THE VARIETIES OF OPTIMISM 



that permanently matter, it is indeed well that 

 gastric optimism should exist and exercise such 

 power. Its genesis is obvious to the evolutionist, 

 who sees in it a factor that makes for fitness and 

 survival. We therefore note its existence, congrat- 

 ulate ourselves thereupon, admit its inestimable 

 practical worth, but dismiss it as of no rational or 

 philosophic weight, save in so far as its existence is 

 itself an argument for rational optimism. 



Next in order of importance, perhaps, is the 

 optimism which has a very different origin not in 

 the abdomen, but in the acceptance of some com- 

 forting creed. The reader certainly does not need 

 my assistance in recalling the innumerable creeds 

 all, of course, of Oriental origin, Western man 

 never yet having achieved the making of a religion, 

 unless we except Christian Science and the like 

 which postulate a happy and illimitable hereafter 

 to compensate for these present ills, "which are 

 but for a moment." It is a common characteristic 

 of these many creeds, ancient and modern, that 

 they emphasize the ills of this life in contrast with 

 the promise of the next. They thus inculcate 

 a terrestrial pessimism, but a celestial optimism. 

 Herein is a distinction to be noted in comparing 

 this, which is the optimism of faith, with the third 

 species now to be named, which is the optimism of 

 reason. But again I protest that I am attempting 

 to classify, not to pass judgment. And though it 

 would be easy, and might on occasion be expedient, 

 to jeer at gastric optimism, or at the optimism 

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