"Complexity becomes confusion and simplicity becomes boredom when they are in opposition. The sweet spot is where they live as interdependent aspects of each other. Again, the dance, for this is not a stagnant meeting. I appreciate that within the intricacy is the unassuming quality of humbleness. Allowing for sophistication without getting stuck in the details. Narrowing in while remembering the big picture." @Julie Schmidt on one level, this is an exquisitely beautiful investigation of equanimity. Love, love, love
What a gorgeous exploration, my first digestion post-breakfast and it will stay with me all day. I have learned to lean into simplicity over the last decade, a necessary surrender as my body adjusts to and integrates a diagnosis. It seems to be a universal movement for people living with chronic illness, where the ego and her complex agendas must be shed or deprioritized so a quieter conversation with our bodies, community and environment can flourish.
Not quite a month ago I was visiting western Poland, an area with multiple mountain ranges, valleys, one after another, where there were lovely villages. Not far outside one of the villages an artist has purchased a very old stone building in need of major repair. He has doubled it in size to ultimately provide a home and studio for painting and sculpting. Many years ago he read a detailed and very complex book on Quantum Theory. His paintings are informed by what he read. The are dynamic, as if in motion. It is as if they are alive. I thought of his paintings when I was reading your post. They seem to me to be informed by great detail and complexity but just paint on a canvas, easily accessible. They point to dynamics far beyond themselves. Thank you so much for your what you have written here.
Oh man, this is incredible, Julie! My first thoughts on this are about the self and how I view the self as collective, as relationship itself. We can be with our self (or another's self) in simplicity through seeing its oneness or wholeness. And then we can dance into being with the complexity of the self, understanding it as the connection among countless beings. And both of these are necessary for full intimacy. Interdependence. Thank you for this! It's pure brilliance!
Others in comments have said it, and I will echo that this is a beautiful exploration. Since the "Postcards" post yesterday, I have been reflecting on where these two, complexity and simplicity, merge and the dance between them. The Goethe quote lingers, as does your fractal art.
On a personal level and echoing you, simplicity in my own life is a must if I am to access and be accessed by complexity and depth.
This totally resonates Julie. As you know I love to explore the intersection between things…or the relational aspects that happen in the overlap (Sophie Strand calls it the ecotone and I love that too) …. the liminal! And I’m more interested in the question or the why than knowing a definitive answer … which to me is like capturing a shadow on some level. Which doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying… we caught electricity after all. Did it make the world a better place? Who knows? It’s interesting I read your article after stumbling upon Sabine Hossenfelder. I was both intrigued and amused by her emphatic and pedantic style. Yet I love to have my mind challenged even if it’s by her certitude. Calling anything that can’t be described by the scientific method gobbledygook is interesting in itself as it belies her (and most of the western world’s) rigid adherence to a specific methodology and rules out a certain curiosity that humbler scientists express. She uses the word nonsense a lot. Makes no sense. Well just because one can’t make sense of a thing, does that mean there isn’t any sense? Because I can’t understand Mandarin does that make what they are saying gobbledygook? I’m always thinking that we can’t evolve new thinking if we only continue to use one dimension of expressing understanding (eg through mathematical equations for instance…that is one language after all). Physics is awesome. I love it and the incredible beauty of math that underpins it but is it any less awesome than any other avenue of deep understanding? Than listening to music that moves one to tears? Im also so curious why people are so driven to find an equation that unifies everything. Is it because we long to be god? Is that part of our blueprint? Perhaps. Going back to simplicity, maybe just trying to being a kind person and living as lightly on the planet is enough?
I enjoyed reading this. I related it to the Yin and Yang that's part of Nature and the universe. I totally lean toward simplicity and actively avoid complexity like the plague. Alas, not successfully. As much as I prefer to take a walk in the woods and breathe the scents of the earth than do abstract calculations in my brain, complexity keeps chasing me around like a hound after its prey. I beg for mercy. To no avail. I get butchered every time.
"Complexity becomes confusion and simplicity becomes boredom when they are in opposition. The sweet spot is where they live as interdependent aspects of each other. Again, the dance, for this is not a stagnant meeting. I appreciate that within the intricacy is the unassuming quality of humbleness. Allowing for sophistication without getting stuck in the details. Narrowing in while remembering the big picture." @Julie Schmidt on one level, this is an exquisitely beautiful investigation of equanimity. Love, love, love
What a gorgeous exploration, my first digestion post-breakfast and it will stay with me all day. I have learned to lean into simplicity over the last decade, a necessary surrender as my body adjusts to and integrates a diagnosis. It seems to be a universal movement for people living with chronic illness, where the ego and her complex agendas must be shed or deprioritized so a quieter conversation with our bodies, community and environment can flourish.
Not quite a month ago I was visiting western Poland, an area with multiple mountain ranges, valleys, one after another, where there were lovely villages. Not far outside one of the villages an artist has purchased a very old stone building in need of major repair. He has doubled it in size to ultimately provide a home and studio for painting and sculpting. Many years ago he read a detailed and very complex book on Quantum Theory. His paintings are informed by what he read. The are dynamic, as if in motion. It is as if they are alive. I thought of his paintings when I was reading your post. They seem to me to be informed by great detail and complexity but just paint on a canvas, easily accessible. They point to dynamics far beyond themselves. Thank you so much for your what you have written here.
Oh man, this is incredible, Julie! My first thoughts on this are about the self and how I view the self as collective, as relationship itself. We can be with our self (or another's self) in simplicity through seeing its oneness or wholeness. And then we can dance into being with the complexity of the self, understanding it as the connection among countless beings. And both of these are necessary for full intimacy. Interdependence. Thank you for this! It's pure brilliance!
I find trying to make something simple out of something complex is complicated
But the other way 'round is way way too easy.
Julie,
Others in comments have said it, and I will echo that this is a beautiful exploration. Since the "Postcards" post yesterday, I have been reflecting on where these two, complexity and simplicity, merge and the dance between them. The Goethe quote lingers, as does your fractal art.
On a personal level and echoing you, simplicity in my own life is a must if I am to access and be accessed by complexity and depth.
Thank you for this.
This totally resonates Julie. As you know I love to explore the intersection between things…or the relational aspects that happen in the overlap (Sophie Strand calls it the ecotone and I love that too) …. the liminal! And I’m more interested in the question or the why than knowing a definitive answer … which to me is like capturing a shadow on some level. Which doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying… we caught electricity after all. Did it make the world a better place? Who knows? It’s interesting I read your article after stumbling upon Sabine Hossenfelder. I was both intrigued and amused by her emphatic and pedantic style. Yet I love to have my mind challenged even if it’s by her certitude. Calling anything that can’t be described by the scientific method gobbledygook is interesting in itself as it belies her (and most of the western world’s) rigid adherence to a specific methodology and rules out a certain curiosity that humbler scientists express. She uses the word nonsense a lot. Makes no sense. Well just because one can’t make sense of a thing, does that mean there isn’t any sense? Because I can’t understand Mandarin does that make what they are saying gobbledygook? I’m always thinking that we can’t evolve new thinking if we only continue to use one dimension of expressing understanding (eg through mathematical equations for instance…that is one language after all). Physics is awesome. I love it and the incredible beauty of math that underpins it but is it any less awesome than any other avenue of deep understanding? Than listening to music that moves one to tears? Im also so curious why people are so driven to find an equation that unifies everything. Is it because we long to be god? Is that part of our blueprint? Perhaps. Going back to simplicity, maybe just trying to being a kind person and living as lightly on the planet is enough?
I enjoyed reading this. I related it to the Yin and Yang that's part of Nature and the universe. I totally lean toward simplicity and actively avoid complexity like the plague. Alas, not successfully. As much as I prefer to take a walk in the woods and breathe the scents of the earth than do abstract calculations in my brain, complexity keeps chasing me around like a hound after its prey. I beg for mercy. To no avail. I get butchered every time.