How are You Disobeying Reality?
This is my twenty sixth entry into the 1001 challenge to write one thousand and one words everyday throughout the month of November. Peace
How am I disobeying reality?
The thought struck me on my commute to work this morning. It occurred to me, that most of the mistakes we make, and the bad situations we get into are a result of disobeying reality’s principles.
The world works according to principles. Principles manifest in different ways, and these ways depend on the variables present in the situation in question. For example, gravity is a fundamental principle of life; everything suspended in air falls to the ground, yet birds and airplanes, fly. It’s not that the law of gravity is suspended in these cases; if that were so, everything would float off the ground into space. Rather, a new variable: the law of aerodynamics has been added to the equation, and this law, combined with gravity, allows birds and airplanes stay in air, without floating uncontrollably into space, where gbege will otherwise hit them.
Note that in the above paragraph, I didn’t make any mention of rules. This isn’t because they are of no consequence, but because they are the lowest rung in the ladder of understanding. Rules are derivatives; they serve as guidelines for beginners or those who have insufficient knowledge. They are things you should let go of as you grow, because as knowledge and understanding of principles increase, you begin to see how things really work and how limited rules are. Go a little further, and you start to make your own rules.
All technological advancement has been made based on this fact. In ancient civilizations, we understood little of how the material world functioned, and as a result were slaves to the whims of nature. However, through a series of events, we gained tools that allowed us to observe the world, record our observations and test these observations, and slowly, our ability to understand the world grew. Eventually, we went from homeless creatures at the bottom of the food chain, to civilizations that kill for sport. Whether these advances have increased human happiness, or made humans better creatures is another story, the point is, a devotion to understanding and cooperating with nature’s principles strengthened our ability to better direct our fates.
We won’t have complete control of nature, or life, however, if we understand that life is a game of principles and seek to understand these principles and the different ways they manifest, we will improve our ability to play the game. Unfortunately, we take the events of life too seriously. We forget that we’re players of the game, and identify with the chess pieces, it’s ridiculous. It’s like playing FIFA and getting angry with the virtual players, when the controller is literally in your hands, it’s like believing that your PlayStation 4 means you harm and is trying to fuck you up, when in reality, you don’t fully understand the game mechanics. It might sound ridiculous, but it’s how we live life. We attribute malice to acts of randomness and human stupidity. We believe that the highly random, yet algorithmic universe, has singled us out to punish us, when things don’t go our way. This way of thinking prevents us from stepping back to observe the game and see what is really happening.
Learning the rules of the game, involves learning to see things are they really are. Learning to see things as they are, involves learning to set aside bias, emotions, judgment, and pre-existing ideas. It involves looking at life with fresh eyes, with the intention of seeing what truly happens, not what you want to happen, or seeing what you’ve been told should happen. It involves the objectivity and rigor of the scientific method, and it involves the openness and intuition of the artist. It is living as a scientist and an artist: it is observing, documenting your observations, creating hypotheses, testing these hypotheses, analysing the results, following what the intuition built from this process tells you, and rinse and repeat.
We on the other hand, tend to do the reverse. We place other people on pedestals and give them the right to decide what right or wrong means for us. This to an extent is unavoidable, as we cannot know everything, and some people are more specialized than we are. Yet, it has its limits and only works for trivial issues, like choice of soap, or smartphone to buy. When it comes to the important things like health, career, and relationships, no other person, save us, should make these decisions. We should be prepared to dive deep, do our research, and see what our intuition, combined with, and guided by reality tells us. We should be willing to be our own players.
This won’t be easy; we’ll make many mistakes, and we’ll have to make hard choices; choices that will destroy portions of ourselves. These mistakes and mini suicides will hurt like hell, but growth is a series of mistakes and deaths, a snake must shed its skin before it can expand; seeds must die for flowers to grow. But if every time we’re lost or in pain, we continually ask the question: “how am I disobeying reality?” or “what is the reality?”, we will always be guided back to the source of all creativity, and invention, reality itself. This manner of perception is a different form of what Shane Parrish calls “First Principle Thinking:” Looking at life without bias, and focusing solely on what the current reality is, rather than projecting desire on it. It’s not that you’re surrendering to the current reality, but then you can only act with what is within your immediate reach, or what is immediately available to you. As Ryan Holiday says, “the obstacle is in the way,” your solution lies somewhere within your current circumstances.
Learn to look at life objectively; seek to understand the underlying patterns. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk, I hope it left you with something to take away. Peace.
