"The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose." ~Khalil Gibran

    We could add to that: "The realist sees and enjoys the rose, but is also aware or the thorns and how to avoid them."  Those who wish to truly develop their spiritual side need to be realists.  They cannot be easily fooled by the frauds as an optimist might nor be afraid to change at all like the pessimist.  Further, the optimist might think, "I'm not that old, I can wait a few more years to start worrying about my spirit and soul" while the pessimist might think it's already too late so there is no point in bothering with it now.  The realist though will recognize that the best time to start, if you haven't already, is now.  We don't know when we are going to die.  We don't know when the period known as Judgement Day will end so we can't wait.  At the same time, we can't give up because there may not be enough time left.  Each one of us who tries will make some progress toward spiritual enlightenment and even if some of us die before achieving complete enlightenment, we can continue in the afterlife.  Plus, what we do achieve helps to raise the overall vibrations of the planet so that we can together achieve the goal of saving it by returning it to it's original state of spirit.