Seven Pretty Good Ideas : Simplicity

The School of Athens (Rafael, 1483-1520)

"Everything should be made simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." (A. Einstein 1879-1955)

I’ve pondered ethics over the years, both in terms of personal happiness and the overall rippling effect those ethics would have on society, and have, after all the over-thinking of it, come up with seven basic principles. The fundamentals behind these principles have been gleaned from any number of sources, but, for the most part, their truth in comes from practical application. Experience provides a hard, yet capable schoolmaster. I would be remiss in not acknowledging those who have given me the keys to this realization; the Talmudists, the Taoists, the Stoics, the Buddhists, Baruch Spinoza, and all those who contribute significantly to my intellectual and emotional well-being. Even my father o’h, smart-ass that he was, is due some thanks.

After several failed attempts to solidify these ideas into a cohesive work, I thought to myself “What the hell? One more try couldn’t hurt.” The problem is that there is to damn much to say on the subject. For me, already been found guilty of excessive verbosity, having too much to say on any topic is another case of “placing a stumbling block before the blind.” It is no small irony that the idea of simplicity should require so much explanation. Oh well. What is irony if not the eternal state of life? The matter of coming to grips with irony is what makes simplicity so crucial a step to achieving peace of mind.

First, I had to ask what it means to be simple. Does it require living a Spartan life-style, deliberately shedding all vestiges of comfort and convenience? Would one have to become a modern-day Thoreau, casting aside amenities that technology and civilization provide in an effort to achieve inner satisfaction or as a form of protest against cultural norms? The answer for me was a resounding ‘no freaking way.’ For starters, I do not possess the emotional instability necessary to voluntarily undergo that kind of elective hardship. Secondly, “raging against the machine” is the flip side of conformity; if one is doing everything based on the status of the ‘machine’, whether one mimics or resists that influence, the focus remains upon and is therefore codependent to the ‘machine.’ To illustrate, did you ever notice how all the non-conformists look alike? Lastly, what point would there be in rejecting the conveniences offered by modern society? Taking this notion to its logical conclusion would eventually have one rejecting even the crudest of Neanderthal axes and spears! If that defined simplicity, I would be running naked through the state parks hunting squirrel with a sharp stick and no one wants to see that happen. Explain THAT to the judge!

So simplicity is not about self-denial, hermitage, or hardship, and though important lessons can be learned from those experiences, I am not about to sign up for a solo voyage into Stone Age hardship and adventure for my next vacation. Losing the remote control is hardship enough. Oh, the Agony!

So then, what is simplicity?

Simplicity is, in part, a way of seeing the world without predicating your final word or opinion on the matter upon preconceived notions or conditioned responses. Although I am not certain that complete objectivity is possible, we can, when we take things just as they are, see them from a clearer perspective. Conditioned responses tend to close off any possibility of finding out more about that event or thing we are coming in contact with, thus skewing both the understanding and ultimate pleasure we derive from it. In case you are thinking that I am somehow advocating the negation of pleasure through cold and deliberate cognition, you are mistaken. Sometimes that detached cost-benefit analysis and scientific inquiry will lead to greater levels of pleasure, precluding one from fleeting hedonism and, at the same time, preventing the unintended consequences that may arise from following passions left unchecked. The complication that lack of restraint causes puts a serious hurdle in one’s path to simplicity. If you are making love to a person you have no doubts of, there is no greater pleasure, and the consequence is generally more of that same pleasure and mutual satisfaction, as nothing clouds the thinking and emotion behind your actions.

This process by which we may attain simplicity is not necessary ‘simple.’ What exactly does come easy? It requires a little bit of the next six ‘pretty good’ ideas to make it function. Think of simplicity as checking out the product before you buy it, acquiring the product knowledge necessary to make the proper and most useful purchase. Simplicity becomes the beginning of this ethical and cognitive retraining process. The essential tool needed for simplicity is not denial, but reasonable restraint. Avoid the ‘impulse buy’ when it comes to life. Denial is co-dependent, restraint however, is rational and patient. The goal is peace of mind and happiness. It’s never too late to begin seeking that out. I waited much too long before I put any effort toward that end.

The other part of simplicity concerns our expectations. Knowing a thing relatively well helps you to know what to expect from it. How many times have we faced disappointment in life, and how many times did that disappointment arise from not recognizing a thing for what it truly was, either through rose-colored glasses or from a misguided belief that we possessed the power to change it? I learned that valuable lesson from an exotic dancer and no, her stage name was not ‘Simplicity’; it should have been something like ‘Duplicity.’ Simplicity allows us to see things for what they really are. I can enjoy the conveniences and amenities that modern day America offers me, not get caught up in their ownership and status, and know they are a means to an end, and not an end or defining principle in and of themselves. Do I operate the machine or does the machine operate me?

(I realize that I’m making a case for a practical rationalism here, perhaps well beyond what the Taoist would accept, but due to my being raised in the West, I’m still having to work from a European perspective and trying to get to the same place via another means. I see in Spinoza’s Ethics are a mix of the Stoic and the Taoist, and both approaches are meritorious in their own right. I see them as two sides of the same coin.)

Simplicity is the first step leading to the other six, which are the inevitable consequence of accepting this simplicity. In short, simplicity is achieved through the combination of rational understanding and the detachment from unrealistic expectations. Without this simplicity, one can have lots of things and still own nothing.

“It is satisfaction to a man to do the proper work of a man. Now it is a proper work of a man to be benevolent to his own kind, to despise the movement of the senses, to form a just judgment of plausible appearances, and to survey the nature of the universe and of the things which happen in it.” (Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, d. 180 AD)

“There is no rational life without intelligence, and things are only good insofar as they assist mankind to enjoy that life of the mind which is determined by intelligence.” (Spinoza in Ethics, 1677)

Next week I hope to have Part Two ready for blogging. The topic is 'Patience.'