I’m about the last person from whom you’d ever hear a warning about getting too much of a good thing. My friends argue about whether I’m a perfectionist or a maximalist. I usually argue for the latter. I really don’t need everything to be perfect and I don’t take it personally when it’s not, but I do constantly find myself asking whether there wouldn’t be some way that we could improve what we’re doing or making or partaking in.

To be fair, I’m not always the one to catch myself over-compensating for things that are not quite good enough. I’m thinking that the very idea of ‘good enough’ is my kryptonite. It robs me of my super-power, the ability to make just about anything better.

Virtue or vice seems to depend on one’s perspective, and the most startling perspective to come my way lately is being bandied about by Barbara Ehrenreich in her latest book, Bright-sided: How the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America.

Honestly, the first time I heard it, I found the title troubling. I think positivity is one of my personal attributes. Whether or not you agree, it is something to which I aspire. In fact, I’ve often thought that negativity was one of our deeper social problems.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess to not having read this book, but I have heard her share her thoughts on the subject in two separate public-radio interviews.

Last week, Fred Utter re-introduced me to that ‘Magic Eye’ thing that was so popular in the nineties. You know the funky carpet-pattern looking photo collage that supposedly contains a 3D image if you can just look at it the right way. Well it actually does occasionally work, but you have to hold the picture close and focus on it close, without bringing your eyes together as you normally do when you’re trying to look at one point. In relaxing, and allowing each eye to take in a slightly different image, a third image appears, in three dimensions. Enough said.

Ehrenreich is trying to do a similar thing. In observing several seemingly independent cultural tendencies, she has perceived a single pattern.

After she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, she was barraged by social pressure to ‘stay positive’ and visualize her healing. She was reminded that all was not lost and that some had it much worse than her. The unspoken message was clear: “If you don’t get better—if you don’t lick this thing, it’s likely because you don’t have the right attitude.” At the very time when she needed understanding and support, she was feeling pressured and ashamed.

Many will remember the ‘irrational exuberance’ with which Wall Street speculated in mortgage based securities. That reasonable minds were disturbed by the growing complexity of bundles and sub-primes didn’t make a difference. Plenty of folks were making out like bandits, so who wanted to be left out? The warning signs were there and some were reading them, but most people weren’t paying attention. When it all came crashing down we wondered why no one had done anything. Wall Street admitted to poor judgment but maybe it goes deeper than that.

Joel Osteen, and a growing number of mass-market Christian writers and preachers proclaim a ‘prosperity Gospel’ that is ‘good news’ to the wealthy. Wealth, they say, is a sign of God’s favor and blessing. Wealth is a natural outcome of being good. Even the New Age movement has its share of people saying that if you want good things to come to you, you simply need to put good things out into the universe. These Christians rest easy with the notion of a just God who favors them, and controls what comes there way. The New-Agers, less often Christian, but no less often well-off are equally drawn to their notion of cosmic Karma. And all of them draw comfort from the widely held cultural bias toward intentions over results. Well, Barbara Ehrenreich isn’t going to give them an ‘A’ for effort.

And that’s another area, raising our kids. Leaving the school of hard knocks, newer generations have preferred the carrot to the stick. One outgrowth was an inclination to affirmation. Unfortunately, that often takes the form of a mantra. “You can do anything you want to do. Chase your dreams. The sky’s the limit.” What parents never intended, but sometimes discover is that their children read between the lines. “If you don’t succeed, it’s because you didn’t try hard enough, or have the right attitude.”
Say what you will about Barbara Ehrenreich, she doesn’t mince words. And maybe it’s time for us to stop too.

People who come to church shouldn’t have to paste a smile onto their face when what they’re needing is friends with whom they can be real, even when they’re discouraged or afraid. Those who are stuck without work shouldn’t be afraid of others thinking they’re to blame. When the prophets who see problems and raise a warning or point to a better way are told that their attitude doesn’t contribute toward a positive workplace or welcoming environment they tend to stay quiet or leave.

Ehrenreich said it well. “I never think delusion is OK.” Buddhism likens optimism to a ladder. Every hopeful rung higher that we climb, we are farther from the ground and less stable all the way. Better to peel back the illusions and see the world as it is.
So I’m re-considering positivity. I still think we need it. But we also need to be aware of the danger in it.

The Church of High-Fidelity seeks to be faithful to the Source. That is the world as it has been made. The world as it is, made by the One who always has been and always will be. The Church of High-Fidelity honors the whole range of human emotion as a gift. It believes that each one is capable of revealing Truth. It seeks to comfort the afflicted with a knowledge of our care, but also to afflict the comfortable when they have turned away from those who suffer from their violence, their greed, or even their neglect.

And through it all, there is still good news. Opening our eyes and ears, we will perceive. Opening our minds and hearts, we will understand. Why? Because we have a God who loves us and has surrounded us with a rich diversity of companions, each with their own special and powerful insight into our universe. Thank you, Barbara Ehrenreich, for yours.