Easy, when less is more
PEOPLE remember the French philosopher René Descartes for the dictum “Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am)”. That is not what he said. In his essay on sensory perception contained in his tome Meditations, his claim was: “I doubt, therefore I am.”
It leads us to his methodology of reductio ad absurdum and it introduces my theme for today: reductionism.
This is not difficult.
It is a strategy of reducing the most complicated objects or information to simple components.
It provides the reassurance that a complex system can be understood completely on the basis of its simple constituents.
An elaborate party with exotic catering is merely the taking in of food.
Transport is merely the act of getting from point A to point B.
Sound is audible noise. Inaudible noise is silence.
Money is just a system of promissory notes.
A motor car is a set of systems, like the body, that works in harmony to provide a satisfactory result.
A house is a shelter against the coming night. Rain is water that falls from the sky and can be recycled endlessly.
Clothing provides a second skin that retains body heat for physical comfort.
Think about each of the above exemplars. Reporters provide lyrical expositions on the cuisine of weddings or parties. It’s just eating.
There are copious manuals that expound the virtues of the complex machinery of a Lamborghini. It’s just a car.
And so forth and so on.
The same applies to daily living. We can think of our lives as a set of completed years with a list of achievements. Or we can relish each day as it comes.
We can see a job as a long trek to retirement, or we can count each blessing as we ease towards our twilight years.
We can see the cost of living as a mountain that must be levelled every month with much left standing unattended. Or we can reduce the demands to suit the resources.
Education can be an exhausting schlep through tons of useless information or it can be a discovery of the world and the self and the wonders contained therein.
I am aware of the danger of over-simplification. But it is preferable to over-complication. Let’s take the apparent resolution of the Zille twitters.
It was an over-complicated exercise in reaction, self-righteousness, attrition, restitution and reassurance. Nothing has changed. Ravel’s Bolero is still a joyful piece of music. If I report a robbery, I shouldn’t add: he was black.
Our daily actions should point inwards, where we will find the strength to cope with complexities through simplifying. We pray for daily bread, not monthly. We deal with cancer one day at a time.
We KISS. That is an acronym for keep it simple, silly. Or stupid.