The Theory of Relativity

Genre: Essay
Word Count: 700

Everything is relative. That’s what we seem to hear all around us now. Morals, standards, dreams, goals—don’t judge me, we say. What I think is just what I think. What you think is just what you think. We don’t need any pushing around. Everyone has their own truths. Nothing is intrinsically right, and nothing is intrinsically wrong. It’s decided by the individual or by society. Each person can come up with his or her own philosophies, his or her own beliefs, and his or her own right and wrongs. I can do this if I want. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want. Spread the love… right?

This is the mindset we seem to live in, that all reality is relative. Things can only be judged in respect to other things. People point out all the different religions. So many ways, so many truths! Every one can be right or wrong. Your spirituality is essentially completely up to you. It’s the ultimate response to any sort of contention—everything is relative. You think homosexuality is wrong? Well, that’s nice, because I don’t. You think big government is good? Well, that’s nice, but you’re not going to convince me because I believe that small government is best.

It seems to have penetrated so deeply into our society that we don’t even seem to question it anymore. Reality is relative. Everything comes down to a person’s core beliefs, and everyone’s own core beliefs are a kind of truth in themselves. It’s the Theory of Relativity—but wait, isn’t there already a theory of relativity? It seems awfully similar; one person moving at a certain velocity sees an object moving at the same velocity and says it’s at rest. Another person at rest looks out and says that the object is in motion. Two different observations, two different reference points, and yet, two different truths.

The thing is, though, so often, we leave it just at that. We reach a seemingly true statement and take off from there—Everything is relative—and off we go! But we’re forgetting something… not everything is relative, at least in the Theory of Relativity. In the maelstrom of observers and objects, time dilation and contraction, mathematical formulas and ever-shifting variables, we find one constant around which everything is evaluated: the speed of light. It sets an eternal, unmoving standard, one from which all other things depend on, no matter what frame of reference. The person in motion sees light at the speed of light. The person at rest sees light at the speed of light. How? It seems a paradox but it happens. Light is light, the constant, and other seemingly unrelated things—mass, time, length—all depend upon how fast something is moving compared to the speed of light. It is the absolute by which everything else is judged.

But what’s this? Isn’t everything supposed to be relative?

No. Or, at least, scientifically it isn’t. Truthwise, I won’t say anything. But the thing really is, we can’t just come a certain way, see certain things, experience certain things, and just come to a conclusion that everything seems relative and stop there. We aren’t going out far enough. Everything can only be all relative if there is no absolute by which other things can be evaluated. If there is an absolute, it doesn’t matter how relative everything else seems—there is a benchmark by which to measure by. Maybe everything seems permitted. Maybe absolute good and absolute evil don’t seem to exist. But if even one thing that is intrinsically good or evil exists, it creates a bellwether from which we can judge all other things. How good is it compared to our absolute? How evil is it compared to our absolute? We can’t say it’s all relative anymore.

We can’t say that everything is relative before first asking ourselves whether any absolute exists or not. Only after we have ascertained the answer to the first question can we make any confident statements on relativity. And just to provide a hint… absolutes are rather difficult to confirm. Just ask the philosophers.

This is the theory of relativity.

(Written on 6/30/09, 7/2/09)