There are many among the baby boomers who accuse Gen-Xers and many in my generation of being negative.
I have a good idea as to why that is.
The problems of the world aren’t being addressed. This means that there is no justification for a positive outlook. As the problems of the world do get addressed, I can guarantee that these people will become more positive.
Some people see attention paid to such things as forcing one’s will on the world or a power trip. This is ridiculous. The state of the world is everyone’s business. If you don’t care about such things you are not being enlightened; you are being a jerk. As for power tripping, no. I have no power ambitions. I don’t care who is in power for as long as what needs to be done gets done.
So some think that the world is maya or of the Satan. If that is the case, Satan must be quite a smart guy. Both nature and civilization are impressive accomplishments. There is a lot that is good about both. Both worlds need to be in the best shape that they can be. Dismissing such things as the world being maya or being of the Satan is not being enlightened and it’s not being righteous. It is being an unappreciative pig.
And values – such as responsibility and ethics – must be directed to doing the right thing by both nature and civilization, so that both worlds be in the best shape that they can be.
A positive thinker would deny that we have problems, and a negative thinker would say that the problems are too much for us to solve. Both are wrong. We have problems; they are however solvable problems. For their solution they require intelligence and hard work. This is not found in either positive thinking or negative thinking. It is found in real thinking.
Enlightenment is not the same thing as carelessness and short-sightedness. What we do to nature matters. What we do to the world matters. Me working on myself in order to become a better person or in order to become more enlightened will not solve these problems. I do both of the above; it doesn’t keep me from paying attention to the world’s problems.
Of course in most cases there is a need for both inner-directed action and externally-directed action. I have done both, and I recommend to others the same path. As Augustine said, “Pray as if everything depended on God; work as if everything depended on you.” Do the work that you need to do on yourself and do the work that you need to do for the world. And never be of the opinion that one is exclusive of the other.