very soul of society is being hollowed out once you peep game and lock into the fact that this overwhelming system ties our human Worth to economic output what normally happens is that instead of feeling like you're the villain in your favorite film that's glorifying white collar crime we're usually left with anxiety disillusionment and a creeping sense of nihilism that questions whether any of it matters at all is anyone else like too aware is there any meaning left to be found in a world governed by profit margins and consumption the rise of nihilism and that's a belief that life lacks intrinsic meaning has become an increasingly common response to this existential crisis so I'm not surprised that a lot of people are so lonely when they're like I don't want to talk to anyone I don't have any hobbies I don't have any friends I just want to stay home and like be on my phone and not do anything add in a hearty Americanized portion of unfettered capitalism and it doesn't take too long before you start to get that lonely sterile Millennial beige feeling inside that hints at the idea that indeed yes meaning has been lost in the endless cycle of production and consumption and yet amongst this existential dread a counterforce emerges tragic optimism tragic optimism is rooted in the belief that meaning can still be cultivated even in the harshest realities for me it provides a framework for surviving and even thriving within a world that often feels void of purpose and so in this essay we're going to explore how capitalism has eroded our sense of meaning fueled a crisis of nihilism and how tragic optimism can offer us a pathway forward we're going to lock in and take the time to examine how through resilience community and critical reflection we can begin to find meaning and a deeper sense of purpose even in the most nihilistic of circumstances by tracing the roots of capitalistic nihilism unpacking the philosophy of tragic optimism we'll figure out together how to survive and maybe even thrive in a system that seems indifferent to human well-being so welcome dear friends to the tragic Optimist guide for survival in capitalistic nihilism as always I would like to preface this video that I don't know [ ] and I just sharing my thoughts with you on how I've learned to navigate this rock for the oh so brief amount of time that we are here I first discovered tragic optimism at 9 years old while covering the Holocaust in my fourth grade social studies class taught by Mr Bell so Mr Bell if you ever see this MVP I won't trauma D on you but what I learned in that class has stuck with me and carried me through the darkness of my entire life and so now I will share it with you dear watcher on a more slightly morbid so trigger warning but in a very tragically optimistic hopecore fashion I recently found out from a cultural perspective that black women have regularly had some of the lowest self opt out of life rates in the US despite being some of the easiest targets that get dog piled on black the black women the black women are the least attractive of all the races black girl some of those black it's like and I don't know I don't know that just gave me a little affirmation that you know should you also want to get some tea or get cozy maybe fold that pile of clothes on your bed or you know load the dishwasher and Yap with me about it that when it comes to perseverance and navigating through the darkness should you want to do that maybe just maybe your girl might be on to something part one what is capitalistic nihilism as we touched on a little bit earlier capitalistic nihilism is that creeping sense of disillusionment when you realize that your life your value your sense of self has been reduced to transactions it's that feeling that no matter how much you work or how many things you acquire there's always going to be something that is deeply missing it's a hollow the material success cannot faill and we see it all around us we see it in the endless amount of ads we see it in the grind stop breathing like a bunny rabbit a bunny rabbit is a victim and it breathes in and out so quickly you can see its stomach going in and out we see it in the obsession with hustle culture or pushing for the next paycheck teens should spend at least five of their teenage years just trying to become successful and so before you start hating in the comments let me say this it literally takes $82 a day to make the average yearly income in America you need to start three passive income streams and master the 46 chaty BT tools that just launched in the last 6 minutes by midnight tonight generational we or you can feel it in that emptiness that comes after yet another purchase that was supposed to make everything better but it didn't this isn't just a feeling it's a symptom of a system that prioritizes profit and productivity over human well-being a lot of people have been sold the idea that fulfillment comes through what we can buy or what we can achieve but the more that we try to fill that void the larger it becomes Let's Take Fight Club for example fight club serves as a pop culture mirror into this experience the main character shares how his life is a series of consumer choices and career accomplishments but but none of it makes him happy advertising has is chasing cars and clothes working jobs we hate so we can buy [ ] we don't need in his disillusionment he becomes consumed by a desire to break free from that very system that traps him by descending into violence this is capitalistic nism in its most raw form it's the realization that the system was not designed to fulfill us but rather to keep us endlessly chasing a carrot that's always Out Of Reach a very brief history capitalistic nihilism isn't new so we're going back to the Industrial Revolution and this is when people were first reduced to Mere instruments of labor on a mass scale happened very much before them but this is the first time on like a mass scale driven by Machinery we're starting to see more and more documentation of the connection between people and their work beginning to fray as workers were turned into cogs in the industrial machine and so no longer was work a source of identity or a source of Pride instead it became something that stried people of their Humanity this alienation as writers like doeski and N pointed out started to breed a profound sense of purposelessness a nihilism that questioned if any of it mattered if life was only reduced to production and consumption later on in America James Baldwin took this critique further highlighting how capitalism didn't just dehumanize people through labor but also through the racial structures it upheld and so for black Americans who had long been stripped of their Humanity through chatt slavery the system was particularly brutal not only did it deny them human rights but but it also excluded them economically Baldwin's thoughts on capitalism and race were pretty clear and striking but if you actually pay close attention his ideas go beyond just race his critique of the American dream wasn't just about the ways in which black Americans were shut out of the promise it was also a warning to the entire nation to anyone who would listen about the fragility and emptiness of that very dream been a breakdown a betrayal of the social contract in Western life and people are grabbing for things and all on to what they think they can get and stepping all over their neighbors because they are Panic stricken what they comforting themselves with material things yes when people do that something is beginning to crack people hoard all this because they don't have anything else but they don't really believe in it Baldwin understood something that the rest of America is only starting to wake up to now and it's the reality that capitalism dehumanizing Tendencies are not confined by race though race certainly sharpens the impact what I think of his words it comes as a great shock to discover that the flag to which you have pledged your Allegiance has not pledged allegiance to you now if you choose to listen it's very easy to see that these words don't just speak to the black experience but to the disillusionment that so many are beginning to feel today the system was never built for human fulfillment and now more people across all backgrounds are starting to realize this and the alienation and despair that Baldwin spoke of in the context of black life under capitalism are now being felt more Broad ly as the system fails to deliver on its promises to everyone we see this in the growing disillusionment with work as more people in American society question the value of grinding themselves down in jobs that offer little to no return especially since the pandemic which I personally feel forc them to sit still for a lot longer than most people had for the very first time and we started to see that disillusionment again in the rise of quiet quitting the rejection of hustle culture where people are now starting to push back against the idea that their worth is directly tied to their productivity it's fair clear that Baldwin's critique of America was always bigger than race it was a critique of a society that defined success in terms of material wealth while leaving its citizens spiritually and emotionally bankrupt and so as America wakes up to the reality that the pursuit of profits has hollowed out what truly matters connection purpose and fulfillment we are confronting that same nihilism that James Baldwin warned us about the system wasn't built to serve us but to exploit us and the American dream though once it was very aspirational it now feels like an illusion what's different today is that this disillusionment once confined to the margins and marginalized groups is spreading to the center [ ] on Big D that was the true original definition of woke before it was adopted by right-wing pundits and conservatives would you mind defining W because it's come up a couple times and I just want to make sure we're on the same page so I mean woke is sort of the idea that um I this is going to be one of those moments that goes viral I mean woke is something that's very hard to Define and we've spent an entire chapter defining it it is sort of the understanding that we need to re to totally reimagine and re re redo Society in order to create hierarchies of Oppression um sorry I it's it's hard to explain in a 15c sound bite to be woke was to be aware of the very reality that people are waking up to right now the structures that promise Prosperity are showing their cracks and more and more people are realizing the Deep existential costs of chasing something that was never meant to fulfill us and Baldwin's warnings about capitalism's dehumanizing effects were never just for black Americans they were for all of us he saw the writing on the wall as many others did and now as more people wake up to the emptiness of these promises everyone else is starting to see it too capitalistic nihilism is no longer a fringe experience it's becoming a defining feature of Modern Life in many places in America we're no longer we no longer live for Community or connection or self-fulfillment we live to survive in that system that defines Us by our productivity and as Baldwin pointed out the shock of realizing that the American dream was never truly meant for us is what fuels This Modern sense of nihilism so all this to say What's Happening Now isn't new it's just a broader Awakening more people are beginning to see that the system isn't built for human fulfillment it's built for economic gain and the alienation that doeski characters felt in the industrial era and the spiritual emptiness that n predicted are now our widespread realities as the cracks in the system become impossible to ignore as we dive into capitalism's effects let's examine its personal impact part two the impact of capitalism on the individual well-being in the race for American success I want to make it very clear I live in America I'm speaking in the context of America I have little experience in other cultures but because I live here I'm speaking of our default particular brand of unfettered capitalism and what it encourages which is a never-ending pursuit of profit individual achievement and competition we know this nothing groundbreaking here mental health and capitalism capitalism thrives on the idea that anyone can make it if they work hard enough yet this narrative while inspiring on the surface hides the mental strain it places is on individuals we're told that our worth is tied to our productivity that to rest is to fall behind and that our value comes from how much we can accumulate the constant need to succeed to keep climbing the ladder often leads to Stress and Anxiety when your self-worth is tied to your job performance and your ability to mass wealth or if you deserve to go to the doctor or not every setback feels like a personal failure this is why burnout has become so common especially in our country where work life balance is seen as a luxury rather than a right if you really want to get mad watch the movie where to invade next I'm just going to leave it there full stop the gig economy which is often pushed as a flexible work alternative often just makes the problem worse because it creates an environment where workers are expected to always be on but without the security or stable income or any of the benefits and so this leaves individuals grappling with stress and uncertainty and a deep sense of exhaustion that just kind of sits on the surface of their daily lives but it's not just the stress and bur out that capitalism Fosters that'll get you it's the growing epidemic of loneliness and isolation the drive for individual success often at the expense of community is what leads to an erosion of social bonds so in a society that prioritizes self-reliance and individualism asking for help is seen as a weakness and we have become a nation of isolated individuals working harder increasing productivity but being paid less and connecting less and so the more disconnected we become the harder it is to form the kinds of meaningful relationships that Foster mental well-being and this isolation is exacerbated by the rise of social media where we're constantly comparing ourselves to curated versions of other people's lives where instead of fostering genuine connection we're left feeling like we're always falling short which further erodes our mental health the rise of individualism and its consequences one of the most misunderstood aspects of American culture is the notion of rugged individualism rugged individualism is the idea that success is achieved by the individual without the need for Community or government support and while this idea the idea of this idea can be empowering it also comes at a cost and it's the erosion of community bonds because it results from prioritizing individual success over Collective welfare that weakens the social support systems that are vital for mental and emotional health there's a common misconception that the degradation of society is due to a shift away from traditional or conservative values but reality the unraveling of community bonds is more about the unchecked rise of individualism people aren't turning away from each other because of inclusiveness they're turning away from each other because they've been conditioned to believe that self-reliance is the only way they believe that everyone on the Block should each have their own lawn mower instead of everyone pitching in and sharing in maintaining One lawnmower and then pulling the money that everyone would have spent towards indiv idual lawnmowers towards something more beneficial for the whole Community like a community garden um community garden supplies maintenance organizing community events block parties to Foster connections supporting Local Schools youth programs creating a community tool library for sharing other equipment Etc you get the picture we are more concerned with having a better lawn than our neighbors to do anything like that this version of American individualism has created a culture where we are isolated even when we are surrounded by others where connection is secondary to competition this is perfectly evidenced by this clip Hindu Garb at the our neighborhood swimming pool that my daughter is asking I'm trying to explain she's like you know what like and I don't even know what country I'm in in my own neighborhood I just I don't I don't know where I am it's you know I mean the number of when we go on a family walk the number of pakist Hindu all these different not just ethnicities but religions with with visible religious outfits on um because at the end of the day again it's not about whiteness uh but at the end of the day if things get rough I don't know if my Hindu neighbor is going to fight to save the lives of my children it never occurred to him even as a pastor to just talk to his neighbors or just get to know his neighbors when a community is sacrificed in favor of self-sufficiency people are left to Bear the weight of their struggles alone and as the gaps between the wealthy and the working class widens productivity increasing while wages remain stagnant those at the bottom are increasingly told that their failure is their own fault further deepening feelings of inadequacy and alienation lack of empathy and ethical considerations as capitalism promotes self-interest empathy begins to diminish we start seeing each other not as fellow human beings but as competitors or Worse obstacles to our own success and so this erosion of empathy can make it easier to rationalize behaviors that would have once been seen as unethical whether it's cutting Corners at work or it's exploiting others for your personal gain the drive for profits often leads to ethical compromises both in our personal and business question for you dear Watcher what happens when a society starts to prize business stem and finance degrees while at the same time denigrating degrees based on humanities or ethics what happens when we glorify the ability to make money over the ability to think critically about what's right and wrong we end up with a culture where success is defined not by moral Integrity but by profit margins in a country where the economy is separated from social influences the values that hold us together begin to break the glorification of exploitative success in case y'all didn't know white collar crime is my Roman Empire it's no secret that our media glorifies the kind of success that often comes at the expense of others movies like Wolf of Wall Street celebrate the exploits of White Collar criminals turning them into cultural icons whenever I see a movie or a TV show portray these crimes as smart or edgy or fun I swear it makes my eyes start to Twitch what's most troubling to me is how the glorification of exploitative success shifts societal values people begin to believe that bending or breaking the rules is just a part of making it resonate with knew that what greed is good was going to mean to Gordon Gecko and Wall Street and no that whole part was I mean I was the bad guy because I was I was the villain it's always shocked me how many people on Wall Street have said oh man you're the reason I became a stop BR and I said I said I went to jail man I went to jail oh no no it's all right you know going on the American dream Once synonymous with hard work and honesty is now increasingly associated with getting over on people or getting ahead by any means necessary here we also have to confront the uncomfortable question can billionaires truly be ethical when you quantify how much a billion dollars is compared to the average salary how many lifetimes it would take for most people to earn that much what I have found is that most people who defend billionaires sit in two camps either they don't understand what a billion is or they somehow think that they will also eventually be billionaires they're just down bad right now but it's coming but peep game and lock in if you spent $1,000 a day it would take you more than 2700 years to spend a billion dollars 2700 years let that sink in and hopefully you can begin to see the Staggering inequalities that are built into the system when America is the country with the most over 800 billionaires to give you a clearer picture now is it possible to amass such wealth without exploiting people or resources this is a question we have to Grapple with especially when income inequality continues to rise social ramifications and extreme outcomes the social fabric of our country is fraying under the pressure of this individualistic competitive system we're seeing a rise of the Lone Wolf phenomena in where individuals feeling alienated and Powerless resort to extreme actions sometimes often times with tragic outcomes in a society that both isolates people and prizes individual success Above All Else it's no surprise that some individuals lash out in violent ways feeling as though they have no way to assert their existence or validate their pain it's this individualism it's the disconnection from society combined with the lack of adequate mental health support and unrestricted access to firearms that has led to a full-blown Mental Health crisis adding the fact that we have inadequate Health Care Systems that leave many people without the resources they need to address their mental health struggles and you have a recipe for disaster and while yes capitalism drives Innovation it also Fosters an environment where profits are prioritized over people's well-beings when it comes at the expense of empathy Community and Mental Health we have to ask ourselves is economic growth worth it if it undermines the very things that make life worth living in marginalized communities capitalism's failures are even more apparent systemic neglect this can be seen in the underfunding of schools lack of Health Care access and targeted policing lead to a sense of hopelessness that can manifest in violence when the system fails to provide meaningful work or opportunities for Upward Mobility young people internalize the belief that their lives hold little value the resulting cycles of violence seem like random acts they are actually symptomatic of a system that has long abandon these communities lack of meaning and purpose in a capitalist World whether it's the lone shooter or the WAN in the Hood the root cause of their nihilism is the same a lack of purpose in a world that values them only for their economic output the Lone Wolf shooter becomes disillusioned with a society that rewards wealth and success but offers no Pathways for those who don't fit into this mold or they haven't received the promise they felt that they were entitled to because of the unrealized LIE of the American dream they feel invisible and their alienation pushes them toward violence as a means of making themselves seen similarly but also differently marginalized youth feel that capitalism has nothing to offer them generations of systemic racism and economic exploitation have left black and brown communities disenfranchised and hopeless in a world that equates worth with economic success but denies people the tools to achieve it violence becomes a coping mechanism for the void left by the unattainable American dream there's a Creator I really like Deontay Kyle he has a fantastic interview where he's just outside talking and some kids walk past the filming walk past the set he randomly invites some of this youth to come over and talk to him and it's a beautiful exchange because these kids are initially keeping up like their hard exterior at first that is until Deontay begins talking to them like they're humans and their entire demeanor changes they've been invited into the fold they're being spoken to not spoken at and if you listen closely you look with intention you can see how badly these kids are craving hearing and being heard it's the same system that fails them just as it fails the lone wolves leaving them with a sense that their lives have little value outside of economic success which is often just outside of reach James Baldwin famously said the most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose this observation captures the essence of capitalistic nihilism whether it's the mass shooter or the young person turning to gangs the the common denominator is a profound sense of having Nothing Left to Lose a byproduct of a system that strips away their Humanity the role of media and Technology modern media and Technology play a significant role in both perpetuating and exacerbating these feelings of nihilism this is cultural do not get confused about this in the age of social media we're constantly exposed to a curated version of other people's lives making us feel as though our own existence is insignificant we encourage comparison reinforcing unattainable or for the most Parts very shallow standards of success and happiness very surface level on top of that a lot of us have just become desensitized mainlining violence straight from our feeds in ways that we haven't before and I say this to you as as a product of like the rotten.com era things are wild now you would think that things would be better but the internet is actually like a much scarier place but all of this contributes feeling of alienation and fosters the belief that our lives are somehow less meaningful than what we see online take for example the phenomena of Doom scrolling and as a result something that another creator has fantastically called the mainstream ification of loserdom people are spending hours consuming negative news social media content which only reinforces the feelings of Despair and hopelessness instead of using technology to connect us these platforms often leave us feeling more isolated and more disconnected from each other and as a as a result of this in the US We crave third spaces but we actually have no clue how to talk to each other social media gives the illusion of connection without the substance further deepening the sense of isolation that fuels modern nihilism even more unlikely examples of capitalistic nihilism capitalistic nihilism doesn't just affect those on the margins it's present at all levels of society even those who seem to have quote unquote made it one really strong example of this is Anthony Bourdain for the uninitiated Anthony Bourdain was a celebrated chef and TV personality and by all intent and purposes Anthony was living everyone's dream he would travel all over the world he would eat delicious food he would have interesting conversations with interesting people this is the life that people yearn for and even still it wasn't enough despite his Global Fame despite his success Bourdain struggled with deep personal demons and in 2018 he took his own life and his suicide shocked the entire world it should have highlighted the internal emptiness that even the most successful figures can experience under this system Bain's life exemplifies how the pursuit of success and wealth and fame can fail to provide true fulfillment and in instead lead to feelings of existential despair all this to say that while the Lone Wolf Mass shooter and the wyin in the hood may seem to be Polar Opposites they are actually both products of the same culture they're products of the same system one that devalues human life and fosters nihilism and alienation these things don't exist in a vacuum capitalistic nihilism is the thread that ties them together as both groups experience the same elements their actions are not random but they are the symptoms of a deeper systemic issue which truly at the heart of it is a systematic failure to address root causes of alienation meaningless and hopelessness these individuals are often left behind by a society that values productivity greed and success over human connection and their actions however horrific are a manifestation of that neglect and so I'm going to clarify something here please don't misunderstand me this is not an excuse or justification for violent Behavior but again none of this exists or happens in a vacuum and when people find themselves scratching their head wondering how something so tragic like gang violence or mass shootings could be happening in America focusing on the IND individualist aspects of it why would someone do this though doing so helps us Place tragedy in a nice neat little simple package that we can rationalize and we can push it to the to the side and the very moment we swipe away from the news article about it it also creates blind spots for wider pattern recognition and of course capitalistic nihilism isn't confined to the lower classes or extreme cases of violence recognizing patterns allows you to see that it seeps into every corner of society affecting even the the highly successful the wealthy and the famous if you care to look you can see it in corporate employees burned out by endless work Cycles you can see it in celebrities whose Fame cannot Shield them from despair it's everywhere it's a system that affects us all even when we don't think that it does the problem isn't that you aren't achieving enough it's that the goal posts keep shifting and even when you do make it you realize that the promise fulfillment often isn't there they have been encourage to chase but rarely to find and as more people wake up to this realization they're beginning to see that the problem isn't with the individuals it's with the system itself now more than ever more of us are starting to question the price that we're paying for that okay all right that was a lot right after all of that you're probably thinking well the most natural next line of thinking to conclude should be probably is deja what is the point well that is why we are here friend in the face of the systemic illusionment I offer you an alternative philosophical framework as a possible antidote to the chaos tragic optimism the tragic Optimist perspective finding meaning in pain joy and impermanence life is suffering hear me out hear me out hear me out hear me out life is suffering but life isn't only suffering in the chaos of life where suffering is inevitable and the world often feels indifferent to our struggles tragic optimism offers a power powerful way to face the darkness without losing hope this philosophy rooted in the works of thinkers like Victor Frankle teaches us that meaning can be found in even the most difficult circumstances yet to fully grasp tragic optimism we must also look back to James Baldwin who understood the deep relationship between pain and transformation Baldwin believed that our suffering far from being something to avoid was something to be used something that could be used to illuminate truths to fuel growth and to ultimately find Liberation it was Baldwin who told us you are compelled you are coralled you are bullwhipped into dealing with whatever it is that hurt you and what is crucial here is that if it hurt you that's not what's important what's important what caroused you what bull whips you what drives you torments you is that you must find some way of using this to connect you with everyone else alive this is all you have to do it with so with that being said let us explore the pillars of tragic optimism while also getting clear on the difference between necessary and unnecessary suffering we'll also touch on the importance of embracing impermanence embracing pain as a teacher tragic optimism tragic optimism is a philosophy unlike toxic positivity okay it doesn't ask us to push away our pain or ignore it instead it encourages us to acknowledge suffering as an integral part of life while still holding space for Hope and growth this idea was popularized by Victor Frankle who after surviving the horror of a Nazi concentration camp argued that even in the darkest of times we have the power to find meaning in our suffering he believed that while we cannot control our circumstances we can control our response to them James Baldwin wrote extensively about how pain can be a source of understanding and personal power in his essay the fire next time he says you think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world but then you read this shows us that pain is not something to be avoided or ignored by embraced and understood it's what connects us to Being Human and he believed that through acknowledging the pain not running and using our pain we can transcend it he continued on you must understand that your pain is Trivial except in so far as you can use it to connect with other people's pain and in so far as you can do that with your pain you can be released from it and then hopefully it works the other way around too in so far as I can tell you what it is to suffer perhaps I can help you suffer less it's probably really easy to tell by now but Frankle and Baldwin have long been two of my favorite proponents of the tragic optimism perspective and I've kind of weaved that throughout my own life because they highlight a critical component of tragic optimism and it's that suffering is inevitable but it can be meaningful if we choose to engage with it constructively and probably what I want most people to take away from this video is that nihilism and cynicism in the face of suffering or tragedy is like the downhill flow of water it's the easiest most natural the next in line thing to do and no one would blame you if that's what you chose to do when it comes to navigating your very short time here on this rock no one would blame you but I think the most important aspect to understand is the reality that it is a choice nonetheless you still choose that and should you find yourself making that choice my very next question would be how is is that working out for you balancing realism and hope and the difference between necessary and unnecessary suffering so one of the key pillars of tragic optimism is knowing the difference between necessary and unnecessary suffering I've talked about this at length in another video so if you want to check that out please do but basically necessary suffering is suffering that is going to be required for growth and unnecessary suffering is something that is self-inflicted in Baldwin's work he often speaks to the necessity of facing uncomfortable truths particularly about race identity power status Health as a means to personal and societal transformation there are things in our lives that are inescapable meaning as a human being on this planet you will deal with them no one gets out of this there is no cheat code or anything like that you will go through it so these are things like grieving the loss of a loved one taking care of an aging parent the emotional pain of ending a relationship personal failure sickness death the these are components of necessary suffering he argued that the only way to heal from the wounds was to confront them head-on no matter how painful the process might be this is necessary suffering the kind of suffering that leads to growth and Liberation however on the other hand unnecessary suffering occurs when we resist reality or we refuse to accept life's inherent uncertainties missing out on a fun time to study for your bar exam is necessary suffering giving yourself an anxiety attack leading up to the bar exam because you chose not to study for set exam would be unnecessary suffering cheat code to figure is this necessary or unnecessary suffering is if you're suffering and you were to stop doing something like going back to an abusive ex or you know eating after 11:00 p.m. and the suffering that you're experiencing eventually stops you're probably inviting unnecessary suffering into your life tragic optimism teaches us that while suffering is inevitable not all suffering is productive and the only way to navigate Life Is Knowing the difference so that when you are inevitably confronted with necessary suffering you can face it forthrightly instead of being distracted or having additional stress piled on by unnecessary suffering too I went to a 10-day silent Retreat and you'd be surprised at what you can hear in the silence but something that I learned that has shifted my perspective a lot is how we as human tend to exist in two states craving or aversion we're either craving an outcome or craving something we don't have or we're avoiding something we're avoiding doing something which places us too far outside of oursel by craving something we're probably living in the past craving a time that we cannot have or craving something in the future or we're avoiding existing in the present something that we need to address or do and keeping us in in when we're bouncing between these two states we are in our own personal hell for example the pain of trying to maintain an illusion whether it's the illusion of control the illusion of something lasting forever or the illusion of a life free from any hardship whatsoever it just leads to more suffering and Baldwin understood this deeply noting that much of the pain in the world comes from denying the truths that are too painful to face otherwise of course you can despair walk down the street of any City any afternoon and look around you what you got to remember is what you're looking at is also you everyone you're looking at is also you you could be that person you could be that monster you could be that cop and you to decide in yourself not to be running from reality doesn't Shield us from suffering it just prolongs it in contrast facing suffering directly allows us to discern what is within our control and what isn't what suffering is necessary for growth and what suffering we can let go of that while we cannot Escape hardship we can escape the suffering that comes from our refusal to accept reality the path of tragic optimism asks us to engage with necessary suffering to allow it to shape and refine us and to let go of unnecessary pain that we're that we create by clinging to illusions of permanence or control or delusions of grandeur or how we feel things should be impermanence and the importance of not running another key aspect of tragic optimism is the understanding of impermanence the idea that nothing lasts forever for Baldwin and Frankle alike the knowledge of life's impermanence was not something to fear but something to embrace it's through this lens that we can better navigate both suffering and happiness knowing that neither of them will last forever running from this reality Keeps Us trapped in that space of craving and aversion facing it allows us to grow and move forward this understanding of impermanence frees us from the fear of loss by allowing us to experience life fully without clinging to any moment suffering like Joy is impermanent nothing lasts forever and let's cover a couple ways that will make it so we don't have to cling strategies for tragic optimism personal coping mechanisms life often presents us with overwhelming challenges which should push us to question what matters and whether it's worth trying at all tragic optimism offers a different way to engage with these struggles providing us with personal strategies to navigate the chaos one of the most effective personal strategies for cultivating this and it's going to sound super cliche but hear me out is mindfulness mindfulness is the practice of staying present and embracing the moment as it is not as we wanted it to be but as it is accepting that that reality as it is and by focusing on what's Happening Here and Now in the here and now we can avoid getting lost in the future's uncertainties or the regrets of the past craving aversion craving aversion in 2022 I took a solo trip to Europe and my luggage was stolen partially through my trip and it should have ended in disaster but it didn't I chose to make it as much of an adventure as I could and I turned the trip around but by the last day I had had a mission and my mission was I was going to roller skate to one of my favorite songs in um the song is called Bond park by John craigy um I was going to roller skate to that in vondal park in Amsterdam that was the mission I was like this has to happen and I ended up going to vondle park and it was raining that day and I stumbled onto this random stage to skate on even even though it was raining the sun came out and I remember in that moment being so keenly aware so keenly aware that this Joy wouldn't last forever I remember trying to hold so tightly to every detail I could I remember looking around and being like I'm I'm skating I'm moving my body the sun has just come out I feel the sun on my skin and this little Dutch mom comes up to me and she asks me a question and I can't hear her and I take my headphone off and she says can my son dance with you and I was like of course and she puts her little child up on the stage with me and I'm skating and this little baby is twirling around and this song this beautiful song is in my ears and I remember thinking like I was at the top of the world I felt at the top of the world and I remember thinking this won't last forever and being present and in it at that time made it so that I focused in on every detail that I could the feeling of the sun on my skin the smell of the air the laughter of this child and just the beauty from the absolute chaos of that trip that I was experiencing in that moment I knew in that moment that this experience that I was experiencing was going to be something I would look back fondly on that would warm me in in the darkness because darkness is inevitable and to have that Consciousness or that awareness in the moment made it so that I gave that moment everything that it deserved I was there I was fully fully fully in it I didn't want to look back at that memory and be like I wish I had you know no I was fully free in in that moment I'm very grateful to have had that awareness and to have given that moment what it deserved because the darkness came and I'm grateful that I gave that moment everything that it needed so that I could pull from that moment as proof that life was an all misery business I needed that I needed to put that into the bank of how beautiful life could be to get me through that Darkness because when it came it leveled me less than 6 months later a car crashed into the new house that I had just bought to help my brother rehabilitate from his addiction but 3 weeks after that I got the call that he would never get to see the house because he had died and then three weeks after that I was laid off from my job so I went from the top of the world to being in the absolute gutter in less than six months and I cannot stress how grateful I was to have been mindful in that moment on that stage to be so aware of the joy that I was experiencing and its impermanence and giving it the respect that it deserved because I knew that it would not last forever that same mindfulness that warmed my soul in the Amsterdam Sun helped me be fully present in my grief of my brother and it helped me to not run or try to escape the pain when so many tra things were happening at once because I knew that also like that joy that pain wouldn't last forever all this is say mindfulness is just the beginning resilience is another key in the tragic Optimist tool kit resilience means facing the harsh realities of Life accepting that suffering is a part of The Human Experience you cannot have joy you cannot have roller skating in the sunshine in Amsterdam without the pain of saying goodbye to your brother for the last time you you don't get to cheat you don't get to avoid it and learning from these realities you can do that instead of being crushed by them in Rick and Morty Rick Sanchez exemplifies someone who lacks resilience despite his intelligence Rick's awareness that nothing matters leaves him in a state of deep depression and self-loathing when you know nothing matters the universe is yours and I've never met a universe that was into it he stops trying because he believes it's all pointless but compare this to Jerry Smith his son-in-law who consistently tries to be a better father and a better husband despite constantly being belittled by others Jerry's efforts though often ridiculed bring him contentment he represents a kind of tragic optimism he knows that he's not perfect but he tries to find meaning in small ways acceptance is another essential strategy embracing life's impermanence not as a form of giving up but as a way to find meaning in the temporary Rick's despair stems from his inability to move past the meaninglessness he sees in life Jerry however Embraces his ordinary life and finds joy in the small victories like ridding his driveway of weed this contrast shows the power of acceptance Jerry's contentment comes from engaging with the present while Rick's refusal to accept life's impermanence leaves him isolated and Paralyzed by nihilism community and solidarity while individual or personal coping mechanisms are important community and solidarity provide a crucial foundation for tragic optimism humans are social creatures and when we connect with others especially in the face of hardship we realize that we are not alone the beauty of tragic optimism is that it doesn't require us to go through life struggles in isolation rather it encourages us to seek out Collective Strength we saw this widespread during the pandemic neighbors helping neighbors Mutual Aid Network so it is something that is possible in the movie everything everywhere all at once Evelyn Wang's Journey Only gains meaning when she reconnects with her family despite the infinite versions of herself she encounters it's her relationships that anchor her and give her life purpose her bond with her daughter Joy becomes a source of strength and healing demonstrating that even in the vastness of existence it's the people we love who give our lives meaning here's a slight caveat please don't misunderstand me I know that a lot of us do not have Healthy Families I am not saying go and reconcile with your family that's not what I'm saying at all but what I am saying is that you can create your own family and that the family that you choose still counts as meaningful relationships and interactions it's still a conscious choice so please don't take what I'm saying as a means of like hey you need to go reconcile with your toxic family that doesn't respect your boundaries or are just like abusive to you that's not what I'm saying in case it needs to be said okay Back at It ultimately community and solidarity are important because they ground Us in the present they ground Us in the here they ground Us in the now where our actions and relationships hold significance rck Sanchez's nihilism isolates him from meaningful connections leading him to destructive Behavior he isolates himself from others believing that his intelligence translates Loosely to his superiority and his understanding of all of the universes makes relationships pointless he lives by the idea that nothing matter so why bother trying it sounds sexy but this attitude leaves him empty and depressed and unable to find Joy or meaning in anything Jerry though mocked for his Simplicity thrives on his connections with his family in the context of tragic optimism community and solidarity remind us that life's challenges are less overwhelming when we Face them together love has never been a popular movement and no one's ever wanted really to be free the world is held together really it is held together by the love and the passion of very few people yes it's less rugged individualist but even when everything feels meaningless the support we find in others can help us persevere and can create purpose it's these connections that sustain us in the face of adversity not our rugged individualism philosophical and psychological foundations tragic optimism Finds Its philosophical roots in existentialism which is a school of thought that grapples with life's inherent absurdity while still seeking meaning within it thinkers like Albert cus and Jean Paul such argued that life is inherently meaningless but that doesn't mean that we should give up instead it's up to us to create meaning through our actions and through our relationships in cis's the myth of Copus you guys know who Copus is he's the protagonist who's condemned to push a boulder up a hill for all of eternity but cus imagines Copus happy he imagines him finding joy and purpose in the struggle itself this parallels alongside Evelyn's experience in everything everywhere all once her journey through multiple realities represents the existential idea that life is inherently chaotic and without a predetermined meaning and in the end Evelyn chooses to embrace the chaos finding meaning in her relationships and the small precious moments that make life worth living the act of trying of engaging with life even when it feels pointless is in and of itself a form of rebellion against nihilism it's one of the most revolutionary things you can do life may be absurd but that doesn't mean we stop trying Psych olical resilience psychological resilience is another factor of tragic optimism in this context resilience is about understanding that suffering is inevitable but we have the ability to transform it into growth when you're experiencing something asking yourself instead of why is this happening to me try what am I supposed to be learning from this that pushes you into post-traumatic growth which is the idea that individuals can experience positive changes after difficult times back to everything everywhere all at once Evelyn's brain begins to crack as she is shown different versions of herself in other universes and she starts to succumb to the chaos her ability to finally cope with the multiverses chaos comes from her willingness to not sit in craving or aversion but to embrace the absurdity instead of Yearning For What she sees as the more successful versions of herself or the version of herself that was never married she stops resisting and she leans into the love that she has for her family her husband Wayman is the unsuspecting hero of the story as he's already mastered What it Took Evelyn the whole entire movie going through Helen Back to find out his resilience is not about avoiding pain but about confronting and accepting it and finding meaning within both the suffering and the mundane Rick lacks resilience he's undoubtedly the smartest man in the universe but his nihilistic beliefs leave him emotionally detached and unable to cope with life's hardships in a healthy way instead he turns into alcohol destructive Behavior putting his family in danger isolating himself even further his inability to connect with others and his refusal to find meaning in anything leads him to a place of deep Despair and unhappiness meanwhile Jerry despite being mocked for his Simplicity demonstrates quiet resilience his willingness to try to find joy in the little things allows him to live a more fulfilled life than Rick despite Rick's intellectual superiority both Jerry and Wayman experience a sense of contentment that comes not from avoiding suffering but accepting it and finding meaning in those small moments [Music] to infinity and beyond at its heart tragic optimism is a philosophy that teaches us to embrace life's inherent contradictions the suffering alongside the joy the chaos alongside the meaning we can see the importance of finding purpose in the small moments in the relationship in the struggles in the process as we continue to navigate a world filled with uncertainty with political instability with climate change with existential dread tragic optimism may be a more essential mindset for Modern Life when Dan Harmon the co-creator Rick and Morty was asked if he agreed with Rick on the idea that nothing matters means anything he said no I do not because the knowledge that nothing matters while accurate gets you nowhere the planet is dying the sun is exploding the universe is cooling nothing's going to matter the further back you pull away the more that truth will endure but when you zoom in on Earth when you zoom in to a family when you zoom in a human brain and a childhood and an experience you see all these things that matter we're at a time and place where nihilism Hedonism apathy often feel like the easy most likely answers and tragic optimism is a philosophy that teaches us that trying still matters that you're allowed to accept the bad while also still believing the good that every moment that we share with others is an opportunity and that rather than hungrily searching for Grand sweeping gestures maybe just maybe meaning is found in the small moments in the love that we give and receive in our relationships in our communities what if you treated everyone as if it was the last time that you were going to see them and it was found there what if it's found in the person who waits to hold the door open for you what if it's found in replaying the song that makes you think wow this sounds like heaven at least one more time before you get out of the car what if it's the biblical experience that is everyone singing at the top of their lungs in unison at a concert [Music] [Music] what if it's in the belly laugh of someone you feel good around what if it's roller skating in the sunshine what if it's in the hug that you let linger for a few more seconds before saying goodbye what if it's there should yeah well what are you going to do life's a [ ] and then you die right sometimes sometimes life's a [ __ ] and then you keep living yeah it's a nice night huh yeah this is nice what if the most radical revolutionary thing we can do is be present Give Love and allow ourselves to receive love while being aware of the impermanence of both suffering and joy and consciously choose to try we're going to continue to face the complexities of the future but I think that this mindset may offer us the resilience and hope that we need to move forward forthrightly into it I have found that it's not necessarily about avoiding suffering or only seeking Joy it's about being so keenly aware of their existence that you make the conscious choice to use them and to create a life worth living for the very short amount of time we are here anyway it's like 8 minutes in the grand scheme of things I don't think people clock it enough tiny specs of time here all we get are a few specs of time where any of this actually makes any sense then I will cherish these few specs of tone so if this video resonated with you in any way then maybe tragic optimism has something to offer to you too maybe you've already figured out that it's not about having all the answers or denying the harsh realities of life it's about staying present in the moment right here right now embracing both the highs and the lows and finding meaning and hope in the small everyday things in the grocery store trip maybe it's about that can I show you something Mor no offense but a drawing of me you made when you were eight isn't going to make me feel like less of an accident that out there that's my grave wait what on one of our adventures Rick and I basically destroyed the whole world so we bailed on that reality and we came to this one because in this one the world wasn't destroyed and in this one we were dead so we came here and we buried ourselves and we took their place and every morning summer I eat breakfast 20 yards away from my own rotting corpse so you're not my brother I'm better than your brother I'm a version of your brother you can trust when he says don't run nobody exists on purpose nobody belongs anywhere everybody's going to die die come watch TV subscribe for more discussions like this and share your thoughts in the comments how do you navigate meaning in a world that often feels so empty what small moments keep you grounded and if you're feeling up for it just take a deep breath maybe start that project or go for that walk or start the process of letting go of what you can't control and remind yourself that sometimes sometimes just trying is enough maybe look around hang for a while read some comments see how Maybe just maybe you're not as alone as you think I will see yall in the next one