Thursday, January 23, 2025

No, I'm positive

Positivity, as exemplified by Norman Vincent Peale's "The Power of Positive Thinking," does have some support in the Bible.  There is, for example, Philippians 4:8, noting that "if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things."  There is significant social and psychological research that indicates that thinking about, or emphasizing in your thoughts, about positive or beautiful things, such as art or nature, has a beneficial effect on mood, energy, and even physical health.  Ralph Waldo Emerson is creditted with being the originator of a form of positivity.  It tends to be seen as a basis for the American Dream: an optimism that insists that anyone can grow up to be President (an idea which seems to have been taken to extreme, these days).

It is intriguing that Trump is seen as a champion of this concept, since it insists on limitless opportunity.  And here we see the first failing: while Trump seems to hold with this idea of limitless opportunity, he is, at the same time, insistent upon every negotiation being a "zero-sum" game, where, instead of finding a transaction where both parties benefit, there has to be a winner and a loser (and it is vitally important to be the winner).

Trump also presents as terrified of someone else (see "immigrant") obtaining some of the opportunity, which is an interesting conflict with the idea of "limitless."  This is, of course, in direct conflict with any number of Christian principles.  Therefore, while there is some support for positivity in Christianity, positivity has to be, itself, limited and proscribed.

There is, for example, the extremely popular variant sometimes called the "prosperity gospel."  This is the idea that Christianity is some kind of deal or transaction, where the deal is that we are good, or do things that God wants, and that, in return, God will provide us with goods, or a "good life."  The unfortunate outcome of this viewpoint is that anything that goes wrong; if you are poor, or sick, or in any kind of distress; it is *your* fault, because you have obviously sinned, or don't have enough faith.  This perspective obviates the need to address any needs that someone else has, since any problems that they have are the result of their sin or unfaithfulness.

There is also a popular Christian duality, holding that personal faith in God is separate from work or business.  God is all very well in church on Sunday, but, in the *real* world, you have to follow the tenets of capitalism, since God doesn't know anything about business.  (The fact that the Bible is full of *great* business advice is generally lost on these people, since they don't get very far into the Bible.)  This duality doesn't have a direct connection to the concept of positivity, but positivity devotees tend to hold to very similar dualities (see "Trump," above).

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