Do you ever get mired down in complexity? Does life sometimes seem complicated? Have you ever found an easy answer in the midst of chaos?

Our world is a unique place. We exist upon a continuum between an infinite number of unexplainable complexities, balanced by the bedrock rules of the laws of nature.

If you name almost any problem, question, or conundrum, you can either dive into the weeds and pull it to bits or find a single straight through-line to a solution.

One way is not necessarily better than the other, what might seem obvious on the surface might be counterproductive when put into action. Consciousness is a dance between simplicity and complexity.

But one thing about us humans is that we have the propensity to jump to conclusions. If you’re not careful, or if you’ve had experiences in your past that push you in that direction, it’s easy to default to worst-case-scenario thinking.

Let’s say you have a friend who you’ve been trying to get a hold of. You keep leaving messages, it feels like you’re playing phone tag, but weeks or months go by without actually connecting.

It’s easy to start running narratives in your mind like “Are they mad at me?” or “Did I say something to offend them?” when in fact, you really don’t know.

When you finally connect, you realize that it wasn’t about you at all. They’ve been tied up with some sort of family issue, such as a relative being sick. Or perhaps they’ve been so deep in a deadline they haven’t been able to come up for air.

Whatever the case may be, it often turns out that there’s a simple solution for what appears to be a complicated problem. There’s actually a name for this, which prompted my pondering upon this topic today.

Way back in the 14th century a fellow named William of Ockham became famous for using the Latin phrase entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem which roughly translates as “entities must not be multiplied beyond a necessity”.

It comes down to us as Occam’s Razor, (in philosophy, a ‘razor’ is a principal or rule of thumb that allows one to eliminate unlikely explanations for a phenomenon). It often boils down to the idea that the simplest explanation is usually the best one.

More accurately, it means that one should look to the answer that requires the fewest assumptions before entertaining greater complexity. And as anyone who follows The Four Agreements knows quite well, assumptions are to be avoided entirely, (or at the very least handled very carefully!)

As 2023 draws to a close and ’24 appears on the horizon, let’s keep a handle on complexity and seek serenity in simplicity whenever we can. Let this holiday lull be a time for reflection and rejuvenation!

Much love till next week, (and Happy New Year!)

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine