Recognizing Patterns of Causality vs Simple Correlation…

Ever notice patterns in your life that you then interpret as truth? Here’s an example: let’s say that whenever you’re sick you drink celery juice and listen to classical music to help you sleep, neither of which you normally do. Afterwards, you get well. What happens then is your brain links those things together, because as Judson Brewer, who is an American psychiatrist and neuroscientist, points out, our brains love to link things together. The problem with this is that it’s a statement of true, true and correlated rather than true, true and causation. As human beings, we try so hard to construct meaning and purpose from experience. A noble pursuit especially as artists. However, in doing so, we must constantly remind ourselves that our understanding is always going to be limited. One of the biggest reasons is because we can only ever see something through the lens of our perspective, which leaves out a lot of other perspectives. This is what I (Phil Svitek) explore in this lesson. I show you how to stop making assumptions and to really dig towards the truth. After the episode, I encourage you go ahead and write down two true statements that you’ve observed in your life. If you feel inclined, you can go ahead and try to defend those statements as being causal instead of just correlated. But if you don’t do that, no worries. The point of the exercise is to write down the patterns we notice in our lives and to begin to explore that. What I’d love to see happen is we all respond to each other’s posts and learn together. So go ahead and comment.

SELECTED LINKS FROM EPISODE:

-Judson Brewer Interview on The goop Podcast: https://goop.com/the-goop-podcast/why-we-crave/

-Not Twice T-Shirt Campaign: http://nottwice.org

-A Very LA Birthday Short Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9SHJaepE0c

-Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/philsvitek

-Merchandise: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/phil-svitek—360-creative-coach/

-Adorama Affiliate Link: https://www.adorama.com/?utm_source=rflaid914115

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Transcript:

As human beings, we try so hard to construct meaning and purpose from experience. A noble pursuit especially as artists. However, in doing so, we must constantly remind ourselves that our understanding is always going to be limited. One of the biggest reasons is because we can only ever see something through the lens of our perspective, which leaves out a lot of other perspectives. If we keep this truth top of mind, we can begin to be more aware of our biases. This simple awareness can be the reminder we need to prevent ourselves from associating correlations as causations.

True, true and correlated means that each observation you make is true but doesn’t mean it’s the cause for an outcome coming to fruition.

The reason it’s important to understand this from an artistic standpoint is because in all forms of storytelling, you must strive to reveal a deep human and universal truth. Whenever coincidence is introduced into the mix past the beginning, it waters down the meaning. In fact, if you don’t have causality evident in your climax it becomes a deus ex machina. When it comes to deus ex machina, script doctor Robert McKee has this to say, “Deus ex machina not only erases all meaning and emotion, it’s an insult to the audience. Each of us knows we must choose and act, for better or worse, to determine the meaning of our lives… Deus ex machina is an insult because it is a lie.”

As creators, it is our job to gain an understanding of the world and to express it simply and beautifully to our audiences. The greater the truth, the greater the chance it has of resonating to the masses globally. We must put forth a lot of effort in our work to chip away towards this insight otherwise what we see will just be cliches that don’t reveal anything of substance.

In the larger context, the idea of true, true and correlated is a reminder to not jump to conclusions. Have you ever been in a situation where you or a friend became upset because of something that happened? Often times, these situations make mountains out of molehills and the reason for it is that in such instances, people link two factual statements together. Their linking falsely creates a belief of causality. For example, someone might say, “Whenever we hang out with Jim you always bail. What are you avoiding Jim?” That person’s thinking is that the one who flakes all the time dislikes Jim. There could be truth to that or it’s just happenstance. We don’t know and that’s the point. We can find out, but we have to go deeper. Ask more questions. Observe more.

That is what this lesson is all about. To stop taking everything at face value and to really examine the world around you on a more meaningful level. To be more conscious and present. Not only will this affect your art in a positive way, it will also affect your life because you’ll no longer make assumptions. Which, by the way, you know what they say, “assumptions make an ass out of you and me.” Right, you’ve heard that?

So, next time you see a pattern in your life, ask yourself, is this just true, true and correlated or is this really true, true and has causation. I’m willing to bet that most times it’s the former.

But this begs the question—how do you identify causality vs correlation? Like any scientist, your findings have to be repeatable. And not just by you. Others have to be able to get the same results. I believe this is the reason why so many artists love to people gaze. In so doing, they’re trying to observe patterns and the so-called truth of human nature. Why are things happening? Artists want to explore that.

Also, ask people you’re close with whenever you’re hanging out at dinner or some other social event. Remember I opened up with the idea that we mistakenly confuse correlation as causation because of our limited perspective? By conversing with more people and telling them your theory, you can then debate the merits of it with your friends.

If this isn’t an option, let’s say because of a deadline or some other factor, then get into the habit of playing devil’s advocate, which essentially means argue with yourself. Force yourself to defend your idea by posing hard counter arguments. It’s like a game really. It can be a lot of fun to play. I do it all the time whenever I’m writing creatively and for nonfiction purposes.

As a last tip, in order to gain a broader perspective and combat your biases it is imperative that you immerse yourself in other people’s works. Those can be podcasts, movies, TV shows, music, books, paintings, poems and so one. Any of those can be fiction or nonfiction. Both are valid and allow you to learn from other people by seeing their unique point of view. The fact that you’re listening to my words now, already shows evidence that you’re striving to do just that, so congratulations and keep it up.

Unfortunately though, there really is no fully concrete way of knowing if something is correlated or actually causal. Even science admits as much—which is why there’s discoveries all the time that negate earlier findings. Don’t let that discourage you. The point is to do your best, which is real work. Then when you feel it in your heart of hearts that, to the best of your abilities, you’ve realized a universal truth aka causation, then move forward with your creative pursuits. And, from a practical standpoint, you’ll become better at mediating conflict because you’ll be less likely to jump to conclusions and you’ll be able to understand both parties’ perspectives easier. This allows you to come to the middle ground much quicker. Not always, but certainly more times than before.

To put this lesson to practice in your life, go ahead and write down two true statements that you’ve observed in your life. If you feel inclined, you can go ahead and try to defend those statements as being causal instead of just correlated. But if you don’t do that, no worries. The point of the exercise is to write down the patterns we notice in our lives and to begin to explore that. What I’d love to see happen is we all respond to each other’s posts and learn together. So go ahead and comment.

And with that, we conclude this lesson. Free free to click over to any of the numerous lessons I’ve created just for you though. I have so many you can check out along with other free resources. Just go to my website at philsvitek.com. Lastly, a huge thank you to the people that helped make this episode financially possible. If you too would like to support this show, you can either head on over to my Patreon or sport some merch from my store. Links are down below as well. Or you can just tell a friend about this show and we can build a great community of like-minded creatives. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to tune in. I’m @PhilSvitek on social media and I’ll see you next Wednesday with another lesson. Bye!