The never-ending experiment…
Updated in July
Life can be quite the journey. It can feel like this never-ending experiment where we’re constantly learning about ourselves, others, and everything around us. This reminds me of the days back in grammar school when I worked on those science fair projects. I remember those large tri-fold poster boards like they were yesterday. I can still picture myself staying up for several nights to perfect the layout. I think I enjoyed designing the display more than the actual science experiment, especially since it gave me creative control over how the information was presented. There was always so much content to fit - the title, purpose, question, materials, method, data, results, and conclusion - and it all had to be visually appealing and easily understood, so you just couldn’t place information on the poster board just any old kind of way.
For a while now, I’ve been thinking about how those core concepts from the science experiments unknowingly manifest in our daily lives. Just to get a basic idea of how it shows up, let’s look at your relationship with food. Based on the results, you know which foods to avoid to prevent long-term negative consequences; so when you’re in a position to eat something you shouldn’t, you understand the “if - then” logic - if I eat this, then this will likely be the outcome, therefore, I should make this decision. We often tell ourselves, “Just this one time. It can’t hurt.” But how can we be sure? We don’t truly know the outcome of every situation, we only assume we do based on our understanding of the situation, which many times come from past experiences. When faced with familiar circumstances, we naturally reference those experiences, identify the patterns, and draw conclusions.
But, at what point will we begin to make different life decisions to get a different outcome? Instead of thinking, “Just this one time, it can’t hurt” it’s time to think, “This one time can hurt, so what do I need to do to change?” In the movie, The Matrix, there’s a scene where Neo is presented with two options: the blue pill or the red pill. The blue pill is blissful ignorance and a return to a comfortable false reality; while the red pill is an awakening to the truth and nothing but the truth. Unfortunately, many will choose the blue pill.
Let’s go back to our food example. You have an understanding of the foods you should steer clear of, but you continue to choose it even though it’s detrimental to your well-being. Not only that, you justify your decision for doing so. Your justification is that the food is appealing, it's delicious, and you believe you have control. For instance, because you eat this specific food early in the afternoon instead of later in the evening or even eating smaller bites than taking larger ones, you believe you’re controlling its effect on your body. But, you’re not. In reality, you’re just showing a lack of discipline because you’re continuously choosing actions that are detrimental to your well-being. And don’t just stop at food—think about other areas in your life like unresolved childhood trauma or poor financial planning. You have the data and you’ve seen the results, yet you choose to repeat the experiment.
I’ve been told several times that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Maybe the hope to your “insanity” is that you’ll somehow stumble on a new finding that wasn’t there before that changes the direction of everything and now you’re wondering what did I do that was different than the last time. I’m not going to literally offer you a blue pill or a red pill, but I think it’s fitting to point out one of the most significant and obvious differences between a controlled science experiment and life: in a science experiment, we can change the variables a dozen times and get a dozen results. In life, however, regardless of what you do or how much of it you do, the fundamental outcome remains the same - you are either on the path of life or the path of destruction. The only way to know which path you’re on is to know the truth.
Morgan