Dealing in the dark

Imagine, if you will, a philosophical Faraday cage.

The cage is a complex machine of any shape: a room, a cell, a house, an empty void… Its form does not matter. Inside the cage, you are given the choice to commit a corrupt act that will greatly benefit you. Here is the kicker: Regardless of your choice, whether it was to commit the heinous act or not, no-one will ever know of your decision. You can walk out of the cage -better off or not- and no-one will ever be able to tell.

What would you do?

A concrete example: You find yourself in the position to steal something of great value from your neighbour, and do so with him none the wiser. He’ll go on to live a poorer life, wondering who stole his object, but he will continue to trust you, and treat you as a friend who is helping him through this staggering loss. Meanwhile, you can do whatever you wish with this object: sell it, hold onto it, gloat about owning it… Whatever you do with it will bring you great joy or wealth. The economics of your potential crime is skewed heavily in your favour, and the only alternative is to choose not to steal. What would you do?

This philosophical Faraday Cage is the beating heart of today’s Big Idea. “Dealing in the Dark” is a situation where you are placed in a position of power and anonymity, and must make a choice. The choice (a deal) will usually involve doing something that will be of great benefit to you, but at the cost of corrupting something else.

The belief that true character is revealed when one is given power and anonymity is an old one, and consequently is well-used in art and media. So it surprises me that, for such a well-known idea, very few people actually use it as a tool to reflect on themselves, especially when each and everyone of us has to contend with that power in anonymity in every of our waking moments: the mind.

The mind is our philosophical Faraday Cage. It is the ultimate place of anonymity and power. No entity can ever peer into your mind, and hence no-one can ever learn of your decisions and its personal consequences. The mind generates multiple options; pure or corrupt, useful or inconsequential. You, that conscious part of you, must contend to those options and choose, and how it feeds your soul.

So do you choose to believe in ideas that will be useful to you, but will also poison your opinions about other people? Do you choose to believe that you should take advantage of others because they will only do the same to you?

Or do you choose a different path? Do you choose to believe in the best of people, approaching them cautiously but warmly, and refuse the temptation of making life easier on yourself? Will you choose to make yourself more vulnerable, oftentimes thanklessly so, in order to have a life that is more challenging, but more mindful?

Take some time to think about it. Sometimes, you’ll surprise yourself.