Todd’s recent half-glass of water themed post “Optimistic Pessimism,” along with the trend in these begun by Wynne’s “The Glass Is Refillable” and then Crisbiecoach’s “A Glass Full of Water,” made me think of something Walpola Rahula wrote in his classic book What the Buddha Taught, namely that
“Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic.”
I don’t want to elaborate further on the meaning of that statement — at least not at this moment — because what I’m curious about now is the figure (the metaphor) of the half-glass of water. We say that the glass is half-full to indicate optimism, or an optimistic outlook. We say the glass is half-empty, indicating a pessimistic view.
What would we say about the glass to indicate a perspective that is neither pessimistic nor optimistic?
Besides writing, SeekerFive creates expressive photographic art at matthewvphoto.redbubble.com.
He also creates visual art and designs under his Leaf Town brand at https://society6.com/leaftown and on Instagram @leaftowndesigns (instagram.com/leaftowndesigns).
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