The Optimist Emil Cioran

Emil Cioran doesn’t strike as an optimist. If you consider an optimist someone who feels that good are more likely to happen than bad things, Cioran is one of the last people you will turn to. If you are going to look into his writing at all, in search of an optimistic note. His nihilistic and bleak thinking shelves Emil’s surname among Paul Valery, Julius Bahusen, Philipp Mainlander, Peter Zapffe and other sworn followers of pessimism. Pessimism, not optimism.

And yet, when you read his work, some of the thoughts stand out in a particular way: an optimistic way. Not in the sense that the good things are more likely to happen than the bad ones, but in the way of indirectly encouraging you to step away from the edge of a rooftop or put the razor blade down. Asking the reader — with whom the author can be friends when one is at the lowest point and has neither the desire nor the strength to restore the habitual sentimental illusions — to keep going. And if you consider life as good and death as bad in the most basic logical sense, such thinking has at least a chance to be seen as optimistic.

For a person whom writing has been an alternative to shooting himself, who suffered from insomnia, and explored the darkest and furthest corners of the consciousness to reach a respectable age of 84 proves such claim. His harsh but truthful writing can push the reader away from nihilistic thoughts by openly putting them in front of the reader and, thus, giving an opportunity to choose life rather death.

It’s not worth the bother of killing yourself since you always kill yourself too late.

‘To be or not to be…’ the most widely known soliloquy begins with a query that has plagued humanity since the dawn of civilisation. As more than 700 000 people die due to suicide every year, the question remains remarkably relevant. Not only why people do it, but perhaps even more, why they stop believing in life. Both powerful and thought-provoking questions that are still highly unanswered. And when a person finds oneself at the lowest point of one’s life with one’s toes touching the edge of a bridge, Cioran stretches his arm and gently pulls back. He is that honest friend who cares about you. He asks, at least, to reconsider the decision of life being not worth living. To take a moment. Count to ten as there is a second of hesitation in all of us. To raise your head and look at the sky. To remember that when you are at the bottom the only way is up. This is where the optimistic side of Cioran, with his honest observation about one of the fundamental questions some of us come across in our lives, provides a way to step backwards from the edge of the bridge and give life another chance.

We are afraid of the enormity of the possible.

Fear is a powerful emotion. To such extent that the mind submits to it most of the time. There are cases when it guards a person from the dangers of the world. If there are gunshots, most of us will not go towards them. The mechanisms of the body, including emotions, are helping to keep us alive. But, having said that, fear can become a master of our lives. Telling us where to go and how to behave. Prevent us from being curious and adventurous, as in the childhood when no mountain was high nor murky pond deep enough to ease our thirst for knowledge. That changes through time and there are many reasons behind such changes, however in this quote, Cioran reminds us how fear has placed us in a cage fit for a mouse, thus, guarding the exit but allowing complete freedom inside of it. Making the cage a comfort zone where the basic needs are fulfilled to the brim. In this case, Cioran asks us to admit it to ourselves. To realise being a prisoner of our own fears. At times, sticking around, without any foundation. Look into them and, if possible, solve them. To do something about which you feel uneasy, uncomfortable, or fearful. To analyse the feelings this action arises in you. To see how from a few things that at your current state of mind are possible, the notion changes into everything is possible. And that is frightening. These acceptances require bravery. To give yourself the permission to think outside the cage means replacing the guardian at the exit from fear to courage. To step out of it and begin to live.

Imaginary pains are by far the most real we suffer since we feel a constant need for them and invent them because there is no way of doing without them.

Imagination knows no limits and, if not controlled, has the power to enslave us to our own desires. Illusions that are pleasurable and as real as a cup in the hand. Illusions that in some cases allow us to become somebody. Somebody who is too far off to be reached in the real world due to our laziness or lack of will. Both pleasures and pains are the creation of our imagination. As pleasure, pain serves a purpose too. Even more, when submitting to it emotionally, thus, turning it into something that can be experienced as if being real. Again, Cioran warns the reader about the power of imagination, which at times, even pushes people to commit suicide or lock themselves in a room the size of a phone booth. It as well provides a space where our victimhood can be justified — allowing our laziness and self-pity to bloom in the real world — by creating heroic stories in our minds. Offering an opportunity to overcome the narrative of a victim and become victorious. A hero so to speak. The emotional state that allows us to feel better about yourself. This can be repeated, Cioran implies, over and over again. Until the cycle of victimhood and heroism turns into addiction. Addiction that makes the person project imaginary pains and be a victim to experience the pleasing state afterwards. Like a needle hurting your skin and the experience of heroin subsequently. Like any other kind of addiction, imaginary pains affect our mind as a slot machine, demanding more every time. Turning this process into a dangerous gamble. Encore, Cioran, as a good friend, asks us not to abandon your imagination rather than use it for creative purposes and live your real life with the challenges it brings.

There is much more in Cioran’s writing that, rather than putting a person down, inspires. At least to reflect and, if willing, to change one’s state. He also shows, or at least the interpretation of his writing gives an opportunity to look at pessimism through an optimistic lens. To discover optimistic notes behind the words of pessimism. At the end of the day, it is a matter of interpretation and the reader’s mindset. At which point the mind is when reading Cioran’s writing. Any work of pessimism or nihilism. The most famous quote by Nietzsche, ‘God is dead… and we have killed him’ points to the state of humanity at the dawn of enlightenment. To what has happened and what could have been done about it. It is a wake-up call to find an answer, to think about and deal with the circumstances when the Christian foundation collapsed, and people found themselves floating… Accepting things as they are and to search for a way out is at least inspiring and perhaps optimistic. And Cioran, as Nietzsche, is one of those eye-opening philosophers who aspires to keep going.