Cynicism: The Art of Seeing Things As They Are

Turn to a drunken journalist;
A girl that knew all of Dante once
Live to bear children to a dunce;
A Helen of social welfare dream
Climb on a wagonette to scream.
Some think it a matter of course that chance
Should starve good men and bad advance. . .
. . .Young men know nothing of this sort,
Observant old men know it well. . .

Yeat's poem was written in the first half of the 20th century, and the imagery and themes are appropriate for those times. However, the essential truths of his verses become even more apparent if you rewrite the words for modern times. With apologies to the truly great poet, here is a modest parody:

Why should not old women be mad?
Some have known a likely lass
Who had a an actor's mind and soul
Prance a blow-dried anchor's role
A girl that knew all Angelou once
Parade as corporate shill and dunce;
Heathers of idealist social dreaming
Trample everyone in sight, the glass ceiling cracking,
And corporate chieftains, their companies a-failing,
With obscene amounts of money and options a-bailing.
Some think it a matter of course that chance
Should starve good women and bad advance. .
Most young women now know everything of this sort,
Observant old women are depressed as hell.

Cynicism will probably neither enlighten of itself, nor get you to the Promised Land nor even help trim your toenails. However, it may help remove some obstacles to thought, perhaps leading to greater clarity.

Cynicism is something like a great magnifying glass for truth--albeit one that can distort if not used with care. Through that lens, one sees some of the threads connecting world religions and philosophies. So often, these truths emphasize going beyond the artificialities of civilization in order to get in touch with one's inner experience of God.

From Christ's throwing the moneylenders out of the temple to the Buddha's Noble Truths to Taoism's emphasis on a simple, unadorned life of the spirit, so much spiritual thought stresses going beyond the social identity to find the essential truth within.

Perhaps that is why that great 19th century wit, Ambrose Pierce, so adroitly defined cynicism in The Devil's Dictionary as a "blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be."

Copyright 2002, Thomas James Martin, all rights reserved.