“We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.”

—Anaïs Nin

Introduction

All thoughts and concepts are subjective illusions and imperfect representations of an absolute reality.

You may harbor hatred, jealousy, or some misunderstandings about someone. However, they are merely your brain’s way of creating an imperfect representation of reality.

No amount of equations, discourses, or descriptions can ever fully describe or explain physical reality.

Even our lauded theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics are not perfect.

While they can make many fancy predictions about black hole singularities and gravitational time dilation, they still do not know what precisely is in a black hole.

Relativity thinks it is a singularity, but that is merely a mathematical prediction, not necessarily an actual reality.

One who simply analyzes and compiles one theory after another is merely armchair philosophizing.

Absolute reality can never be approached. It can only be approximated.

Many of our inner thoughts, impressions, and preconceptions of others are also subjective.

We perceive reality through the veil of Maya, which sees not the full spectrum of colors or hears the full range of sounds. Our personality type, whether trusting or suspicious, often clouds this judgment.

However, here is a secret: our model of someone else’s personality or of our own lives is often an imperfect framework for reality. We can never truly have complete comprehension.

Thus, our inner models are lies crafted by the brain.

I simply ask that you craft a white lie to make your life even easier.

By that, I mean deliberately changing your perspective to improve your life.

A person who sees the world as purely negative, in shades of black and white, will become suspicious and distrustful. They may become hermits and withdraw from the world.

However, this framework or perspective of seeing the world exists only in one’s mind.

If the person shifts their worldview toward positivity and trust, others will be drawn to them, improving their life chances.

This is the law of parallax: our behavior reflects the perspectives we adopt.

Tetris as an Analogy

We find the law of parallax diffusing throughout Tetris.

When most people encounter the following dead-end patterns, they often feel nervous and may give up:

Diagram Set 23-1
A	B

An extremely imbalanced stack.

A terrible well-like situation with uneven stacks on both sides.

C

D

8-1 stacking gives the poorest T-spin double continuations.

9-0 stacking is poor for T-spinning unless you can ST stack the above.

E

F

A well-like situation.

Many local parity imbalances.

This is because the dead-end patterns above terminate smooth offensive attacks with quick, simple T-spin doubles. Hence, the player may panic and slow down.

However, all we need to do to escape these issues is to adopt an optimistic, opportunity-oriented perspective by doing the following.

The following examples resolve the A, B, C, D, E, and F situations in the last diagram set, respectively. Hence, A2 resolves A’s issues, etc.

Diagram Set 23-2
A2	B2

A T-spin double donation with two I pieces.

An LL T-spin double donation prop.

C2

D2

An LS T-spin double donation prop. This is dirty.

A Kaidan. Leads to decent ST stacking continuations.

E2

F2

A 5-wide floating T-spin double.

A freestyle T-spin double donation.

Here, the opportunistic player turns all prior dead-end situations into mid-game chances to create more T-spin opportunities.

If the player had given up because of one’s negativity, such practical follow-ups might not have been made, which could have won the game.

Personal Applications

To apply this law, one only needs to deliberately change one’s perspective, even if it is unrealistic.

After all, what is real is not the perspective in our minds, but the actual effects or manifestations of such.

Let us consider the case of the cynic and pessimist, who distrusts everyone and believes that nothing good can ever happen to him.

Hence, this person may seclude himself from the broader reality and not interact with the world, believing it is always negative.

Although he may be correct in such a perspective because of past experiences, the past does not need to define the self or the future.

However, his resulting manifestations, of burying himself in a burrow to avoid all humanity, can sometimes restrict him. This effect is therefore real in the physical world.

A helper needs only to show him contrary evidence to contradict his views. Then he may replace that negative lens with a more inclusive, positive one.

By doing so, he can manifest positively by trusting humanity again and integrating himself into the world.

All it takes is a perspectival change, even if it is not founded in reality, because the effects of one’s perspective are real.

It is almost like the placebo effect.

Social and Global Applications

Per post-revisionist understandings of the Cold War, it is now commonly accepted that the USA and the USSR mutually fed each other’s suspicions through their actions.

The USSR’s act of annexing Eastern Germany or invading Afghanistan, despite it being for security purposes, was seen by the USA as a desire to expand communism.

The USA’s expansion of NATO and the planting of nuclear missiles in Western Europe were seen as an offensive threat to the USSR’s security instead of being merely defensive.

This common distrust and misinterpretation of each other’s actions led to a Cold War that nearly went nuclear.

Today, we see the same thing repeated between the USA and China in Cold War II.

China sees American bases in Japan and East Asia, alongside the USA’s constant meddling in Taiwan, as a threat to China’s security and sovereignty.

America sees China’s expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative, the BRICs alliance, and its control over rare earth metals as a means to challenge the US dollar’s dominance.

The result? The two juggernauts are militarizing ever more. America is opening up four more military bases in the Philippines, and China has increased its nuclear missile stockpile to nearly a thousand.

If the two countries ever destroy each other in a nuclear war, future historians will laugh at this.

It turned out that China was simply wanting to defend its borders because of the trauma that arose from the hundred years of humiliation between 1850 and 1950.

America was simply spearheaded by a few right-winged hawks who wished to maintain US dominance, not reflecting the typical American’s desire for peace and a better life.

Hence, the entire US-China Cold War is based solely on mutual suspicion and distrust, not on empirical evidence.

How ridiculous it would be if such a false worldview were to lead to a nuclear holocaust!

To change this, we need to move from the old Earth to a new Earth, where political leaders are more responsible.

They must adopt a more enlightened perspective on peace, love, harmony, acceptance, and inclusion.

When they do, countries like the USA and China will no longer have any desire for mutual conflict or tense security competitions.

They will instead embrace one another, cooperate, and share their fruits with the rest of the world.

This is the view of the American-Chinese geopolitical analyst, Cyrus Janssen, who supports full cooperation between the USA and China, and it is my view as well. He is both a patriot of the USA and China.

Now extend this to all kinds of conflicts, such as the Russo-Ukrainian or Israeli-Iranian conflicts. This extends to disputes between organizations, religions, corporations, or other social identities.

Instead of cementing themselves in the perspective of continued revenge, hate, or distrust, they can replace it with love and harmony.

Then, the new Earth will no longer be filled with endless wars and conflicts.