Today’s blog
Ockham’s razor
Occasionally, things will pop into my mind that come from seemingly nowhere. A snippet of words from a song comes uninvited and leaves me trying to remember the rest of them. A random memory surges up and I have to visit with it for a while. I’m talking with a friend and I remember an obscure detail from a previous conversation with them. But, try as I might, I cannot recall most of my childhood. That has been an enigma for me most of my life and at times I’m sad that I don’t remember the richness of experiences from that time.
At other times, a concept burbles up, and I have no idea where I first heard of it or in what context it occurred. Yesterday in the meditation I read every day was a mention of Ockham’s Razor. Without knowing where I first heard it I remembered the principle: “The simplest explanation is usually the best one.” The razor image refers to cutting down to the fewest assumptions possible in order to find the best theoretical model.
I am drawn to this principle because I strongly depend on keeping things as straightforward as possible. That’s the only way that I can see clearly what is mine to do in this lifetime. I have a hard time with complex multi-step action plans because I get lost in all the details. That’s how I get derailed and distracted from my ultimate goal. I am likely to lose patience and step away all together from the task at hand.
In my 12 Step world, “Keep it simple” is a powerful phrase. In my mind this means living plainly. If I can see the way to make my day manageable I am always better off and certainly more productive. If I don’t work toward this I am likely to become frustrated and out of sorts. That is when I start thinking about my drug of choice – never a good thing for me. I depend on my meetings because that is where I hear the benefits of living a straightforward life. The sharing of experiences around the tables is invaluable.
When presented with a problem I often listen to the intuitive answer that presents itself. I can feel my brain breaking the problem down into manageable pieces, then deciding which of those pieces needs attention first. Somehow that leads me to find the solution that is the most elegant, or the most likely to result in positive action.
I keep thinking about the office move that is happening now and I can’t imagine anything about it being simple. My plan is to go to the new location on Monday and see for myself where my people ended up. Whether or not I have an office or a cubby is not yet clear, but that will be the first order of business: find my spot. Then, find my files. Hopefully they will be in the same general vicinity. Hopefully the tech people will have computers and phones set up. If so, I’m in business. All I need are my files, a working phone and a hooked up computer.
Today I will go downtown to the court building for a citizenship oath ceremony. My client is from Iraq and he has been waiting well over a year for this occasion. We got his wife her citizenship last year, but for some reason his case was delayed. It worked out well because he needed the extra time to work with his English teacher and study the civics questions. He is a busy man with several children and a full time job as the only provider for his household so the extra time was a blessing of sorts. At the interview he was very nervous. He was most worried that he would be asked questions about his military service in Iraq. He said to me, “All I did was drive a truck. No violence. No shooting.” I assured him that if he was asked if he had served in a military organization, the best answer was a simple, “Yes”. Ockham’s razor in action.