P: Your glass is half empty.
O: Is it?
R: Well, it's a 10 ounce glass, and there are currently 5 ounces of orange juice in it.
O: I only put 8 ounces in there to begin with. Maybe it's 5/8 full.
R: The fact remains, it's a 10 ounce glass, and there are 5 ounces of orange juice. That means we have 5 ounces of orange juice. If you transferred the juice to a 5 ounce glass, the glass would be completely full.
P: That doesn't solve the problem at all. If you change the shape of the problem, it still remains the same problem. There used to be 8 ounces, and now there are only 5. The orange juice is disappearing.
O: But I like this glass. I don't want a smaller one. This one fits my hand nicely.
R: The size of the glass doesn't matter. What matters is how much orange juice you have now.
O: The size of the glass does matter. There is more potential with a bigger glass.
R: Why would more potential matter? You have 8 ounces of juice; you should have an 8 ounce glass.
P: Actually, the juice is disappearing. There were 8 ounces. Now there are 5.
O: Actually, now we're down to 1 ounce of juice.
P: Ah! The rate of disappearance is increasing!
R: Which means we now need a 1 ounce cup.
O: But I started with 8 ounces of juice.
R: That doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what you have now.
P: The past definitely matters! There should be a bigger glass to begin with. If the rate of disappearance keeps increasing, you need to start with an infinitely large glass.
O: That's... a little ridiculous.
R: That's completely ridiculous. The rate of disappearance doesn't matter. All that matters is what is in the glass now. Why give yourself a bigger glass to make you think things are better than they are?
P: It's not to make you think things are better than they are. It's to give you a better chance of having enough orange juice even though it keeps disappearing.
R: What is enough? You have what you have, no more, no less.
O: Unless you drink it all, in which case you have none left.
P: Your glass is empty.
O: Or my stomach is half full.
P: Doesn't that make you sad?
R: Why sad? What is the point of being sad about the lack of orange juice? It is what it is.
P: But now there's no more.
O: Unless I pour more.
R: How much are you pouring?
P: Aha! You did start with a bigger glass! Or, pitcher.
O: Or an orange tree. Hey look! My glass is full!
P: Until you drink it all.
O: Funny thing about that...
1 comment:
Chelsea i have to agree with you right now about that it doesn't really matter how much you have a that point and time, what does matter is the potential.
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