An example of relativity occurred to me the other day. I find that when I’m driving on a multi-lane highway, if there are cars in the other lanes next to me, I feel an urge to go faster than them. I know that’s irrational because if I was the lone car I would be more content with speeds closer to the speed limit. However as soon as a car is in front of me or beside me, the comparison of speed is automatic. So the same speed I’m content with alone becomes slow by comparison with others.

Your universal friend,
Linda

relativity MAY be misleading, I think that the proper evaluation depends on the context. Absolute thinking can be just as misleading as relative thinking.

I agree 100% with you, Cybvep! Your last paragraph especially sums it all up very nicely. There’s no right or wrong way of thinking, just ways that serve us best at each situation. The coolest thing is to be aware of the many ways of thinking (and its associated benefits and traps), and switching them in your mind at will.

Thank you so much for sharing your insights!

Relativity is so strongly affecting our lives and is so important that even the economy is relative. Let’s say that person A lives in India and person B lives in the USA. Both have 50000 dollars, so thinking in absolute terms, they have the same amount of money. However, person A can get much, much more for these 50k bucks than person B because of the greater purchasing power of 50k dollars in India. Therefore, you have to apply relativity here in order to get a proper comparison.

However, even if we adjust the values for purchasing power, I bet that the A will still be happier than the B. Why? Because you HAVE to take your “neighbourhood” into account if you want to evaluate your situation fully. There are many people who have 50k (or much more) in the USA and it’s not necessarily the case in India (although it’s changing fast). Therefore, you will simply appreciate your bucks much more in India than in the USA, just as you would appreciate your exam results more if you got a B and the rest of the class/school/country mostly got Ds and Es than in the case when you got a B, but other students mostly got As and Bs.

Moreover, there are situations when disregarding the importance of relativity is simply foolish and can prevent you from getting the most out of your strengths. Let’s say that there is a tropical island with 100 people on it and 99 people are blind, while you are one-eyed. In absolute terms, you only have one eye. That’s terrible! However, relatively speaking, you have a massive advantage over all those blind people. Another example is when two armies battle each other and your army has 20 WWII-era tanks while the other army has no tanks. One can say – hey, those tanks are obsolete by now! Sure, they are and in most modern battles they would be useless. However, relatively speaking, you still have an advantage over the enemy in the mentioned case, because he lacks sth which you doesn’t.

All in all, while I found the article interesting and agree that relativity MAY be misleading, I think that the proper evaluation depends on the context. Absolute thinking can be just as misleading as relative thinking.