Robert Anton Wilson was an eternal optimist. His reasons for maintaining that philosophy on life were manifold, but in this video he gives a succinct synopses.
I’ve been reading Up From Eden, by Ken Wilber. It’s an expansion on his thesis about what he calls the “Atman Project.” The idea is that human being feel the separation from Oneness that is inherent in all creation as a necessary result of coming into existence as distinct forms. We long for that universal completeness, or what the Vedas call Atman, the true state of things which is eternal and undying. Our longing leads us to reach for substitute sources for this eternal life and lack of death. That is the Atman Project, the replacing of divine unity with material and intellectual substitutes. Fame, wealth, security, control.
Over at AnxietyCulture.com I came across a post that combines these two threads, Optimism and the falseness of the Atman Project, “‘Real’ Positive Thinking”. You can read it here.









