You should have a message in each pocket, so that you can read one or the other, according to your needs. In the right pocket are the words: “I am but dust and ashes” in the left are words: “For my sake was the universe was created."
— 19th century Hasidic adage
What is the truth about you? Are you worthless or precious? The answer depends upon who you are asking. Your mother has a different appraisal of your worth than would the guy you are suing. Sure, some people think more highly of you than other people do, but whose opinion is closes to the truth?
There is no way to talk about your worth without considering the perspective of the one doing the appraising. The objective world does not have an opinion of you; such abstractions exist only in the mind of an observer. Different observers have different opinions. But there is no true appraisal of your worth.
In fact, different observers perceive the world from different perspectives. There are no immaculate perceptions. As the thought experiment below shows, what you take to be objective truth is just how things look from your first-person perspective. Reality looks different when you shift to the perspective of a third-person, objective observer.
What time is it?
Trudy is an astronaut exploring the outer solar system 669 million miles from the earth [about 1 light hour away]. Curious about the time, she views Big Ben through a telescope. She sees that the clock’s face says 10:00. However, her wristwatch [which is set to Greenwich Mean Time and so should show the same time as Big Ben] says it is 11:00.
Trudy realizes that what she sees is determined by whatever photons are hitting her retina at the moment. Let’s call these photons, Trudy light. When she is looking at Big Ben the photons of Trudy light carry an image that says it is 10:00, but her local time, reported by the photons from her wristwatch that say it is 11:00. In other words, from the perspective of the observer, 1 light hour away from Big Ben, it is 11:00; from the perspective of the photons carrying information from Big to the observer it is 10:00.
What time is it? The correct answer depends on your perspective— whether you are in London, a spaceship orbiting Jupiter, or some other location. There is, however, one perspective that will always report the same answer. From the perspective of a photon emanating from Big Ben’s face at 10:00, it is always 10:00. Whether the photon emanating from Big Ben’s face is observed by a tourist across the street or by Trudy orbiting Jupiter, it carries the image of Big Ben showing it is 10:00.
Another way of thinking about this: From the photon’s perspective, time does not exist! [Note; Since there is no passage of time, cause-and-effect is not observable from the photon’s perspective].
Superposition
Where is the photon at 10:00? From the photon’s perspective, it is everywhere! Trudy, an observer, has a different perspective. She is at a particular location when that photon is absorbed by her retina. At that moment, the photon is not everywhere— it is at Trudy’s retina. The photon which had been in the superposition of everywhere collapses to that location and becomes Trudy light.
This thought experiment illustrates the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics: an object in a physical system can simultaneously exist in all possible configurations [superposition]. An observation forces the object into just one of those possible states. In this case, the observation of the photon (which could be anywhere) fixes it at the observer’s retina.
Who defines Barry’s worth?
Barry, a client suffering from depression, tell’s me during a session, that he is "A failure who can’t do anything right."
I tell him, "I think you are a bright, creative guy with a lot to offer."
"You have to say that, you are my therapist."
It is true. My appraisal of Barry is biased by the fact that I am his therapist. I want a good outcome for him; besides, I like him and think he is a bright and talented fellow. Like many of my clients, Barry has a much lower opinion of himself than I do.
Enough about Barry, what is the real truth about you? Are you good or evil? To answer these questions, let’s shift to heaven’s perspective. There is no objective truth about what is good and what is evil. Believing that you possess such knowledge is the original sin. Likewise, the belief that your appraisal of someone’s worth (including yourself) has any objective validity is no more than vanity.
As Nietzsche points out, you cannot use vaidity as the basis for choosing your self-evaluation. , who wrote a lot about this issue, might recommend that you select a self-appraisal on the basis of its utility. Self-appraisals often function like self-fufilling profesies. People who expect to fail tend not to put out the effort required to succeed and wind up failing. While those who believe they will eventually succeed tend to continue to work the problem, despite setbacks until they succeed [see Perseverence & Self-Efficacy].
Now let’s shift from you back to the less threatening subject of Barry. Barry has the ability to produce creations for the delight of heaven. But the belief that he is a worthless failure holds him back.
Attribution Theory and Hypnotic Suggestion
When I encourage clients to try on a perspective that promotes good performance [for example, I am talented and hard-working], they often respond with some version of: “I don’t want to lie to myself just because it might promote a better outcome for me.” My response is that your self-defeating appraisals are no more objectively true than more helpful ones. True, there have been times in the past when you performed poorly. So if you insist on being accurate, you would have to say: “In the past I did X in response to conditions Y.” But your opinion, “I am a failure” goes way beyond that valid statesment. The only truth about this negative appraisal is that it will tend to handicap your future performance.
When you accept as objectively true the statement, "I am a failure" you are giving yourself subtle but potent suggestions about your future performance and posibilities. Implicit suggestions:
- "I am a failure" implies that I have been a failure in the past, I am a failure now, and I will be a failure in the future. In contrast, it is possible to fail in the past and succeed in the future.
- "I am a failure" implies that I am a failure through and through, from top to bottom, inside out. In contrast it is possible to have strengths and weaknesses.
- "I am a failure" implies that cause of past failures was internal—for example, lack of talent, work ethic, etc. In contrast it is possible that previous bad outcomes were the result of external factors such as task difficulty [or task impossibility), bad luck, etc.
It is possible to fail in the past, learn from those failures, make changes, and succeed in the future. But that requires that Barry put out the hard work necessary to perform effectively in difficult circumstances. His task is made even more difficult by a voice suggesting that no matter what he does, his efforst will be in vain. The voice is Barry’s internal hypnotist, using the potent tool of suggeston. Any suggestion that Barry comes up with is a creative fiction made up by Barry. Since none is more valid than another, Barry should select a fiction on the basis of its utility [which would encourage actions in accord with his interests and principles] rather than his appraisal of its validity.
I recently had to choose a photo of myself for this web site. I selected the most flattering one from among the photos I have. I did not select on the basis of which is the most valid photo. I based my selection of a photo for this web site on Nietzsche’s recommendation: Since you cannot use validity as the basis of selection, use utility.
As for Barry, just as no photo of him is valid and complete, none of the opinions about Barry mean anything more than how he looks from one of the infinite number of possible perspectives. For Barry to perform to the delight of heaven he would do well to follow Nietzsche’s recommendation and selected his perspectives on the basis of utility, not validity.