22 March 2001

COMPARISON

S:
Thanks for writing back.
Comparison is one of our strongest conditionings. Since childhood the parents compare us with our cousin, with the neighbor, and the teachers compare us with the kid who is smarter or dumber, the kid who behaves and the mischievous. So we grow up comparing ourselves with others. Comparison is based on measurement : before you can compare X with Y you first have to measure X and Y. Measurement is never accurate. Technologically you can get pretty close: X is 5 centimeters and Y is 7 so Y is longer than X. Even that measurement is an approximation because you can measure down to the millimeter level and infinite micro levels. Psychologically, measurement is a lot less accurate because the instrument of the measurement can be conditioned. Psychological measurement is based on images, conclusions, but a psycho-somatic being, i.e. a human, may undergo constant change. The psychological entity, "I", being nothing but a bundle of memories, in itself is fictitious, therefore it can not serve as a valid pivot point for identifying a static human. Yet, psychological measurement assumes a static human, you, I.

Comparison gives rise to envy, jealousy, antagonism, and self-pity. Can we live without comparison? Much of the rotten structure of the society is based on comparison - "an eminence-front - it's a put-on" - trying to be something, to be important, to be rotten inside but to try to show a wonderful outside. Often that fictitious wonderful outside is compared against by another...

Gotto go.
Love
Reza