“I FAKE IT, THEREFORE I MAKE IT”

By: C. Schulter

One of the greatest universal quests of mankind is “what is the purpose of life” or even “what is my purpose in life”. René Descartes, the philosopher behind the quote “I think, therefore I am”, offers a simple answer to this quest, you are whatever you choose to be. Descartes' original purpose for this statement was to provide society a foundation for knowledge, as he questioned the reliability of knowledge and the existence of a thinking entity inside everyone. This quote is proof that a thinking self takes place inside each and every individual, as if one did not think, one would not question such a thing. Adding to the quote's original purpose, Descartes implies that mankind as intellectual beings can be anything that their minds decide to be. In psychology, such philosophy has been popularized as “Fake it till you make it” and professionals in the area share diverging opinions in such philosophy and question if individuals truly understand how this tool of the mind can work in pro and against us.

Thoughts have a heavy weight on our daily lives, be them rational or not. Firstly, the mind does follow Descartes' rule, and it believes it to be what it thinks it is. If one makes an inconsequential mistake and martyrizes themselves because of it with severe generalizations of the nature of, “I do nothing right”, one’s mind will eventually start believing that. Such is the power of words and repetition over our minds. The same is true for a person that suffers with mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, if these people’s minds get stuck in self-degrading thoughts, they’ll eventually think them true, entering a vicious cycle of mental illness. In Dr. Clifford N. Lazarus article for ‘Psychology Today’ he defends situations in which individuals benefit psychologically from this mind tool “encouraging people to act opposite to their negative emotions and “fake” the behavior of their undepressed selves usually helps loosen depression’s grip on them. So, in behavioral psychology, the idea of "act as if" and “fake it till you make it" can be a pivotal therapeutic intervention.”.

Nonetheless, Dr. Lazarus highlights that misled uses of this tool in business, financial, industrial, and public trust matters can have disastrous effects, as it incentivizes personal narcissism and institutional sociopathy. When leaders of relevant public figures use this tool to spread false information about their businesses to their own benefit, when they pass forward misleading information about the technology and projects, they have been developing to convince investors and once again gain personal benefit, or when they blatantly misrepresent and overstate ideas, they put themselves at the risk of falling for their own lies and of harming their community.

​Our minds are more powerful than we imagine, this gives us the chance to be whatever we imagine. “I fake it, therefore I make it” is the mixture of what Descartes said and what society made of it (“fake it till you make it”), and if this tool is used correctly, it can take us further by allowing us to break cycles of fear, timidness, and inertia. Feed your mind with good thoughts because your powerful mind can make your thoughts real.