A simple tree
Simplicity versus complexity is probably one of my favorite thinking games. If you have never played it, it essentially works like this… Take a subject, any subject, topic, object, etc and try to think of it in simple terms. Try to reduce it down to the simplest set of concepts you can. Then try to pay attention to the amount of complexity that gets shuffled aside as you do so.
An example: A tree.
What is a tree in the simplest terms available?
…well, it is a plant.
But what crossed your mind as you were thinking about the tree in simple language? What did you have to push aside ad you were trying to find the best idea of what a tree is?
Just thinking “tree”, I thought of deciduous vs. evergreen, growth patterns, climate versus growth, ring size, species of trees, trees as a metaphor for logic systems, fractal patterns in the leaves versus the branches versus the roots… etc. A lot flashed across my mind. And it generally happens so fast, that I have to really concentrate to go back and sift through it all.
The interesting part is that the concepts in my head are images. Pictures, quite literally, flashing in my frontal lobes. And to sift through all that stuff is the fun part… because you often stumble into new interpretations or ideas from the things you thought to be just accepted mind-stuff.
The other interesting aspect is the fact that there is no such thing as a simplistic subject. Human beings don’t create simplicity. In fact, we try our damned hardest to invent complexity for simple tasks and ideas. I always marvel that there is a standard, or a commission, or a governing body for the most simple of things. We have to measure, weigh and assign value to everything… even something as beautifully simplistic as a tree. I think God is an entity that can hold complexity in mind while seeing nothing but simplicity. The simplicity is an outcome of complexity, and not the other way around.
No comments yet.