Jumping from the Table

There’s a story – perhaps it’s a myth – of something that happens to children of a certain age in the Highlands of Scotland. Perhaps the story is told to explain the rather gloomy disposition of the average highlander – a disposition that might, more reasonably, be put down to the terrible weather! But I will tell the story anyway, and I hope, earnestly, that it really isn’t true! Well, a child, reaching perhaps three, four or five years of age, is placed on a table. All the adults of the family gather around and encourage the child to jump from the table – assuring the child that whichever direction they jump an adult will be there to catch them. Eventually the child is persuaded to make a jump and at this point all the grown-ups step back. The child crashes to the floor. The physical pain from the fall is more than surpassed by the emotional horror of the deception. The lesson is surely learnt that no-one can be trusted – even those who you have counted on as friends and family – even those whose affection and good faith you had previously considered to be infallible. Even if such an initiation was ever practised in the past, one has to hope that it would not be permitted today! Parents would no doubt find themselves reported to local social services, and there would be consequences. But even so, I suspect that there remain cynical parents, who consciously or unconsciously, indoctrinate their children into a similar bitter and twisted attitude towards their fellow humans. Such cynics of human nature often extend their cynicism to say that humanity is a plague on the Earth, that we are no better than parasites, and that, by implication, there is no point in us existing at all. Somehow, of course, they manage to exclude themselves from this damning judgement of their fellow humans. Perhaps they see themselves as one of a tiny elite among humanity who recognise the ‘real truth’ about the way the world works. Nonetheless, they’ve perhaps still considered it appropriate to find a partner and even to bring children into the world – actions, which by their own impeccable logic, must surely carry considerable risk! We could go further and think about the ‘Absolute Cynic’. Here is one who takes up the extreme sceptic position in matters existential. Nothing can ever be known, not even our own minds, they profess. We are all deluded, and those who seek truth or preach morality or faith or hope in progress are the most deluded of all. Hence, scientists, academic professors and many others are marked out for special derision by our absolute cynic – and most especially, anyone who might profess an optimism in humanity’s ability towards improvement. All those involved in politics – and I include here activists and campaign groups – are involved, presumably, because they believe that some change for the better is possible. The cynic effectively regards all such endeavours as a fool’s game, whilst at the same time is free-riding on all the improvements that do occur and which might occur in the future. It gets worse! The sun will turn nova – our cynic informs us – and the Earth will be burnt to a cinder (if indeed we have not already destroyed it ourselves). And even if we’ve departed to other solar systems then they will suffer a similar fate. And then the universe will collapse in on itself or entropy will go on increasing and the universe will suffer an equally damning eternity of cold lifeless darkness. There is no escape from the second law of thermodynamics. Therefore, human life is pointless. Yeah, thanks for that. Even if some way were found of living forever, in perfect comfort and security, with perfect happiness, the cynic would still not be happy! Put a cynic in heaven and they will claim it is all a delusion. They’d go on seeking a ‘realistic’ view of existence or say there’s still no point (by which, of course, they imply that there could be a greater point). Of course our cynic disregards all of the careful and hard-won truth-seeking that went into allowing them to reach their conclusions in the first place. Disregards the benefits of a stable and liberal society that tolerates free speech. Disregards that, if all humanity is deluded, then the cynic may also be deluded. Thus our absolute cynic carefully saws through the branch on which they sit – damned by their own logic. If there is no truth then there must be some ‘higher truth’ that allows our cynic to make such confident pronouncements. If there is no hope, no goodness in the human animal, no progress possible in human society, then why does our cynic continue to participate in life at all? Why not follow the cynical pronouncements to their logical conclusions? But no, these questions the cynic can never examine, because otherwise the cynic will be damned by their own arguments. The contradictions in their cynicism will be shown up and then the lies will be revealed. The cynic believes that the sum of human suffering outweighs the sum of human happiness. Therefore, they might argue, it would be better if humanity did not exist. But why do they presume to tell us that happiness is the basis of whether a human life is worthwhile? Maybe I have suffered more in life than I have gained in happiness, but I may still feel that life has been worthwhile – in fact life might be full of purpose. And why does the cynic bother to tell us anything anyway – if everything is so hopeless? If the cynic were ever to succeed in convincing all of humanity that it would be better for the human race to end (not necessarily by suicide, but just by not having children) then they would have dispelled one of their primary contentions – that human beings can change! So if such a massive change towards extinction were possible could not a collective move towards world peace and the end of poverty not be equally possible – not to say a good deal more appealing? What to make of all this? Well, firstly, to extend a certain generosity to the cynic – which the cynic does not afford to us regular folk, us parasites – questioning is always good! The voice of dissent is always worth hearing. And secondly, I find myself thinking, if only the cynic could be quietly cynical! Why, we have to ask, does our cynic feel the need to inform others of their cynical views? If the rest of us are irredeemably delusional then surely this is a waste of time. If, on the other hand, there is hope of some of us being converted to the cynic’s own gloriously enlightened position then isn’t this admitting that there is some hope for humanity after all? We can all become cynics! Yeah, take that one to its logical conclusion! Imagine a world completely lacking in good will, trust, friendship, kindness, compassion and love. A worthy aim! Thank you for your wise council! Tell that to the young lovers. Tell it to the young couples bringing new life into the world. But then they – we – are just foolish, ignorant, deluded, common folk. You alone, our cynic, hold the wisdom. Faced with someone of a positive frame of mind, someone who, dare I say, still dreams of utopia, human flourishing, enchantment and love, our cynic will likely take up with ridicule or abuse. Rainbows and unicorns, they will jibe. Likewise, the sincere truth-seeker and the level-headed, calm and reasonable workers who simply want to see society kept on track – they will be denounced as arrogant narcissists. On the other hand, perhaps there are indeed quiet, humble cynics! Perhaps there are cynics who look into their own hearts very carefully and recognise the ambiguities in their cynical position. But nonetheless, as far as they are able to say of themselves, they just cannot find any reason for optimism or hope. So they settle for silence. I don’t know how many cynics there are out there who fall into this category. If there are any at all then all I can say is that I admire their honesty and the integrity of such a stance. But let’s go to the other extreme. What if our cynic not only wanted to announce to the world their cynical views, but did so with just the kind of arrogance and narcissism that they accuse their opponents of having? Here, dear reader, I must confess a certain personal anxiety. Our cynic, you see, does not merely confine themselves to carefully argued reasons for their lack of hope and their distrust of human nature. The cynic with that narcissistic personality will be especially wary of any criticism – even any innocent comment that could in any way be construed as a criticism – and will react with considerable anger if such criticism is perceived. Given the precarity of the cynical position, this is likely to happen quite often. Not only this, but they are likely to ‘manufacture’ such situations for themselves, whereby they re-affirm the general stupidity of ‘the masses’. So, some poor unsuspecting person such as a nurse, a shop-assistant, a pupil or student will find themselves the target of an angry rant by our narcissist cynic. The cynic, to be fair, is probably unaware of what’s really going on here. They see only an upstart who dares to ask an innocent question or inadvertently offers a positive, hopeful point of view. They see only ‘stupid’ humanity, not an individual whose feelings they are hurting. And hence my anxiety, because I have often enough found myself the target of a character such as the narcissist cynic I’ve been describing. Note to self – just run away! But, well, like I say, perhaps there are quiet cynics. Perhaps the arrogant, outspoken cynics are in the extreme minority. We can only hope. The cynic, of course, may counter all this with criticism of – let’s call us – the optimists. Only a position of privilege, they might argue, allows for the optimist’s cosy world of progress and compassion. Only a wilful blindness to the corrupt, power-hungry and violent nature of humanity could account for these foolish dreams of utopia. A state of war or another such emergency would soon disavow the optimist of their stupid ideas! Well, we could turn that argument easily back on the cynic and say that it is the same comfortable state of privilege that affords the cynic the luxury of cynicism – because it really is a luxury. And, we have to wonder, if extreme conditions might not bring out the best in humanity as well as the worst. Who knows, our cynic might find themselves clinging to hope rather than smiling grimly and saying, ‘I told you so’. In fact, one suspects, in times of crisis the luxury of cynicism may no longer be extended to the cynic. Instead, we ordinary mortals might be telling them to stop their stupid whining and do something useful! The cynic’s way is a cop-out really – a lazy, irresponsible cop-out. By claiming that everything is useless – that humans are delusional and stupid and a plague on the Earth – the cynic abdicates themselves from any sense of responsibility to try to improve things. A very convenient philosophy of the lazy. The disenchantment of the cynic is always a pose. In order to live at all we must live as if we are not disenchanted. What to do then, about the cynic? It’s worth pointing out here that there is a difference between scepticism, cynicism and mere sadness with the world. We can hold a position of scepticism, especially about the reliability of truth and knowledge, without necessarily giving way to cynicism. The cynic takes things further by adding a kind of despair and hopelessness over the human condition, which is not a necessary conclusion from our lack of knowledge. And then there are folk who are merely sad with the world – tired, grieving, hurt or fearful – and these factors result in an anger towards other people and society at large. Cynicism is, I’d suggest, at root an emotional position rather than a rational one. (The cynic, in turn, may make a similar claim about the optimist and the utopian.) So rational argument is unlikely to win the day, and sarcasm and ridicule are likely to provoke rather than heal the differences. So I think it’s best to go back to something I said earlier. We should treat the cynic’s arguments with as much respect as possible. But there are no easy answers to the determined cynic and sometimes there’s nothing that can be said in reply to them. So, on a personal level, best settle for silence. But on the level of culture – literature, art, music – I think we should be countering cynicism at every opportunity. Don’t ever trust the cynical pronouncements that humanity cannot change. If they ask you to jump from the table, don’t jump!