 One advantage of cleaning house only occasionally is my housemates’ appreciation when it’s clean. If it were always pristine, no one would notice.
I’ve been watching a lecture series on particle physics for non-physicists. Segments involve relativity, which I struggle to grasp beyond the Newtonian basics. Relative to my house I’m sitting still at the computer, but relative to the sun I’m hurtling through space. My head is the same height relative to my feet, whether I stand on a creek bed or a mountaintop. Compared to other people’s suffering, my troubles are trivial. Can relativistic thinking ease my anxiety or grief? Not always. My peace shouldn’t depend on someone else’s pain. Sorrow isn’t a competition. Thinking I shouldn’t hurt, just because others hurt more, adds shame for feeling what I feel. Worse yet, telling people “Count your blessings” or “Others have it worse” trivializes their emotions. Yet in stressful times, when I acknowledge the stress and do what needs doing, one type of comparison keeps me going: then and now. I recall a long-ago time of feeling utterly helpless and alone. The point is not that I’ve been through worse, but that I’ve come through worse. I survived in the past; I can survive again. I’ll be all right, relatively speaking. Image: Cube of theoretical physics, drawn by CMG Lee.
4 Comments
Dennis Doren
2/26/2024 12:09:02 pm
My understanding is that a key to relativity theory is not just that comparisons are necessary for proper comprehension, but that there is no such thing as an entity or force without a context. On a personal level, our thoughts and feelings have no meaning until we interpret them within a context. We can choose the context of others’ lives or we can choose the context of our own - whether from our past or desired/feared future. None of our thoughts or feelings happens without a context but I agree with you that the more meaningful context is our own. Choosing to be grateful for what we have, for instance, is not a statement about what we have compared to what others have. Likewise, being resentful or envious of others’ good fortune says nothing about the absolute level of what exists in our lives. Just like in relativity theory, our chosen context defines a great deal about our reality. Nice analogy. 2/26/2024 05:23:20 pm
Dennis, thank you! I'm the first to admit I don't understand relativity in any sophisticated or scientific way, but the importance of context is new to me (in this context) and wonderfully thought-provoking. As regards comparisons, does this mean any statement needs comparisons of some sort for context, but we get to choose which ones are most useful?
Dennis Doren
2/26/2024 06:44:59 pm
Context is important for relativity theory (and quantum field theory). For example, if we refer to the rate of time (think of the ticking of seconds on a clock) - something we all take for granted - the context for comparing rates of time is the relative velocity (including differences in the pull of gravity!) of the two entities where time is being measured. Contrary to our day-to-day experience, there is literally no absolute rate of time anywhere - the context of relative velocities always matters. (Believe it or not, your head experiences a different rate of time from your feet, this being because their experience of gravity differs due to their different distance from the center of the earth. On a larger scale, GSR satellites need constant adjustments to maintain proper measures of earth coordinates because the satellites' clocks run slower than clocks on earth's surface.) The same is true when we speak of location - the location of anything. It cannot be specified without being in reference to something else. (Picture a universe with only one object in it. How would you describe where it is?) Moving away from physics to psychology, I suggest that every aspect of our sense of selves is based on comparisons - we "know" we are heavy/light, tall/short, smart/not smart, funny/dull, depressed/not depressed, and even ill by comparing to something "other". Concerning your main point, "happiness" (according to what I have read) tends to correlate with living by one's own standards (i.e., bases of comparison) rather than external expectations - as in the common philosophy about the importance of being happy with what one has. 2/29/2024 05:50:42 pm
Small wonder my head and feet, don't always work together well! No, seriously, the time and space interactions in relativity theory continue to feel very unintuitive to me - by comparison with things I more nearly understand. The broader point about pretty much everything we think or say is by comparison/context, and otherwise meaningless, is very helpful and has me seeing things a bit differently. I'm most grateful! Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm a historian who writes novels and literary nonfiction. My home base is Madison, Wisconsin.
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