According to Osho, there’s hardly any difference: the optimist believes this is the best of all possible worlds, while the pessimist dreads that this might be true. Both are mirror-image attitudes of the mind; rather than clinging to either hope or fear, he hints at meeting life as it is, with clear awareness.
An optimist says this world is the best; a pessimist gets scared that it really is—so just see things as they are.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what is the difference between surrender and blind imitation?
So be careful: the freedom you allow yourself, allow the other too. You have no right to judge another as blindly credulous or as a surrendered being. Drop that concern. You cannot judge anyway—how will you enter another’s heart? How will you know? Think only about yourself. See within whether, up to now, you have lived by blind belief or by surrender. Decide only there; leave worrying about others. Otherwise, all your judgments will be wrong. Jesus said: Judge not; do not set yourself up as a judge in relation to another. To the friend who has asked: if you are asking for yourself, good. Drop worrying about others. Look within and see: whatever I have been clinging to till now—have I ever staked my life to hold it? Have I meditated for it? Have I loved for it? Or am I just clutching what culture, society, civilization handed me?…
Question: BELOVED MASTER, WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF A PESSIMIST? Shivananda, a pessimist is an optimist who has become frustrated with his optimism. He hoped too much and failed, he dreamed too much and could not achieve anything substantial. The pessimist is an optimist standing on his head; they are not different fellows -- that's what I want to make clear to you. Unless you have been an optimist you can never be a pessimist. First you have to become an optimist. And each child is brought up with great optimism. All parents think that they have great children. Ask any mother: she thinks she has the unique child; the most superior, rare, incomparable. Each mother brags about the child. Parents bring up children with great optimism that they are going to be Alexander the Greats or Jesus Christs or Gautam Buddhas. But slowly slowly life proves just the contrary.
Beloved Osho, I have heard....
A PSYCHOLOGIST WANTS TO EXPERIMENT WITH HIS TWIN SONS. HE TAKES THEM DOWN TO HIS GROUP ROOMS AND PUTS EACH IN A ROOM BY HIMSELF. IN IKE'S ROOM HE LOADS IN A PILE OF TV-ADVERTISED, HARD-SELL TOYS. IKE IS DIAGNOSED AS A COMPLAINING, NEGATIVE PESSIMIST. IN MIKE'S ROOM HE LOADS IN AN ENORMOUS PILE OF MANURE. MIKE IS THE OPTIMIST. AN HOUR AFTER THEY ARE LOCKED IN, HE ENTERS IKE'S ROOM. THERE IS IKE TOSSING OUT TOY AFTER TOY, COMPLAINING, "THIS IS NOT ANY GOOD, THAT ONE WON'T WORK." AS HE OPENS THE DOOR INTO THE SECOND ROOM HE IS UNABLE TO FIND HIS SON FOR A FEW MOMENTS. BUT HE HEARS HIS VOICE; IT IS SAYING, "THERE'S GOTTA BE A PONY, THERE'S GOTTA BE A PONY." AND AS HE APPEARS HE IS SHOWN FRANTICALLY DIGGING THROUGH THE MANURE, LOOKING FOR THE PONY. I HAVE CHANGED ROOMS; I HAVE GOT…
Beloved master, what is pessimism?
Optimism ends into pessimism. Every pessimist has been an optimist once -- he is an ex-optimist. He hoped too much and because those hopes were not fulfilled he has become sour, angry, enraged. Now he cannot see the flowers and the stars. He can't see anything beautiful; he goes on looking for the ugly. And when you look for the ugly you will find it on every step. Whatsoever you look for you are bound to find it, remember, because life consists of both -- positivity and negativity -- in the same quantity. Life cannot exist without the other; the other pole is a must. It is just like electricity. Electricity cannot exist only with one polarity, positive or negative; it has to have both the poles together. It is possible only through the tension that is created between the negative and the positive. But there is a third kind…
You said last night that total despair, frustration and hopelessness is the beginning ground for yoga. This gives yoga a pessimistic look. Is this pessimistic state really necessary to begin the path of yoga? Does an optimist also begin with the path of yoga?
It is neither. It is not pessimistic, it is not optimistic, because pessimism and optimism are two aspects of the same coin. A pessimist means one who was optimist in the past; an optimist means one who will be pessimist in the future. All optimism leads to pessimism, because every hope leads to hopelessness. If you are still hoping, then yoga is not for you. The desire is there; hope is there; the samsar is there, the world is there. Your desire is the world, your hope is the bondage, because hope will not allow you to be in the present. It will go on forcing you towards the future; it will not allow you to be centered. It will pull and push, but it will not allow you to remain in a restful moment, in a state of stillness. It will not allow you So when I say total…