Here is another quote: "Always borrow money from a pessimist, he doesn't expect to be paid back"
"kiss ass saints" sounds a little blasphemous to me, or am I being too pessimist.
Sounds blasphemous to me. I'm sure the devil LOVES it when we put such words side by side. Heck, the atheists do it all the time.
As for the saints, I suspect they were the greatest "realists" of all, if by "realist" we mean someone prone to neither the erroneous exaggeration of pessimism nor optimism. I think for the most part they had the one and only correct point of view. Again, NEITHER the error of optimism (falsely exaggerating good) or pessimism (falsely exaggerating bad) but the view, rather, of things how they are in light of eternity.
Really and truly, everything in existence IS imperfect compared to God. Even a human being that is perfect as Adam and Eve before the fall, were only perfect HUMANS... infinitely below God. This is reality, neither falsely dismal nor falsely rosy. The saints merely preferred to go after what is truly the best thing... God Himself. They saw the very real and very true defects of the things and loves of this world, and they saw the very real misery, injustice and ugliness of sin, and they opted for something that is not ugly or unjust... goodness, virtue and the grace of God. They saw that the things of this world were really and truly passing or fleeting, and set their sights on the eternal destination of all of us... the judgment seat of God, and what comes after it, which is the most ultimately sane thing that any one of us can do.
Pessimism and optimism are WRONG. Both are bad because neither agrees with the reality of things as they really, truly are. The optimist lies to himself about how rosy things are, and the pessimist how black they are. But the saints saw things simply as they really were... that men really are flawed and pitiful creatures, infinitely below the Good God, that everything this this world passes away, and that all any one of us will have left ultimately is eternity, whether we've prepared for it or not. They saw that God was infinitely good, and fell madly... or really quite sanely... in love with Him, while the rest of the world only saw the lie of the mud and spittle on the road to calvary, and told themselves He was only a man. But to look at the cross and see not a man, but a glorious and divine King is not optimism, but the truth. It is something quite different from looking at a room full of garbage and seeing instead a room full of gold. One is true, the other a lie.
The saints, for the most part, had a vision of truth, distorted in neither direction. That is the vision WE ought to have... simple truth, unobstructed by lies we would rather tell ourselves. If we had this vision, perhaps all of US would be saints by now. Sadly, because we always twist things to save ourselves, it is something we must all practice at. You know you've hit the mark on obtaining it when you realize sainthood is the one and only rational, sane choice, and the rest as ugly, unjust, repulsive and paramount to eternal ѕυιcιdє.
It is pessimistic to live your life thinking that you simply can't achieve your sainthood, and therefore there's no point in seriously trying. It is optimistic to think that if you don't sincerely try, you will make heaven anyhow. It is simply true that God exists, is Who and what He is, and that He has asked of us what He has... and that while all things we may love in this world will pass away, one day we will come to an eternal destination, after passing before our Judge, which will be forged, so to speak, of the thoughts, words and actions of every moment of our lives... a reward or prison of our own making, which will be ours for all eternity. It is simply true that moment by moment we ARE forging it, for better or worse, by every single thought, word or deed, whether we want to do so or not. And it is simply true that anyone who begins to really know anything about God cannot help but love Him, and see everything in the light of the truth of Him, His will and His perfections. To live in view of the TRUTH is the only sane point of view. Everything else is simply false.
Let us all hope and pray for THAT vision. Since it IS true, it is the only way of looking at things that will end in anything other than disaster, temporary or eternal!