About
Something I think about frequently is Contrast, and how it can be broadly applied to enhance the perceived quality of damn near anything you’re willing to think about. It comes from comparing things, be they vastly disparate things or individual elements comprising a thing.
This Philosophy is closely intertwined with (and indeed relies upon) both The Spectrum Philosophy and The Meaningless Philosophy. It is founded upon the Spectrum, and tempered by the Meaningless. I have not yet thought about a proper Synthesis of these philosophies, but it’d be pretty straightforward to get that out there.
The First Inkling
I came up with this because I am a Human who Eats.
I do it every day, multiple times a day, and strive to enjoy it because I might as well, if it’s unavoidable, no?
The primary mechanism of enjoying food is Flavor, though Texture, Aroma, and Appearance are also important. I’ll speak here of this mostly through flavor, though, as it’s a very visceral sense and extremely straightforward.
You know chocolate? It’s good, right? (At least that’s the common perception.)
You know peanut butter? It’s also good, right? (If you have a peanut allergy, I’m sorry, that sucks, I hope the people around you take it seriously.)
Both of those together are beloved, as evidenced by their prevalence in the snack world, and it is because of the synthesis of sweet chocolate, and savory peanut butter. The two together provide a richer experience than either alone, and in fact accentuate each other together.
If you ever get a good batch of strawberries, where they're very sweet but still a little tart, I urge you to try at least one like so:
- Take a bite from the end of the strawberry, just enough to expose some of the wet interior.
- Sprinkle slightly more salt than you would expect on the exposed strawberry flesh.
- Take another bite.
You’ll find that the sweet strawberry flavor is enhanced by the tang of the salt!
This also works very well with Texture - the popularity of a crunchy shell around a soft center, or a crisp chip with a smooth dip speaks well to this.
Through contrast, I enjoy food more. It’s a damn delight, and leads to food experiments and recipes which end up marvelous - some pepperoni wrapped around a chocolate is surprisingly delicious, a shepherd’s pie with sweet potatoes instead of russet brings delightful variety to a classic, and soy sauce goes well in a lot more places than just on your orange chicken.
Some Shallow Reflection
I eat food every day and find ways to enjoy something that many people view as a mundane need at best and a constant obstacle at worst. (I can understand why some people might feel such, but damn if it isn’t a foreign idea to me.)
Can I apply this to the rest of my life?
I mean, come on, the saying is literally “Variety is the Spice of Life.” This is extremely elementary stuff when it comes to enjoying one’s time all wrapped up in this mortal coil.
I seek to do this consciously and wherever I can, especially with experiences that seem to be lacking somehow, and try to appreciate it where it comes up more directly.
For example, I am frequently stressed out. Home stuff, work stuff, pet stuff, money stuff, it all adds up. Everyone is stressed all the damn time nowadays, and it sucks! The only reason I can remember the last day I felt no enormous disgust/anger/fear about the generalized state of the world is because it was the day of my wedding over half a decade ago.
But recently, I spent a beautiful afternoon on the back porch of my home in an inflatable pool with my wife, a few drinks, and a nice breeze, and I took the time to think about how stressed I’d been and how nice it was that I felt none of it at the moment.
And in other moments of stress, I think about how much more stressed I’ve been, where I’ve been worried about not being able to make rent waiting for a job to start, and all the stress on my girlfriend-one-day-wife and the strain it was putting on our relationship, and how far I’ve come, and it softens what I’ve got now - a house, a good job, a spouse who I adore. The “bitterness” of those times age into a sweetness that cut the flavors of the moment by contrast.
These are the sorts of thoughts that make me unafraid of aging and dying. My life is vastly different from what it was ten, fifteen years ago. In ten, fifteen years it will be vastly different again. I can feel the effects of aging - my joints, the way I sleep, my energy levels, the way I move, but I can also feel the accumulated wisdom and experience. I’m (on a personal level) happier now than I’ve ever been, and I can’t wait to see how much happier I can become.
I think part of my current happiness is rooted in how much angrier I am on a non-personal level on behalf of others. I have it good, and others should have it better than they do.
When it comes to death, contrast is stark - I am now, and I will not be then, so I am grateful to be now. Proximity to death makes us more appreciative of life, and a good funeral can give the contrast of perspective.
Smaller Scale
In an example with less gravity, nothing can make the tension of a movie relax or snap or thrum the way contrast can. In Jurassic Park (1993), one of the famous scenes is when Dr. Alan Grant (played by the late, great Sam Neill) is attempting to distract the T-Rex and draw it away from the tour group in the night rain. The terrible lizard is stomping and roaring, and while there’s relief that it’s no longer terrorizing the two children (Lex and Tim) in a flipped, destroyed Jeep, it’s only because it’s chasing new prey. It smashes down a nearby bathroom, and the contrast appears - Donald Gennaro, the frightened lawyer, cowering on a toilet as the walls fall away. Then, the flavor falls away as he is grabbed in the great maw, shaken, and eaten.
It would still be an effective scene without the toilet. There’s plenty of tension to be had, but that one moment, that one pop of flavor twists things a bit, makes them something more.
Music is all about contrast. It’s explaining vibes with math, literally the ratios of vibrations both simultaneously and sequentially. Major/minor chords, the interplay of modal shifts and key changes, and so much more all have contrast to them that is the entire reason (aside from lyrics) that music works. I adore Big Music, and that effect is entirely about contrast.
The Joy Thief
The phrase “Comparison is the thief of joy” is an important one, and you must temper your examination of contrast with it when examining your own contrasts, be it to other people or to yourself in the past. Do not dwell on how you compare to others, but give it a glance every now and then. It’s almost like walking through a crowd - you don’t focus on any one person for long, you’re just looking long enough to be sure you don’t run into anyone or hurt yourself.