What Do You Mean By Conservative?

The Essence of Conservativism - Andrew Sullivan

"Conservatism doesn't mean the abandonment of imagination or change. It means an understanding of the impossibility of all ultimate fixes, and an ease in the current imperfection: a preference for current laughter over future bliss."

I don't use the word conservative for an attitude such as this. Sullivan might, simply because he has considered himself one for about as long as I've been alive. What I see instead is a rejection of utopianism and that affirmation of existence Joseph Campbell lauded, that eternal 'Yes' to life. Perhaps there isn't a word for it, or at least not a single word. Discontent and hope are two words that spring to mind. And a desire to do what one can to make this world better. I don't think there's a political affiliation for such beliefs. It is simply life and the want to have a full, rich life.