COMPLEXITY & SIMPLICITY

Life on Earth began as small and simple and evolved to be large and complex. Last week I suggested that history could be thought of as one of many models, or paradigms, provided by Nature that can guide us in living our daily lives.

Yet, also, I've extolled the virtues of smallness and simplicity.

So, for those of us who believe that "Nature is Bible," which is right? Do we shoot for large and complex, or small and simple?

This is another of those married sets of reality that at first glance seem paradoxical or even self contradictory, but then, when reflected on, reveal themselves as a beautifully balanced system capable of bestowing powerful insights and wise guidance. Here's one way it might work:

Downsize and simplify by abandoning the taste for fancy food and drink, stylish clothing, impressive car, luxurious home, entertainment provided by others, unnecessary gadgets, and the false luxury of paying someone else to take responsibility for your health... and you find yourself needing less money.

Needing less money can translate into having more free time. And that free time can be used to develop one's natural talents and interests, and to become sensitized to beautiful and worthy things.

Realizing one's natural potential and becoming sensitized to beautiful and worthy things, one's spirit feeds and grows and evolves. It evolves the same way Life has, from small and simple to big and complex...

Complex in the sense of becoming more complexly involved with, and more complexly appreciative of, the very big world around us... Complex in the sense of understanding things profoundly enough to see and hunger for the beauty of small and simple things...

small & simple <--> big & complex