On lucidity

When someone just gets it

On lucky occasions, you’ll meet someone who just gets it. They pick up on your subtle hints and drop you some of their own. They understand the games of life, and are often very good at them. They are rabidly curious, sharply witty, and brightly playful. This person is lucid.

In the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald (don’t index on who this was said about):

“…there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.”

Lucidity describes a person (as opposed to an action) the same way that smart does — a smart or lucid person will be smart or lucid in many different contexts.

Here are three standard definitions of lucid that are helpful in triangulating an understanding of our new definition:

1. a specific piece of writing is lucid when it’s cogent and easy to understand.

2. in medical terms, it’s said that dementia patients lack lucidity when they are unable to perceive basic realities about the world around them.

3. lucid dreaming, a state of utter comprehension about your plane of existence.

Thus, a lucid person is compelling, perceptive, and aware of life’s meta-games. Lucid people are the opposites of NPCs, those who play the games that life gives them without a second thought.

Lucid people aren’t dogmatic. Most ideologies are full of heuristics that non-lucid people rely on since they can’t actively evaluate different situations. Since they have eclectic life philosophies, lucid people are full of surprises and it’s hard to predict what they’ll say or do next. That’s often why the conversations will go well and they will just get it — they are actually thinking about what you’re saying and not just following a script.

Don’t confuse lucidity and competence. Competence is when you’re good at life’s games; lucidity is knowing which game you’re playing. Disaster can arise if you end up being good at the wrong game.

Take, for example, the couple Stacy and James. When they argue, Stacy quickly devolves to making irrational, emotional arguments. James has two options:

1. be competent and deconstruct Stacy’s arguments using logic and rationality;

2. be lucid and recognize the abstract games at play by choosing to appeal to Stacy’s emotions.

The competent James frustrates both participants. The lucid James understands Stacy the way she wants to be understood, leading to better outcomes for everybody.

This scenario brings to mind the classic contrast between intelligence and wisdom, most concisely: “intelligence is knowing the right answer, wisdom is knowing when to say it.” Wisdom overlaps with lucidity, but not entirely. An experienced old man can be wise but not lucid, and a bright young woman can be lucid but not wise. Wisdom is about qualitative knowledge gained through life experience, whereas lucidity is an acute awareness of life’s many meta-games.

The next time you enter a conversation, think of the object-level analysis of what people are saying, as well as the lucid analysis of why they’re saying it. What are their motivations, their objectives, and the deeper meaning behind their words? If they were in a dream, would they be aware of it? What game of life are they playing?

This exercise demands several hallmarks of lucidity: the blend of empathy and brainpower to understand the qualia of others in realtime; playful curiosity beyond your current scope to seek non-instrumental truth; and incisive self-awareness that you’re also just a player in the game.

However, lucidity is more than just a social trait and applies to most areas of life. A good non-social example is root cause analysis:

Let’s conjure up David, who runs the local laundromat. Customers are generally satisfied with his services but sometimes complain that the hangers he uses damages their clothes. Non-lucid David treats each incident as an independent customer service problem, paying for damages and giving a coupon for 10% off the next wash. Lucid David addresses the root cause and replaces the hangers. He was handed the “customer service” game but recognized that by playing the “take care of clothes” game, he could more effectively solve the problem.

Most people consider themselves lucid the same way that most people consider themselves smart or principled — this is a fallacy just like how 80% of drivers think they are above-average drivers. It’s far more accurate to assess lucidity in others. The good news for you is that if somebody sent you this essay, they likely consider you lucid. Learn to recognize this trait and surround yourself with other lucid people — you’ll be all the better for it.