Last Christmas was the best day of my life.
I woke up around six am and got to Düsseldorf airport ten minutes to eight am. My flight wasn’t for two more days, but I needed a PCR test to board the plane. When I entered the airport, I saw a snake of people and a sign that read "COVID TESTING 5-6 HOUR STANDING WAIT" my jaw dropped.
Knee Jerk Reaction
All these negative thoughts started running through my head, "How can I possibly stand in line for six hours? Will I miss out on my first Christmas in Germany?"—Then came denial. I turned to my girlfriend at the time, Sina, who was also flying with me, "No, I am not doing this; there is no way.", I whined. However, my Schengen visa would expire on the 27th, and despite attempts to extend it, Germany was kicking me out. Therefore, the test was a necessity.
After ten minutes of dragging my feet with my shoulders slumped like a hurt child, I opened Spotify and saw a unique recommendation for "The User Interface for Reality" by Akira the Don and Scott Adams, author of Dilbert. I love Akira's work with Naval and Alan Watts, so I gave it a try.
Think Positively
The album starts with a hypnotizing "bum, bum, bum, bum" from Adams, who is, in fact, a trained hypnotist. Secondly, his words "How to program reality ... think positively, think positively, think positively" hit me like a brick. Why was I being so damn pessimistic about waiting in line at the airport? Aren't I blessed to be the heir of this incredible infrastructure?
Accept the Frame as a Filter
In track four, the real kicker, Adams instructs us,
"First you must accept the frame, at least as a filter... there could be a subjective reality, and you can manipulate it"
What does it mean to accept the frame as a filter? Adams uses religion to prove the idea.
"People with completely different religions ... don't really need to reconcile the fact that they live in two different worlds. One thinks there is an afterlife, one thinks there is reincarnation, one thinks there is nothing, and yet we all survive and thrive and reproduce."
So essentially, we all live in our own created realities that are more or less removed from the objective reality. It follows that some "filters" have more utility than others.
Fixing my Filter
I wanted to see, was my filter, that it sucks to wait in line at the airport, causing my mental suffering. Could I simply choose a "better" filter and become content? I leaned over to Sina and explained the idea. She was down to try too, and so began our first experiment in selecting our own filters.
Within minutes, my mood elevated, and I began wishing everyone in sight "Frohe Weihnachten" (Merry Christmas). I struck up conversations with dozens of strangers and spent the next 5-6 hours sharing laughs with Sina and the strangers. My most memorable conversation was with a recently divorced German lawyer on his way to visit a long-lost lover in Paraguay. What an adventure for that guy.
After we finally got q-tips shoved up our noses, we still had time to visit her mother, drink coffee with her Godmother, and have lamb with her grandparents, proving my initial stress baseless. However, by the time tiramisu came around, I was exhausted. So, to get my energy back, I simply removed myself from the table mentally and tapped back into that self-created feeling of ecstasy. I have never felt such power in my life.
Accept your Limitations
It takes a lot of humility to say, "yes, my worldview is inherently flawed and removed from the objective reality" at the same time, it is empowering to realize we can choose our "filter."
Choosing to be Lucky
An example from Robert Cialdini's Influence further emphasizes the value of selecting a better filter. In a study, two groups were asked to count how many photos were in a newspaper. The first group self-identified as "lucky" while the second group self-identified as "unlucky" The first "lucky" group finished the task astonishingly faster on average, mere seconds to minutes. How did they do it? They were more likely to discover the message on page two, "There are X photos; stop counting now." So perhaps, believing you are lucky actually has the effect of making you luckier.
The Frame is Always a Filter
This August, I was reminded of the User Interface for Reality when my trip to Paris got canceled by a covid-related situation. Instead of viewing it as a hindrance, I saw the extra time at home as an opportunity to study Chinese and write more. Anyways, I recommend you listen to the User Interface for Reality for yourself to learn how to author your future. What do you have to lose?
I have been listening to Scott Adams’ daily livestreams consistently since 2015 and the amount of hacks I have learned from him is enormous and it has changed my life literally!
Glad to find more people who have been touched by his ideas. Greetings!
I liked this post because I thought it would motivate your work, keep writing :)