The optimist is right. The pessimist is right. Though one differs from the other as the light from the dark, both are right. Each is accurate in his own specific point of view, and this point of view is the determining factor in the Life of each. It governs whether there is a Life of Power or of impotence, of Peace or of pain, of success or of failure.
The optimist has the Power of seeing things as a whole and in their truthful associations. The pessimist airs from a restricted, one-sided point of view. The one has his considerations lit by wisdom, the comprehension of the other is darkened by ignorance. Each is building his world from within, and the product of that construction is determined by their point of view. The optimist, by his greater wisdom and insight, is making his own Heaven, and in the degree that he makes his own Heaven is he helping to make one for all the world aside. The pessimist, by virtue of his limitations, is making his own hell, and in the degree that he makes his own hell is he helping to make one for all mankind.
You and I have the dominating characteristics of an optimist or the dominating characteristics of a pessimist. We then are making, moment by moment, our own Heaven or our own hell; and in the degree that we are making the one or the other for ourselves are we helping make it for all the world aside.
The word Heaven means harmony. The word hell is from the old English hell, meaning to build a wall around, to separate; to be helled was to be shut off from. Now if there is such a thing as harmony there must be that something one can be in right relation with; thus to be in right relation with anything is to be in harmony with it. Again, if there is such a thing as being helled, shut off, separated from, there must be that something from which one is held, shut off, or separated.
-Red
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