The optimist is no cosmologist seeking the final truth about the world but a cosmetologist who puts a pretty face on it. He applies cosmetics to the cosmos. He knows the art of life and how to make the most of life, and does not shy away from such life-enhancing illusions as are conducive to his making the most of it. The philosopher, however, seeks the truth of life. Come hell or high water, or both, or neither.
There is the art of life and the truth of life, and there is a tension between them, a tension to be investigated by those of us who seek the truth of life. The investigation of this tension cannot be recommended to the artful livers. They would do well to ignore, and leave unexamined, the Socratic "The unexamined life is not worth living."
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