The 9 Epiphanies That Shifted My Perspective Forever

• Posted by Eric Allen Bell on August 13, 2011 at 6:01am
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By David

 

Over the years I’ve learned dozens of little tricks and insights for making life more fulfilling. They’ve added up to a significant improvement in the ease and quality of my day-to-day life. But the major breakthroughs have come from a handful of insights that completely rocked my world and redefined reality forever.

 

The world now seems to be a completely different one than the one I lived in about ten years ago, when I started looking into the mechanics of quality of life. It wasn’t the world (and its people) that changed really, it was how I thought of it.

 

Maybe you’ve had some of  the same insights. Or maybe you’re about to.

 

1. You are not your mind.

 

The first time I heard somebody say that,  I didn’t like the sound of it one bit. What else could I be? I had taken for granted that the mental chatter in my head was the central “me” that all the experiences in my life were happening to.

 

I see quite clearly now that life is nothing but passing experiences, and my thoughts are just one more category of things I experience. Thoughts are no more fundamental than smells, sights and sounds. Like any experience, they arise in my awareness, they have a certain texture, and then they give way to something else.

 

If you can observe your thoughts just like you can observe other objects, who’s doing the observing? Don’t answer too quickly. This question, and its unspeakable answer, are at the center of all the great religions and spiritual traditions.

 

2. Life unfolds only in moments.

 

Of course! I once called this the most important thing I ever learned. Nobody has ever experienced anything that wasn’t part of a single moment unfolding. That means life’s only challenge is dealing with the single moment you are having right now. Before I recognized this, I was constantly trying to solve my entire life — battling problems that weren’t actually happening. Anyone can summon the resolve to deal with a single, present moment, as long as they are truly aware that it’s their only point of contact with life, and therefore there is nothing else one can do that can possibly be useful. Nobody can deal with the past or future, because, both only exist as thoughts, in the present. But we can kill ourselves trying.

 

3. Quality of life is determined by how you deal with your moments, not which moments happen and which don’t.

 

I now consider this truth to be Happiness 101, but it’s amazing how tempting it still is to grasp at control of every circumstance to try to make sure I get exactly what I want. To encounter an undesirable situation and work with it willingly is the mark of a wise and happy person. Imagine getting a flat tire, falling ill at a bad time, or knocking something over and breaking it — and suffering nothing from it. There is nothing to fear if you agree with yourself to deal willingly with adversity whenever it does show up. That is how to make life better. The typical, low-leverage method is to hope that you eventually accumulate power over your circumstances so that you can get what you want more often. There’s an excellent line in a Modest Mouse song, celebrating this side-effect of wisdom: As life gets longer, awful feels softer.

4. Most of life is imaginary.

 

Human beings have a habit of compulsive thinking that is so pervasive that we lose sight of the fact that we are nearly always thinking. Most of what we interact with is not the world itself, but our beliefs about it, our expectations of it, and our personal interests in it. We have a very difficult time observing something without confusing it with the thoughts we have about it, and so the bulk of what we experience in life is imaginary things. As Mark Twain said: “I’ve been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” The best treatment I’ve found? Cultivating mindfulness.

 

5. Human beings have evolved to suffer, and we are better at suffering than anything else.

 

Yikes. It doesn’t sound like a very liberating discovery. I used to believe that if I was suffering it meant that there was something wrong with me — that I was doing life “wrong.” Suffering is completely human and completely normal, and there is a very good reason for its existence. Life’s persistent background hum of “this isn’t quite okay, I need to improve this,” coupled with occasional intense flashes of horror and adrenaline are what kept human beings alive for millions of years. This urge to change or escape the present moment drives nearly all of our behavior. It’s a simple and ruthless survival mechanism which works exceedingly well for keeping us alive, but it has a horrific side effect: human beings suffer greatly by their very nature. This, for me, redefined every one of life’s problems as some tendril of the human condition. As grim as it sounds, this insight is liberating because it means: 1) that suffering does not necessarily mean my life is going wrong, 2) that the ball is always in my court, so the degree to which I suffer is ultimately up to me, and 3) that all problems have the same cause and the same solution.

 

6. Emotions exist to make us biased.

 

This discovery was a complete 180 from my old understanding of emotions. I used to think my emotions were reliable indicators of the state of my life — of whether I’m on the right track or not. Your passing emotional states can’t be trusted for measuring your self-worth or your position in life, but they are great at teaching you what it is you can’t let go of. The trouble is that emotions make us both more biased and more forceful at the same time. Another survival mechanism with nasty side-effects.

 

7. All people operate from the same two motivations: to fulfill their desires and to escape their suffering.

 

Learning this allowed me to finally make sense of how people can hurt each other so badly. The best explanation I had before this was that some people are just bad. What a cop-out. No matter what kind of behavior other people exhibit, they are acting in the most effective way they are capable of (at that moment) to fulfill a desire or to relieve their suffering. These are motives we can all understand; we only vary in method, and the methods each of us has at our disposal depend on our upbringing and our experiences in life, as well as our state of consciousness. Some methods are skillful and helpful to others, others are unskillful and destructive, and almost all destructive behavior is unconscious. So there is no good and evil, only smart and dumb (or wise and foolish.) Understanding this completely shook my long-held notions of morality and justice.

 

8. Beliefs are nothing to be proud of.

 

Believing something is not an accomplishment. I grew up thinking that beliefs are something to be proud of, but they’re really nothing but opinions one refuses to reconsider. Beliefs are easy. The stronger your beliefs are, the less open you are to growth and wisdom, because “strength of belief” is only the intensity with which you resist questioning yourself. As soon as you are proud of a belief, as soon as you think it adds something to who you are, then you’ve made it a part of your ego. Listen to any “die-hard” conservative or liberal talk about their deepest beliefs and you are listening to somebody who will never hear what you say on any matter that matters to them — unless you believe the same. It is gratifying to speak forcefully, it is gratifying to be agreed with, and this high is what the die-hards are chasing. Wherever there is a belief, there is a closed door. Take on the beliefs that stand up to your most honest, humble scrutiny, and never be afraid to lose them.

 

9. Objectivity is subjective.

 

Life is a subjective experience and that cannot be escaped. Every experience I have comes through my own, personal, unsharable viewpoint. There can be no peer reviews of my direct experience, no real corroboration. This has some major implications for how I live my life. The most immediate one is that I realize I must trust my own personal experience, because nobody else has this angle, and I only have this angle. Another is that I feel more wonder for the world around me, knowing that any “objective” understanding I claim to have of the world is built entirely from scratch, by me. What I do build depends on the books I’ve read, the people I’ve met, and the experiences I’ve had. It means I will never see the world quite like anyone else, which means I will never live in quite the same world as anyone else — and therefore I mustn’t let outside observers be the authority on who I am or what life is really like for me. Subjectivity is primary experience — it is real life, and objectivity is something each of us builds on top of it in our minds, privately, in order to explain it all. This truth has world-shattering implications for the roles of religion and science in the lives of those who grasp it.

18 Rules for Living

Dalai Lama’s 18 Rules for Living

Tips & Advice

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs:
   • Respect for self
   • Respect for others
   • Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Life

Pizza

If You Have to Explain It, It’s Not Funny: What the Dalai Lama Can Teach Us About Jokes

Posted: Wed 06/15/2011 01:50 PM | By: Ruth Baron

Imagine someone tells you a joke—in two separate languages—and not only do you not get it, but it seems like maybe you’re the butt of it. It’s an age-old problem, and last week it happened to the Dalai Lama on Australian TV.

Once again, His Holiness the Dalai Lama shows an uncanny knack for handling an uncomfortable situation. His response: Laughter always helps. It’s a graceful demonstration of compassion for the journalist who looks desperate for a time machine, and it helps us forget that we’ve just heard a groan-worthy punch line. It made us remember what the Dalai Lama once told Oprah: “I don’t take myself too seriously! That makes me happy.” Today it makes us happy too. (via The Hairpin)

15 Styles of Distorted Thinking

15 Styles of Distorted Thinking

1. Filtering: You take the negative details and magnify them, while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation. A single detail may be picked out, and the whole event becomes colored by this detail. When you pull negative things out of context, isolated from all the good experiences around you, you make them larger and more awful than they really are.
2. Polarized Thinking: The hallmark of this distortion is an insistence on dichotomous choices. Things are black or white, good or bad. You tend to perceive everything at the extremes, with very little room for a middle ground. The greatest danger in polarized thinking is its impact on how you judge yourself. For example-You have to be perfect or you’re a failure.
3. Overgeneralization: You come to a general conclusion based on a single incident or piece of evidence. If something bad happens once, you expect it to happen over and over again. ‘Always’ and ‘never’ are cues that this style of thinking is being utilized. This distortion can lead to a restricted life, as you avoid future failures based on the single incident or event.
4. Mind Reading: Without their saying so, you know what people are feeling and why they act the way they do. In particular, you are able to divine how people are feeling toward you. Mind reading depends on a process called projection. You imagine that people feel the same way you do and react to things the same way you do. Therefore, you don’t watch or listen carefully enough to notice that they are actually different. Mind readers jump to conclusions that are true for them, without checking whether they are true for the other person.
5. Catastrophizing: You expect disaster. You notice or hear about a problem and start “what if’s.” What if that happens to me? What if tragedy strikes? There are no limits to a really fertile catastrophic imagination. An underlying catalyst for this style of thinking is that you do not trust in yourself and your capacity to adapt to change.
6. Personalization: This is the tendency to relate everything around you to yourself. For example, thinking that everything people do or say is some kind of reaction to you. You also compare yourself to others, trying to determine who’s smarter, better looking, etc. The underlying assumption is that your worth is in question. You are therefore continually forced to test your value as a person by measuring yourself against others. If you come out better, you get a moment’s relief. If you come up short, you feel diminished. The basic thinking error is that you interpret each experience, each conversation, each look as a clue to your worth and value.
7. Control Fallacies: There are two ways you can distort your sense of power and control. If you feel externally controlled, you see yourself as helpless, a victim of fate. The fallacy of internal control has you responsible for the pain and happiness of everyone around you. Feeling externally controlled keeps you stuck. You don’t believe you can really affect the basic shape of your life, let alone make any difference in the world. The truth of the matter is that we are constantly making decisions, and that every decision affects our lives. On the other hand, the fallacy of internal control leaves you exhausted as you attempt to fill the needs of everyone around you, and feel responsible in doing so (and guilty when you cannot).
8. Fallacy of Fairness: You feel resentful because you think you know what’s fair, but other people won’t agree with you. Fairness is so conveniently defined, so temptingly self-serving, that each person gets locked into his or her own point of view. It is tempting to make assumptions about how things would change if people were only fair or really valued you. But the other person hardly ever sees it that way, and you end up causing yourself a lot of pain and an ever-growing resentment.
9. Blaming: You hold other people responsible for your pain, or take the other tack and blame yourself for every problem. Blaming often involves making someone else responsible for choices and decisions that are actually our own responsibility. In blame systems, you deny your right (and responsibility) to assert your needs, say no, or go elsewhere for what you want.
10. Shoulds: You have a list of ironclad rules about how you and other people should act. People who break the rules anger you, and you feel guilty if you violate the rules. The rules are right and indisputable and, as a result, you are often in the position of judging and finding fault (in yourself and in others). Cue words indicating the presence of this distortion are should, ought, and must.
11. Emotional Reasoning: You believe that what you feel must be true-automatically. If you feel stupid or boring, then you must be stupid and boring. If you feel guilty, then you must have done something wrong. The problem with emotional reasoning is that our emotions interact and correlate with our thinking process. Therefore, if you have distorted thoughts and beliefs, your emotions will reflect these distortions.
12. Fallacy of Change: You expect that other people will change to suit you if you just pressure or cajole them enough. You need to change people because your hopes for happiness seem to depend entirely on them. The truth is the only person you can really control or have much hope of changing is yourself. The underlying assumption of this thinking style is that your happiness depends on the actions of others. Your happiness actually depends on the thousands of large and small choices you make in your life.
13. Global Labeling: You generalize one or two qualities (in yourself or others) into a negative global judgment. Global labeling ignores all contrary evidence, creating a view of the world that can be stereotyped and one-dimensional. Labeling yourself can have a negative and insidious impact upon your self-esteem; while labeling others can lead to snap-judgments, relationship problems, and prejudice.
14. Being Right: You feel continually on trial to prove that your opinions and actions are correct. Being wrong is unthinkable and you will go to any length to demonstrate your rightness. Having to be ‘right’ often makes you hard of hearing. You aren’t interested in the possible veracity of a differing opinion, only in defending your own. Being right becomes more important than an honest and caring relationship.
15. Heaven’s Reward Fallacy: You expect all your sacrifice and self-denial to pay off, as if there were someone keeping score. You fell bitter when the reward doesn’t come as expected. The problem is that while you are always doing the ‘right thing,’ if your heart really isn’t in it, you are physically and emotionally depleting yourself.

*FromThoughts & Feelingsby McKay, Davis, & Fanning. New Harbinger, 1981. These styles of thinking (or cognitive distortions) were gleaned from the work of several authors, including Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck, and David Burns, among others.

Solitaire Sculpture

Of course this made me think of my mom. Very cool (actual sculpture)

Trying this next weekend

Get Yo’ Nails Did

by Molly McAleer

Newsprint nails are all the rage right now, so why not just be a bunch of trendhounds and conform, right?!

To be perfectly honest, I don’t love this style because I think it’s a little hard and the only people who do it really well seem to have the hour and a half of time and patience it takes to do it correctly. What I did here is not the absolute best version of this (I think this tutorial is pretty impressive), but I’ll still break it down for ya.

 

Start by getting your supplies together. All you need is ten pieces of newspaper cut into manageable strips, some rubbing alcohol (it costs like, a dollar and is probably already in your medicine cabinet), a shot glass, a nail polish of your choice (I used Birthday Babe by OPI), and a top coat.

The newspaper should be real newspaper with soy ink. You know how some newspapers come on nicer paper these days? That’s not gonna work. Just grab a copy of The Post or something.

 

Paint your nails and wait for them to dry. This is one of the reasons this whole process is kind of annoying. You need to wait until the nail is dry all the way through, which can take about 15 minutes depending on how many coats you used.

 

Pour a little bit of rubbing alcohol into your shot glass. If you don’t have a shot glass, good for you. You can use any cup or container that’s small, but you want there to be enough liquid in there for you to fully submerge your nail in the alcohol.

One nail at a time, dip your finger in the alcohol for about a second and a half and then immediately apply a piece of newspaper.

 

I always think this part looks dumb and that’s also why I’m not a fan of this process. I’m always like, “Great job sticking a piece of newspaper to your alcohol-soaked finger, Molly.”

I’m really hard on myself. You might not take it there when you’re doing this, but if you feel dumb during this part, know that we’re probably soul sisters.

Wait 30 seconds and then peel the newspaper off your nail. You should have a reverse print on your nail of whatever the piece of paper you laid on top of it said. It’s just like Silly Putty.

Repeat this process on all of your nails and then wait another five minutes or so for the printing to dry. Then you put on your top coat, which really helps the letters stand out.

 

I got smart this time and used the *SPOILER ALERT* crossword puzzle solution on my thumb. I’m always unimpressed with the way standard writing looks on my nails, but I am actually kinda into the way my thumb looks here.

This style is basically the bane of my existence because I can’t seem to get it right, but I bet this is just another example of practice making perfect. If you really love this style, keep trying it out. I mean, I wouldn’t suggest you put Malcolm Gladwell time into this or anything, but it’s your life.

Molly McAleer (A.K.A. Molls) is a writer, Tingling Internet Sensation, co-founder of HelloGiggles and a boss bitch. She lives in Los Angeles with her chihuahua, Wagandstuff, and keeps her nails fresh at all times. You can see more of her work here.
See more posts from Molly

Donnie Darko

Explaining the Madness

A new theory to help the viewer unravel the cult classic.

Erik A. Coburn

In recent years, Donnie Darko, directed by Richard Kelly, has become a cult classic. While most people who watch this twisted film will love it, few will understand the intricate, multi-layered timeline residing within. But if you analyze the film, you will notice that every little detail, every single line, has significance in determining what really goes on in Middlesex. Let’s delve into the madness, unravel the convoluted uses of time travel, and get some major headaches.

Explaining the timeline

This diagram summarizes Donnie’s travel, to and from the Tangent Universe, to and from the past and the future. It details everything that has occurred in the movie, and includes some information that was unseen. Don’t try comprehending it all at once; we’re about to break this down.

The entire movie occurs between points B and C on the timeline, aside from the last five or ten minutes, which happen at point A. In other words, everything that is seen takes place in the Tangent Universe: an alternate reality. This is an important point, as things can happen in this Tangent Universe that cannot happen in the Primary one. It is due to these occurrences that the events of the movie unfold.

Before getting into the explanations, there are some phrases that need to be defined:

Tangent Universe—	A Tangent Universe is a result of extreme fluctuations in the space-time fabric. Simply put, it is an extreme oddity that manipulates reality. A Tangent Universe is highly unstable and will collapse within a few weeks. The collapse will form a black hole in the Primary Universe (the original) that will destroy everything.
Artifact—	The Artifact is the object (usually made of metal) that is a duplicate of something that already exists in the current universe. The appearance of the Artifact is evidence that a Tangent Universe has occurred.
Living Receiver—	The Living Receiver is the person closest to the appearance of the Artifact. This person is tasked with guiding the Artifact back to the Primary Universe (I will explain what this means later). He is also “blessed with fourth dimensional powers,” the ability of time travel.
Manipulated Living—	Anyone interacting with the Living Receiver becomes known as the Manipulated Living. They are tasked with guiding the Living Receiver through his quest. However, they do this subconsciously.
Manipulated Dead—	Anyone who dies within the Tangent Universe becomes a Manipulated Dead. These people are able to communicate with the Living Receiver in an attempt to guide him through his quest. They also have complete control over time, allowing them to manipulate it at will.
Ensurance Trap—	The Manipulated Dead will set an Ensurance Trap: A device used to ensure that the Living Receiver will succeed. This is explained later.

With these terms in mind, we can now begin breaking down the timeline.

At point A, the Tangent Universe appears. While this is labeled as October 2 on the timeline, it is, in reality, a bit earlier than that. Donnie traveled between points A and B, leading him, along with everyone else, to a Tangent Universe. Not long after, on October 2, the jet engine smashes into Donnie’s room. The jet engine is the Artifact, making Donnie the Living Receiver.

He’s been here before

Take a deep breath, now. Things are going to start getting confusing. This is not the first time that Donnie has been through the Tangent Universe. There is evidence of this at the very beginning, when Donnie wakes up in the middle of the road laughing. The reason for his laughter is that he has a second chance to fix everything. Also, note that he wakes up in the same exact location where he is at the end of the movie. As evidence of this, all throughout the movie, Donnie hints at having knowledge of things that have yet to happen (stabbing Frank in the eye he later shoots, for example).

Now what does this mean? Donnie frantically tries to save those he cares about (recall the conversation Donnie has about straying from God’s path). Time and time again, he tries, yet inevitably fails due to the collapse of the Tangent Universe. In order to try again, he sends himself back to the beginning, leading from point C to a bit before point B (he can time travel, as he is the Living Receiver), and follows Frank’s advice. The result, however, is inevitably going to be the same.

What is Frank’s story?

Frank is not a supernatural being. He is not a spiritual guide or an embodiment of God. Frank is simply someone who died in the Tangent Universe (Donnie shoots him through the right eye at point C), making him a Manipulated Dead. Afterwards, Frank travels back to point B, saves Donnie, and sets the Ensurance Trap. The purpose of this, if executed correctly, is to steer Donnie to the correct decision of sending the Artifact to the Primary Universe and saving humanity. Every time Donnie resets time, he resets Frank’s progress with Donnie. In other words, Frank’s Ensurance Trap fails.

But, if Donnie is saved by Frank at the beginning, what about his first trip through the Tangent Universe? Frank is killed by Donnie at the end, but Donnie is already dead. This is where the Manipulated Living come into play. They subconsciously attempt to guide the Living Receiver, yet the Living Receiver is dead. Knowing that only the Manipulated Dead can travel back in time, the Living subconsciously kill, or “elect” Frank to save Donnie and guide him (it is because of this subconscious decision that Frank is not killed in the Primary Universe. There are no Manipulated Living in the Primary).

In every other attempt, Donnie shoots Frank before starting over. This is because he knows he needs Frank to succeed (he read through The Philosophy of Time Travel, which illustrates Frank’s necessity).

The Ensurance Trap

The Ensurance Trap set by Frank is a chain of events that leads to Donnie consenting to send the jet engine back to the Primary Universe. It starts with the flooding of the school. This causes school to be canceled, leading to the conversation between Donnie and Gretchen, and ultimately to their dating (her death serves as motivation for Donnie). Burning Cunningham’s house reveals him as a pedophile, meaning Kitty has to show in court. This leads to Donnie’s mom chaperoning on the Sparkle Motion trip, leaving the house empty for the party. During the party, Gretchen shows up, terrified. This serves as the final piece in convincing Donnie that the world is ending, and he realizes what he must do.

Earlier, Frank has Donnie write Grandma Death (Roberta Sparrow) a letter. At the end, she is seen standing in the middle of the road, reading the letter. Frank (the living one) swerves to avoid hitting her and, as a result, kills Gretchen. This death drives Donnie to shoot Frank, sending him back in time to save Donnie from the jet engine (preventing any paradox).

After everything that has happened, Donnie decides that the lives of those he loves (primarily Gretchen) are more important than his, and he consents to go back to the Primary Universe to die. Everything works out perfectly, with nothing overlooked. Frank’s Ensurance Trap is a complete success.

He finally succeeds.

Now that we’ve gotten through the prologue of the movie (and half of the timeline), let’s focus on what is actually seen. Remember that Donnie only survives because of Frank. If it weren’t for Frank, Donnie would’ve died.

In his final run-through of the Tangent Universe, Frank’s Ensurance Trap works successfully, Donnie realizes that he needs to die, and the final ten minutes or so of the movie unfold. Using his fourth-dimensional powers, Donnie guides the Artifact to the Primary Universe (from point C to point A). The Artifact in question is not the same jet engine that falls on the Darko house. Rather, it is the duplicate. Having transported both the duplicate jet engine and himself to the Primary Universe, we then jump to October 2 in the Primary.

Here, we see Donnie lying in bed, laughing hysterically. He does not remember the occurrences of the Tangent Universe, yet retains some lingering feelings. Because of this, even though he was fully aware that the jet engine was approaching his house, he remains in his room. Also, because there are no Manipulated Dead in the Primary Universe, there is no Frank to warn him. Donnie’s Tangent self is aware of the impending doom, yet is satisfied, knowing that he saved those he cares about. The Primary Donnie knows nothing, yet shares Tangent Donnie’s joy and satisfaction. As a result, he wakes up in his bed, laughing, overjoyed.

Tying up the loose ends

Now, even though the entirety of the movie has been explained, there are still some lingering questions. For example, What makes a Tangent Universe so unstable? What does point D represent? How does returning the Artifact correct everything? What would happen if Donnie gave up and let the Tangent Universe collapse? Let’s now answer each of these questions.

What makes a Tangent Universe so unstable?

The answer is simple: Duplicate objects. When the jet engine appears in the Tangent Universe, there exist two of the same exact entity in the universe. This causes a cosmic imbalance, endangering everything within it. Eventually (in no more than several weeks, according to The Philosophy of Time Travel. Frank tells Donnie that the world will end, and this is because of the instability), the Tangent Universe will collapse.

What does point D represent?

There are two copied entities in the Tangent Universe. The additional jet engine had to come from somewhere, and it most likely came from the same jet in the opposite universe. The path traveled of each jet engine is a perfect mirror (from D to B and from C to A). This way, everything remains balanced. At the beginning of the film, both jet engines are in the Tangent Universe. At the end, there is one in each. If it were any other way, there would have to have been a third universe.

How does returning the Artifact correct everything?

When the jet engine is returned to the Primary Universe, there exists one engine in both universes. Since the instability of the Tangent Universe was caused by a duplicate, removing it stabilized everything.

What about the Primary Universe? If it is missing an object altogether, wouldn’t it become unstable as well? No. Think of a universe as a glass filled to the brim with water. If you add any water to it, it’ll overflow, creating a giant mess. If you remove water, however, nothing changes. You are still left with a glass of water.

What would happen if Donnie gave up and let the Tangent Universe collapse?

Notice how, on the timeline, there are no arrows on the right side. In other words, time stops. At the end of the 28 days, the Tangent Universe will collapse. It will die; it will be no more. There will be no time in this universe. According to The Philosophy of Time Travel, the death of the Tangent Universe produces a gargantuan black hole that envelops the Primary Universe as well. Both universes are destroyed.

Donnie does succeed, so time continues in both universes. To residents of the Tangent Universe, Donnie appears to have simply disappeared.

Wake Up

What happened at the end of the movie? According to The Philosophy of Time Travel, everyone, upon waking from the Tangent Universe, will retain some feelings from their journey. Every Primary person bears a connection to his or her Tangent self. Notice how Jim Cunningham, the motivational speaker/pedophile, wakes up in tears. After having been exposed, he wakes up in the Primary Universe with severe guilt. On the Donnie Darko website, it states that Jim shoots himself on the golf course.

Both the teachers, however, are seen in bed, smiles present on both their faces. They both helped Donnie throughout his quest, and are rewarded with satisfaction.

In short, everyone was given a second chance. They were shown their own faults in the Tangent Universe, and, upon returning to the Primary Universe, they are given the choice to change their actions.

Time travel: How is it possible?

The following theory of time travel is a collaboration of the works of Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and Brian Greene. Hawking’s book, A Brief History of Time, is not only directly referenced in the movie, but the theories presented in the book are discussed by Donnie and Monnitoff, his physics teacher. These theories are built off of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Also, throughout the movie, there is talk of wormholes and portals, a key element in time travel.

According to the theory of general relativity, gravity is caused by the mass of an object weighing down on a sort of “cosmic sheet,” known as space-time. The mass of the object will create a distortion in the fabric of space-time, causing surrounding objects to roll around the massive object (like the earth around the sun, for example). We’ve all seen the diagrams, but keep in mind that it isn’t just space that is distorted, but time as well (hence the phrase “space-time”). This means time actually slows down more drastically depending on the manipulation of the space-time fabric.

With Einstein’s theory in place, let’s now examine Hawking’s addition: Black holes.[1] These are unfathomable amounts of mass condensed to a miniscule point, resulting in an astronomical density. Due to the near-infinite mass of these anomalies, the distortion of the space-time fabric is so dramatic that, if you sat an inch away from a black hole’s pull for one year, 20,000 years would pass on earth. With knowledge of the possible manipulation of time, let’s jump to Brian Greene’s theory: Space is constantly tearing and repairing on microscopic levels.[2] These tears are miniscule examples of the wormholes and portals presented in the movie.

Now, due to what is known as the Uncertainty Principle,[3] these wormholes can occur anywhere in space, allowing anyone or anything to pass through them and potentially travel through time. The reason this works, as far as I can discern, is that a tear in the space-time fabric distorts reality at that point. Inside a tear in fabric, there is no fabric. There is no time, or space, for that matter. After travelling through such a tear, the traveler will re-enter through the area of least resistance. If there is another wormhole, or tear, at another point in time, the traveler will, almost certainly (Blame the Uncertainty Principle), re-enter at that point in time.

While this is theoretically possible in the real world, the chances of two linked tears opening, and remaining open long enough for someone to pass through (Not to mention them being humanly accessible and large enough to transport a human), are infinitely rare. Donnie, however, has been blessed with fourth-dimensional powers. As such, he is able to open two linked wormholes, leading him between any two points on any timeline.

Go back to the beginning

You now know my theories. You’ve read through the entire explanation. Maybe you agree. Maybe you think I’m entirely wrong. In either case, go back to the movie. Watch it over again with my theory in mind. See what else you notice; see if you can add on to it. If you completely disagree, then chances are that you have some theory of your own. Watch the movie again and see what you can piece together yourself. :::

Notes

1. Hawking, Steven. Brief History of Time, A. New York: Bantam Books, 1996

2. Greene, Brian. Elegant Universe, The. New York: Random House Inc., 1999

3. This is a complex idea best explained outside of the main text. The Uncertainty Principle is built upon the idea that it is impossible to know, with 100% accuracy, both the position and velocity of any single particle. We observe objects because photons are redirected off the object into our eyes, where our brains interpret the information. We know what the object looks like because billions of these particles are reflected off of the object. The same is true on the subatomic level. Photons (the smallest of particles) are reflected off of, say, an electron. This reflection can be calculated to pinpoint the location of the electron, somewhat like sonar. The problem with this on the subatomic level is that photons will dramatically alter the course of the electron. We can use fewer photons, disturbing its velocity less, yet giving us less information on its position. We can use a constant stream of photons, allowing us to constantly track its location, but its movement will be entirely unpredictable due to the enormous amount of collisions. Expanding this idea to everything (through mathematics and scientific reason that is quite complicated), the Uncertainty Principle states that anything can happen at any time. The chance may be a fraction of a percent, but it is possible.

Erik Coburn believes that a life on the edge is the only life worth living. His personal mantra is “‘Impossibility’ is simply the limits of the human mind.”

The Moment

March 2, 2010

tags: achievements, goals, happiness, Kahneman, Maynard Keenan, self

by David McRaney

The Misconception: You are one person, and your happiness is based on being content with your life.

The Truth: You are multiple selves, and happiness is based on satisfying all of them.

Have you ever been so sick you spent a week on the couch?

What do you remember from that period of time?

Mostly nothing, right?

All throughout your life great big patches of experience are tossed aside and forgotten. You turn around sometimes and think, “It’s March already!?” or “I’ve been working here for five years!?”

To understand the difference between experience and memory, you first need to understand a little bit about self.

Your sense of self is just that – a sense. A figment.

The person you imagine yourself is really just a narrative, a story. You tell this story to yourself and to others differently depending on the situation, and the story changes over time.

For now, it is useful to imagine there are two selves active at any given time in your head – the current self, and the remembering self.

The current self is the one experiencing life in real-time. It is the person you are in the three or so seconds your sensory memory lasts, and the 30 or so seconds after that in which your short-term memory is juggling all your senses and thoughts.

You taste the ice cream and it is good. Then, you remember you tasted the ice cream. Then, in five years, you have no memory of tasting it at all. Sometimes, rarely, something else happens which prompts you to move the memory into long-term storage.

Think back now to all the times you have tasted ice cream. How many true memories do you have which aren’t just dreamlike wisps? How many stories can you tell about tasting ice cream?

The remembering self is made up of all those memories which have passed into long-term storage.

When you replay your life in your mind, you can’t go back to all the things you have ever experienced. You can only go through all the things which went from experience, to short-term memory, to long-term memory.

So, going to get ice cream is not about building awesome memories. It’s about being happy for a few minutes. It’s about gratification. The happiness derived from such an experience is fleeting.

The psychologist Daniel Kahneman has much to say on this topic.

He says the self which makes decisions in your life is usually the remembering one. It drags your current self around in pursuit of new memories, anticipating them based on old memories.

The current self has little control over your future. It can only control a few actions like moving your hand away from a hot stove or putting one foot in front of the other. Occasionally, it prompts you to eat cheeseburgers, or watch a horror movie, or play a video game.

The current self is happy experiencing things. It likes to be in the flow.

It is the remembering self which has made all the big decisions. It is happy when you can sit back and reflect on your life up to this point and feel content. It is happy when you tell people stories about the things you have seen and done.

Kahneman proposes this thought experiment:

Imagine you are preparing to go on a two-week vacation. At the end of this vacation, you will drink a potion which will delete all the memories from those two-weeks.

How will this affect your decision? Knowing you won’t remember any of it, what will you spend your time doing during those two weeks?

That weird feeling you are having thinking about this is the conflict between your experiencing self and your remembering self.

The experiencing self can easily choose what to do. Sex, skiing, restaurants, concerts, parties – all of these things are about being happy during the event.

The remembering self is not so sure. It would rather go to Ireland and look at castles or drive from New York to Los Angeles just to see what happens.

It turns out, based on his research, there are two channels through which you decide whether or not you are happy.

The current self is happy when experiencing nice things. The remembering self is happy when you look back on your life and pull up plenty of positive memories.

As Kahneman points out. A two-week vacation may only yield a handful of life-long memories. You will pull those memories out every once and a while and use them to be happy. There is a serious imbalance between the time you spend creating these memories and time you spend enjoying them later.

The current self doesn’t like sitting in a cubicle. It feels caged. It could be doing something fun.

The remembering self doesn’t like not having enough money to build new memories, so it is willing to grind away and delay gratification.

“Happiness is something you achieve, a constant thing. A constantly turning over thing, like a small plant that has flowers constantly blooming and dying on the same stem. It’s not like you achieve happiness this one time and it just stays with you forever. You don’t bake a cake because a cake makes you happy, you don’t bake that one cake because you baked this cake or bought that car you wanted to get. You’ve always wanted this car, you got the car, now you’re happy forever…no.”

- Maynard Keenan

Life for you and many others is full of conflict between these two selves over how best to be happy.

Kahneman’s research suggests that happiness can’t be all one or all the other. You have to be happy in the flow of time while simultaneously creating memories you can look back on later.

To be happy now and content later, you can’t only be focused on reaching goals, because once you reach them, the experience ends.

To truly be happy, you must satisfy both of your selves.

Go get the ice cream, but do so in a way which is meaningful, a way which creates a long-term memory.

Grind away to have money for later, but do so in a way which generates happiness as you work.

If you live for the moment, for pure gratification, the moment is all you will ever have. You won’t be able to sit in a rocking chair and tell stories.

But, at the same time, if you think happiness comes at the end of a process, as some achievement or status or possession, you will be miserable both before and after the pursuit.

 

Already past this…

How white holes (might) be created

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