Idealist VS Realist

Lets talk about something a little heavy this time round.. Idealist, or realist, which defines you more? Probably no one can say for sure one is an idealist, or a realist, since decisions are made based on conditions and consequences... but then one can say dominantly one is either, and as such help shed some light into one's own life and probably understood why things happen to one the way they did...

Idealist practice envisioning things in an ideal form, or in simpler term aiming for perfection.

Realist see things in literal truth and pragmatism, or more grounded on reality (hence the name).

Having said the definition, it becomes clear that idealist and realist contradict each other. However, both seem to deny the basic property of human... To be human is to be flawed, in which idealism cannot apply... However to accept life and reality literally only results in average, which deny a human of his potential...

Another significant contradiction...

To be an idealist is to reach for the stars. However, idealist often get lost in their dreams, and as a result can get an out-of-touch aura about them..

To be a realist is to be ready to accept reality... Much better prepared for good or bad compared to an idealist. However, a realist often focused too much on the reality and aim much lower, or only aims something that can be reached with assurance.. Realist often miss out the few times that human does reach excellence...

So, up to this point, you should have a basic idea which you are dominant at.. If not, keep reading... In the end, I'll tell you which am I...

Is the glass half empty, or half full?

This is a common question in determining one's perception, as an optimist or a pessimist.. We can classify these two into branches of idealist and realist... Optimist are idealist, and pessimist are realist.. classifying onself does not mean reasing or lowering the humanity of oneself.. We cannot say that idealist is better than realist, nor the other way around..

If you see the glass as half empty, you are commenting on the fact that it is missing half of it's contents.. You see it as it is, and accept that the half empty cannot be gained back.. (assuming the contents cannot be changed).. You accept that the content is imperfect, and that you may not be able to do anything about it..

If you see the glass as half full, you are thinking ideally that the glass is only at half it it's capacity... Again, assuming the contents cannot be changed, you still hold on to the idea that there is something that you can do to make the content of the glass full.. You are ignoring the reality, and thinking ideally if you have to do something with the half full content of the glass, you will have an ideal thought of how to use it..

I am an idealist.. I see the glass as half full.. I am optimistic about life, and refuse to accept reality literally.. To me, there is always something more to life than what is seen, and more to feel, more to touch, more to love, and more to do.. but at the same time, being aged (not old, mind you..) I am also aware of the imperfect world and that my ideals do not apply to it.. I am aware of the failures, hurt, despair and reality.. However I refuse to let it bother me, as I believe in the human potential... As long as I can still breathe, I will live.. I will see, and I will touch, I will feel, I will love, and I will do, despite all the failures, despite all the hurt, despite all despair, and despite reality....

How bout you?


8 comments :

  1. I think I'm more of a realist. I'm always the first to shut someone down for being stupid & unrealistic. I like getting things done, and if something is unrealistic, I don't want to waste my time. But if I do find myself stuck doing a project the night before, and start losing hope, I turn to being more of an idealist so that I have some type of motivation. The world needs idealists to influence humans to aim high and move forward, but the world also needs realists to point out the obvious and make sure stupid people don't become blinded by their "big dreams".

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  2. I'm an idealist myself.
    I think it's good to know that there are still other idealists all around the world, not only me.

    I personally think that yes, *Reality* of the world might seems harsh and all of that, but I'd firmly said that many (if not all) major, great achievements & progress in the entire course of human's history is always done (or at the very least, sparked/initiated) by the Idealists.
    For example, if not for idealists, there would be no airplane today, and no Man landing on the Moon, no abolition of slavery (Martin Luther King: "I have a dream"), and so on and so on.

    I do think that sometimes being idealist if often misunderstood by those realist/pragmatist as "naive, childish" even "illogical", but on the contrary, in my opinion we as humans always have a thing called HOPE, and it's only LOGICAL to have some sort of *Idealisms* to keep you still pushing through life, and HOPING for a better future. Otherwise, is it *logical* for humans to just merely *existing*, but not really LIVING, and always make/be the BEST of themselves, for their own and also humanity?

    "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" ~ John Lennon, Imagine

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  3. Being idealist might be better for other people than the idealist him/herself. Because, the human history practice many thinkers; most of them in some points were idealist. They did lots of good thing for human being, but what happened to them. They struggled so much for other people, whereas they didn't enjoy their life.

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  4. what is wrong in aiming for perfection? i guess it's the essence... having everything to the fullest so that comes death, no regrets!!! i guess it's because we're afraid of believing and at the end failing... but it's the beauty... it's a matter of having hope and faith for all the beautiful things in this world...

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  5. I'm a realistic idealist myself.

    I want to achieve my dream yet I know the world is cruel out there, not really cruel but yea..you know... I realize that I have to make a living.
    I believe one day I will achieve my dream.
    Just live to the fullest, have faith and I believe love and hope is really existed in this world.

    Love y'll :)

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  6. So do you guys think that Idealists contribute more to the world then Realists do? Or vise versa?

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  7. Well, Idealists are the reason why we humans got so far in life. If Idealists are the ones who struggle for the sake of humanity than so be it, it shall be us who will guide humanity forward, its better than living a life inside a cage locked within the boundaries of society and to do things you never would have believed you could have achieved. It's a path that heroes and real legends take like Alexander the Great. But I do mind you too much Idealism will get you lost your in dreams and you might never achieve them. But if you have the heart and soul idealism will always come on top of realism and the deciding factor is never giving up. No matter how many people put you down or how sad or depressed you are, don't give up. So know your limits but never give up on becoming better or surpassing others because realism is the only factor that is stopping us from achieving things far greater than we could have ever imagined.

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  8. On a lighter note... here's a good example of idealism vs. realism:
    http://ducksauceoneverything.blogspot.com/2012/07/realistic-expectations-setting-bar-low.html

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