Beyond the Clouds: Optimism, Symbolism, and Positive Thinking

A Father's Maxim and an Optimistic Inheritance

Beyond the darkness of the clouds lies the brightness of the sunlight.

I can't even remember the first time he said it, but I can remember about two hundred times that he did. It was one of those expressions you hear but don't think about — like "penny wise, pound foolish" — as if it were a single word.

My dad is an idealist, a romanticist, and a purveyor of platitudes. He is a less-nerdy Ned Flanders from The Simpsons, always smiling and seeing only the best in people. He is a yin-yang theorist who cannot look at anger without seeing joy, or at destitution without seeing redemption.

I either inherited my dad's confident nature, sunny disposition, and jocular wit, or he programmed it into me. As far back as I can remember, I was a half-full kind of person. The glass was never half-empty. Make lemons into lemonade. Every cloud has a silver lining. That was me — a very happy, tenacious kid. I persevered because I did not know any better. It never occurred to me that an outcome could be unfavorable or unproductive. In retrospect, I have come to realize that my easy and self-assured nature is a fortuitous gift.

Beyond the darkness of the clouds lies the brightness of the sunlight is a precise expression of my dad's attitude. He believed that everything in our environment was for our benefit, and that if you intend to accomplish great things, you will encounter great obstacles. This maxim is also significant in that it articulates the essence of the subconscious. The images of shadow and light, sun and clouds, dark and bright abound in literature. Generally, they are used to compare good and evil.

Light and Dark as Universal Symbols

In Holland, Sinterklaas — the predecessor of Santa Claus — was an austere bishop who wore a red bishop's costume and rode a white horse. Many white images appear with this icon of goodness and reward. On December 6, Sinterklaas arrives by ship and keeps the names of children, and records of their behavior throughout the year, in a large book. Children who have been well behaved receive presents.

However, children who misbehaved were taken away by Sinterklaas's assistant, Zwarte Piet, or Black Pete. The worst children were put into Zwarte Piet's bag — the same bag that carried sweets to the good children — and carried off to Spain. This figure, Black Pete, represented a place and a people coded as frightening in the Dutch cultural imagination, making this a deeply troubling consequence in the minds of Dutch children.

For centuries, this theme was programmed into the immature psyches of Dutch children. The association of good with white and evil with black is a near-universal pattern in children's games and stories. The most obvious example is that good guys wear white and bad guys wear black. Angels are always dressed in white. Witches wear black. Brides wear white. Mourners wear black. Black magic is destructive; white magic is productive. That which appears in light conveys joy and happiness, while that which appears in darkness promotes fear. Most human beings are conditioned from earliest childhood with unconscious processes that produce and interpret a wide array of metaphors, symbols, and impressions.

The Psychology of Black and White

Diving more deeply into the psyche, the concepts of black and white, bright and dark, carry more complex meanings. Black is often a psychological image used to express the unconscious, the unknown, the hidden, or the avoided parts of the self — as well as depression, fear, and despair.

Antithetically, white indicates awareness and clarity of mind. The psychological implication of black and white together is the merging of conscious and unconscious material to form a greater, more integrated self.

We can also examine these colors in the context of cultural reality. White is the brightest color, while black holds the most contrast to it. White is the absence of color, and black is the absence of light. Black and white are opposite colors that share the attribute of neutrality. When appearing together, black and white can be a symbol of duality — complementing contrasts rather than warring opposites.

Contrast carries no inherent good or bad judgment. It simply is. Complement, however, does carry a positive connotation. Things and concepts that complement each other complete each other. This is best represented by the yin-yang symbol — two black and white halves that create a whole by embracing contrasting or opposite concepts. Yin-yang is a complete circle, inclusive of everything: black and white, good and bad, hot and cold, wet and dry.