Power of Perspective
It's surprising how much thinking time you get while you're working at a place like a library. Especially since my focus has been shelving and shelf-tidying, I've found that my mind wanders into places I've never discovered before, and I've come up with some deep, if strange, ideas about random things in the world.
I'm going to cover some of my more pressing theories in a separate blog post, but in this one, I thought I'd share one of the many wonderings I've had about the world and the way it works.
I actually started writing this a few weeks back, but now that I've rediscovered it, I thought I may as well put it out there. While it may seem like a pointless stream of consciousness, it's actually an example of one of the strange ways in which my brain works.
So...enjoy!
What would life be like, I wonder, if we knew exactly what the outcome of our decisions would be?
We could try and picture it by ourselves, but we'd never be able to create a perfectly accurate mental representation of what'll happen.
Imagine if we could.
Imagine if we could somehow be given an idea - a vision in our heads, even - of what would happen if we chose a certain path... a bit like Alice from Twilight: she can see the future of people once they've made a choice, and everything that'll happen because of that choice. Imagine if we could have that ability, only in a way that would allow us to see the results of each of the different options open to us before we choose, so we can go with the decision we'd like the outcome of most.
Theoretically speaking, something like that would give us so much control over our lives. Imagine you're out shopping, and you 'foresee' that if you choose the red shoes, they're going to be left at the bottom of your wardrobe, just waiting for Halloween when you get your Zombie-Dorothy costume out - now you can buy the black shoes instead, because they will be loved a damn-sight more.
Oh dear! You've gone and double-booked yourself! So do you:
A. Go to the party with your friends
B. Go to the cinema with your mum
C. Try to do both in one night
A quick zoooom into the future with your super-cool mind trick and you find out that the party is going to be one to remember and the film is going to be hilarious and that you'd have plenty of time to be there for both of them, so you can go with option C, and keep everyone happy!
Imagine having that kind of power. Life would feel a lot more organised and all kinds of negative outcomes could be avoided. In theory, it would be perfect.
But thinking about it seriously, how boring would that make our lives? How boring would it make us, as people? Never taking risks, never doing something on a whim, purely because it's no longer necessary. We'd have such uniformed lives that the word 'spontaneity' would mean absolutely nothing to us!
"I've been invited to the pub tonight. Should I go...?" *Cue super cool, mind-into-the-future-power-thingy* "Oooh, if I do go, I'm going to get tipsy and be cuddled by this one person...Oh and they'll give good cuddles, that's nice. Well...no point in going now, is there?"
"Let's see, should I just ask Santa for that new iPhone for Christmas? Oh, hang on, he'll get it wrong, so maybe I should draw a diagram instead....ahh, that's better!"
If examples like that are anything to go by, life would just be full of wonderful surprises, wouldn't it...?! Hmm..
It could be left down to personal opinion, I suppose, but being realistic, what would be the point of life if you basically knew everything that was going to happen? Easier or not, there'd be no challenge, and our feelings would be made almost redundant, because they'd never get a proper work out, so to speak.
When I started writing this, the idea of having that kind of control over my life was definitely one I loved, but as I've thought about it more, I've realised how much it would suck.
Sometimes, the unexpected moments are the best. I like nice surprises too much to give them up.
Amazing how thoughts on things can change when you're given a new perspective on them, huh?
I'm going to cover some of my more pressing theories in a separate blog post, but in this one, I thought I'd share one of the many wonderings I've had about the world and the way it works.
I actually started writing this a few weeks back, but now that I've rediscovered it, I thought I may as well put it out there. While it may seem like a pointless stream of consciousness, it's actually an example of one of the strange ways in which my brain works.
So...enjoy!
What would life be like, I wonder, if we knew exactly what the outcome of our decisions would be?
We could try and picture it by ourselves, but we'd never be able to create a perfectly accurate mental representation of what'll happen.
Imagine if we could.
Imagine if we could somehow be given an idea - a vision in our heads, even - of what would happen if we chose a certain path... a bit like Alice from Twilight: she can see the future of people once they've made a choice, and everything that'll happen because of that choice. Imagine if we could have that ability, only in a way that would allow us to see the results of each of the different options open to us before we choose, so we can go with the decision we'd like the outcome of most.
Theoretically speaking, something like that would give us so much control over our lives. Imagine you're out shopping, and you 'foresee' that if you choose the red shoes, they're going to be left at the bottom of your wardrobe, just waiting for Halloween when you get your Zombie-Dorothy costume out - now you can buy the black shoes instead, because they will be loved a damn-sight more.
Oh dear! You've gone and double-booked yourself! So do you:
A. Go to the party with your friends
B. Go to the cinema with your mum
C. Try to do both in one night
A quick zoooom into the future with your super-cool mind trick and you find out that the party is going to be one to remember and the film is going to be hilarious and that you'd have plenty of time to be there for both of them, so you can go with option C, and keep everyone happy!
Imagine having that kind of power. Life would feel a lot more organised and all kinds of negative outcomes could be avoided. In theory, it would be perfect.
But thinking about it seriously, how boring would that make our lives? How boring would it make us, as people? Never taking risks, never doing something on a whim, purely because it's no longer necessary. We'd have such uniformed lives that the word 'spontaneity' would mean absolutely nothing to us!
"I've been invited to the pub tonight. Should I go...?" *Cue super cool, mind-into-the-future-power-thingy* "Oooh, if I do go, I'm going to get tipsy and be cuddled by this one person...Oh and they'll give good cuddles, that's nice. Well...no point in going now, is there?"
"Let's see, should I just ask Santa for that new iPhone for Christmas? Oh, hang on, he'll get it wrong, so maybe I should draw a diagram instead....ahh, that's better!"
If examples like that are anything to go by, life would just be full of wonderful surprises, wouldn't it...?! Hmm..
It could be left down to personal opinion, I suppose, but being realistic, what would be the point of life if you basically knew everything that was going to happen? Easier or not, there'd be no challenge, and our feelings would be made almost redundant, because they'd never get a proper work out, so to speak.
When I started writing this, the idea of having that kind of control over my life was definitely one I loved, but as I've thought about it more, I've realised how much it would suck.
Sometimes, the unexpected moments are the best. I like nice surprises too much to give them up.
Amazing how thoughts on things can change when you're given a new perspective on them, huh?
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