Relativity and the meanings of causality

Dr. Armand M. Nicholi Jr. once wrote, “In the wider world, we keep hectically busy and fill every free moment of our day with some form of diversion-- work, computers, television, movies, radio, magazines, newspapers, sports, alcohol, drugs, parties. Perhaps we distract ourselves because looking at our lives confronts us with our lack of meaning, our unhappiness, and our loneliness-- and with the difficulty, the fragility, and the unbelieveable brevity of life.” It really hit me that the activities that we hold dear to ourselves are so lite or ephemeral. After a boring week or a long school week, we like to go party, drink, meet girls, etc… Why? Is it a culture of escapism? Some people describe leisure as a pressure release or relaxation from the rigors of real life. It seems like Camus’ Sisyphus complex. Camus wrote about the dread of Sisyphus, who was (according to Homer) “the wisest and most prudent of mortals.” More importantly, “His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing.”



I feel as though the more we learn about life and the more we realize and grasp concepts that overwhelm us, the more we find our existence to be so insignificant. Logic would tell us that this isn’t the case. According to chaos theory, any action that an individual takes can spawn millions of consequences and reprecussions. However, when looked upon in mass, the chaos that fills our world seems to work in some form of harmony.


What is that harmony? Well, if you expand upon Einstein’s universal theory of relativity, in a bemused sort of fashion, you can see the nature of our universe. It is that relativity that binds us, causality, so to speak. For example, how do you judge something to be materially pleasing? The aesthetics of materials are always based upon relativity. The system or construct of that relativity is money. Money is the simplest way to control people and it works as such an overwhelming force in our society. Why are those new shoes the coolest? Because they are from designer X and no one has them. Why are they so scarce? Because they cost X dollars and only Y amount of people can buy them. Why is this girl so hot? Because she has nice tits and an ass. How do you get nice tits and an ass? You go to Rodeo Drive and spend 50,000 dollars on plastic surgery. What does that get you? Lots of people want to fuck you.

Great, people want to fuck me now. Where do you go from there? After you fuck every big name celebrity or model where do you go from there. How do you get that feeling of exhiliration? Well you probably won’t unless you find it in heroin or cocaine.

Well, for those of us who don’t want to bend into such a lifestyle what is there for us? I’m not so intrested in getting a nice house, a housewife and a country club membership. I’m not intrested in playing golf or schmoozing with the local heirarchy. I’m not intrested in middle class suburbia. Fuck that.
That’s not to say that I’m some sort of buddhist materialist who gets no joy from material possesion. I enjoy (just to name a few things) nice electronics, well engineered cars, beautiful art, good wine, and like all things of scarcity, they cost money. So I find myself in a dillema. How much are these things worth to me, to make myself craft my life towards a direction where I contribute to this universal system that seems to trouble me so much? Can I be just a little bit of the problem and still be part of the solution? Who knows, I don’t.