…a school of thought from ancient Greece practiced by a group of philosophers who called themselves the Cynics. As outlined in Wikipedia, “For the Cynics, the purpose of life is to live in virtue, in agreement with nature. As reasoning creatures, people can gain happiness by rigorous training and by living in a way which is natural to themselves…”
What!
Not sure how we got from there to Wikipedia’s present-day meaning of, “…a disposition of disbelief in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions.”
However we got here though it seems that today’s cynicism is a somewhat lazy way to live. A mixture of criticism and apathy. It’s easy to rag on things and doubt sincerities, which may help simplify one’s perspective but doesn’t allow for or demand engaging with challenges or people in meaningful or impactful ways.
I’m not sure where I got the following, “It is not the survival of the fittest but the survival of the friendliest and those who can best work together,” but it shows, in a world where not everything is as wonderful as we would like, a possibly less lazy and more productive way to look at things and approach issues we may face at work or in our personal lives.
I guess, like many things, it comes down to a choice.
But we have to take a moment in order to choose.
Written while listening to The Hu
William Kerr And associates 