isms

There are countless isms, mainly religious. By religion, I mean the kind that draws one to support a church of some sort. Each of these isms presents good reasons for their particular ism and each deems his to be the right and true one. If you are reared to one ism and your mind is thus attuned to it, well and good but most of us, being thinking human creatures, at one point in our existence, test or question our theism. There is also in life, a time of apathy in which one tires of the conflicts between  the isms and simply opts out of all of them into the convenient and readily available Atheism. A-theism simply means, away from theology of any kind. In other words there is no God. At the moment, this is a very popular theism.  It's the easy way out of the whole matter of who is right, a kind of I am too busy to bother with this nonsense, therefore, I believe in nothing. I am an Atheist.   But I prefer to think man does have a spiritual nature and craves for some sort of unearthly entity to which he can cling  during quiet moments. I have enlisted in one after years of being involved in a number of religions and some quite seriously at that. I have come up with my own ism. It is called Optimism. It accepts all others as the choices of individuals.  Most isms do not allow such freedom. If you are an "ism" you must follow the rules unless you are a worshipper of Anarchism. Optimism on the other hand is free. One can find something good in almost everything, the Auntie Annie kind of saying:"every cloud has a silver lining".  Optimism is positive but not stupid.  It says that hope reigns. Before you rush away yelling, Pollyanna, think about it. Isn't there truly something good about almost every religion. Only the vastly ignorant make denials without looking into a matter thoroughly before issuing a denial.  Optimism is inclusive:  no symbol, no cathedral, no tithe, no sermonizer,  no dogma, no hymn, no sore knees. Optimism may be practiced anywhere, anytime and anyhow. It is a happy ism, one with a positive future leaning: an ecstasy free from anything but of itself. Everything is good and beautiful and true - you just have to look for it. Ah Optimism!