Is this email real?

Or, is only your reading of it real?

If you were to read this email today, and again ten years from now, would it be the same as reading two different emails?

You are as much a part of this email as the words you are reading. We cannot examine one without the other.

Further, the value you ascribe to this email, your decision whether to read it or not, may be based on many things external to you, or me, or these words themselves.

Perception is relative—reality is up for argument.

Here are a few tweets that inspire this line of thinking:

A tweet about perception:

An Uncomfortable Truth:

We perceive the world based on our emotional context at that particular time of experience.

Which pulls us away from the reality.

- The Rambling Optimist

All we experience is observed through the lens of the moment.

That lens is comprised of our past, present, and future—our life to that point and how it impacts our values and perception of the world, exactly what surrounds us and how we feel in that moment, and our expectations for where we are going. It is comprised both of things we can and cannot control.

And so the lens we use to observe all experience is not a perfectly flat sheet of perfectly transparent glass. It can distort, discolor, alter all that we experience. And even further, this lens changes over time.

It’s not to say our perception cannot be trusted, but to understand that we’re imperfect. To understand we may feel, think, be different tomorrow. We ought to make our decisions today with conviction, but do so humbly.

A tweet about value:

It’s valuable because people say it is.

- Jack Butcher

More specific than the relative nature of perception is the relative nature of value.

This last year—maybe more than any year prior—we’ve seen this in action. Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, $GME, etc. We’ve seen just how fickle the value of something can be, and how often it depends only upon public opinion.

Take account of what you find valuable in your life. More importantly, try to put to word why you find it valuable. How is your external context affecting that value attribution?

What do you value today that may be sensitive to external changes? Conversely, which things would remain valuable to you regardless of your future?

2021-05-08