The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c7.s16.t5.2

c7.s16.t5.2

All through the ages there has been a type of mentality that is interested in viewing the things of the world from what may be described in general terms as a pessimistic angle of vision. And the pessimism of Jeremiads appeals more or less to every man and woman. The reasons are obvious. First, there is no possibility of denying the fact that there is a certain amount or kind of misery and suffering always present, no matter how well-placed the individual or the group. And in the second place, every honest intellectual can find in the sceptical attitudes and warnings or rather the "divine discontent" of the pessimists undoubtedly some very powerful aids to self-criticism and societal regeneration. Indeed, it is to pessimism that the world owes many of the energistic adventures in the "transvaluation of values" and upward trends in civilization. The value of pessimism as a constructive force cannot by any means be ignored.