Simplicity

Profound truths are often as simple as Einstein’s famous formula, E=mc² or Benjamin Disraeli’s aphorism, “Youth is a blunder; manhood a struggle; old age regret.” Beneath the apparent simplicity lies immense profundity. That every mass is a terrific bundle of energy is at once simple and profound. The growth from youth’s blunders to the regrets of old age is also simple and profound.

   Most people refuse to understand the simplicity as well as profundity of truths that matter. They like to add colours and flavours to truths in order to make them more bearable or more attractive (apparently) or to wield them as weapons for self-aggrandisement. Then we get all sorts of religions and creeds and isms. And the concomitant struggles and strife.

   “The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanations of complex facts,” said Alfred North Whitehead. “We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that facts are simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest. The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, ‘Seek simplicity and distrust it.’”

   Unless we understand the profundity that lies hidden beneath the apparent simplicity, we are likely to fall into many traps like power games. Do people really want profundity? That’s an interesting question. The answer is, more often than not, No. People want power or something that makes them feel good about themselves. Consequently there is neither simplicity nor profundity.  Instead there are falsehoods masquerading as truths.

   We are part of a gargantuan procession of masquerades.  Anyone who refuses to play along becomes a caricature labelled as antinational or something like that. It’s a funny world. Who should I thank for all this fun?

PS. Written for In(di)spire Edition 224: #simplicity