Positive Sophistication

[Ann]

It may at first seem that cynicism is a sign of sophistication. But it is usually more an indication of self-absorbed immaturity.

It may seem more realistic to look at the world and to pay the most attention to all the sorrows and shortcomings. But that is not even half the picture.


When you can look at anything and always see something to love and to treasure, that is when enlightenment is within your grasp. Any fool can criticize and find fault with life, for there is no sublime skill needed to tear things down.


If you truly want to be sophisticated, then be positive. If you seek to be acutely realistic, then focus on the positive possibilities.


For though there is a downside to life, it is far outweighed by the upside potential. Only things that already exist can have problems or be torn down, while there is no limit to what can be imagined and created.


Negativity is always self-limiting, for it surely and eventually consumes itself. The loving, creative, positive side of life has no such limitation, for the more it grows, the more possibilities it creates.


Choose to be truly realistic and genuinely sophisticated. Choose to be positive.
-- Ralph Marston