Let’s level set first by defining what I mean by an idealist. Dictionary definition: one that places ideals before practical considerations. Given current zeitgeist I should also add that to me an idealist is someone that engages in meaningful action (even if private) and not just talk, and isn’t driven by the need for excessive public adulation. With that out of the way, let’s proceed.
Most people will tell you that they hope for a future that is kinder, more inclusive, equitable, and abundant and yet we use the word idealist as a slight against those that dare to dream and care; as a shorthand to say that this person doesn’t understand the realities of life. In a culture over indexing on the immediate, anything that doesn’t guarantee a short to mid-term outcome is considered a waste. We forget that these idealists, optimists and visionaries see the same broken parts, feel the same sadness and distress that we do and instead of becoming cynical, closed and selfish, they choose the expansiveness of hope.
Humans have instincts to leave the world better than we found it, but we are also instinctively self-protective, tribal and prone to othering. When this instinct for self-protection mixes with the awareness of our fundamental fragility, it creates a push towards selfish and short-term thinking. We become incapable of imagining a future that doesn’t have us in it and because we crave to experience the gains of our labor, we try to bring that more abundant future to us…sometimes by stealing from it. This manifests in us creating business models that become sustainable only by ignoring ethical considerations, products that destroy precious natural ecosystems, supply chains that dehumanize those that we don’t come in personal contact with, user interfaces that spool people in threads of addiction and consumption that they find hard to untangle from. When this fear-based part of us wins, we also create divisions and hierarchies that further feed the instinct for self-protection―sexism, elitism, racism, ageism to name a few.
There is no “they” that inflicts these pains, it is “we” that do. And humans will continue inflicting hurt in one way or another till we roam the planet. I’m not making harsh judgments, I’m trying to be as clear-sighted as I am capable of being. Given certain circumstances, conditioning, information or lack thereof, each of us―me included―is capable of contraction, of harming, hating, picking up arms and thinking short-term. And each of us is also capable of expansion, of caring, empathizing, nurturing and loving.
We have a choice in what parts of humanity we feed. When we beat on idealism and hope or when we other someone instead of engaging in dialogue to understand their worldview and realities, we feed the destructive side of humanity. With all that is stacked against us, isn’t it better for us to embrace hope, idealism and thoughtful engagement rather than kick those in the shins who had to muster unusual courage to stand on wobbly legs to lead and support the rest of us to a better future. So lets pause before our next mental eye-roll and instead provide the idealist with missing information, context and practical realities to fill their knowledge gaps. If they miss the mark, let’s not jump in and question their judgment to make ourselves look smarter or more informed. Let’s engage them in conversation and concern not combat.
“…hope…I understand above all as a state of mind, not a state of the world. Either we have hope within us or we don’t…Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons…
Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more unpromising the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is. Hope is not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. In short, I think that the deepest and most important form of hope, the only one that can keep us above water and urge us to good works, and the only true source of the breathtaking dimension of the human spirit and its efforts, is something we get, as it were, from ‘elsewhere.’ It is also this hope, above all, that gives us the strength to live and continually to try new things, even in conditions that seem as hopeless as ours do, here and now.” ― Vaclav Havel
