In Praise of Complexity
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Falls, Rock and Stream: An Almost Study
Minneapolis, Minnesota
We have an innate desire to simplify. Indeed, it is a neurological necessity. There are too many things going on at any moment to make sense of the world, and so we look for trends, for patterns, for a few sign posts that point the way.
We find them on bumper stickers. We hear them as campaign slogans. The world is actually simple if we’d just do “this.” I remember laughing at an Onion story about a man at a bar somewhere in Northern Wisconsin who after five or six beers just knew how the federal government could cut its budget, if somebody would just listen to him. All that waste spending! If he were in charge things would be different. But nobody heeded his genius, his wisdom, his thinking. Heck, nobody even paid for his beer(s).
As the North Korean soccer team headed home, I wondered what kind of a reception they would receive from the Dear Leader. Clearly something had gone wrong. They lost to Brazil by only one goal in the opening round, astonishing the entire world.
But then they played Portugal. The end score was seven to one . . . they had the one. Then I read what happened. The Dear Leader was watching the match, and he had a word for his players. They needed to go on the attack! It was beneath the North Koreans to play a defense game. Attack! he said through a sophisticated communication system to the North Korean coach. Attack! The Dear Leader knew nothing about the game of soccer, but he knew this . . . if you want to score you have to attack, you have to move away from a dishonorable game. Attack!
And so the team fell apart. One who knew nothing about soccer gave bumper sticker advice. It is true that one must score to win. But beyond that soccer is beautifully, mysteriously, maddeningly complex. So is life. There actually are unintended consequences to everything we do, or fail to do. We recognize this in worship when we confess sins of both omission and commission.
Restoring an economy from the brink of oblivion is complex. It is so complex that many get hurt along the way, that everyone has a price to pay. Capping an oil well a mile down is complex. I watch the jaws of a robotic submersible move the cap, and am astounded as they open and close with almost tender precision. Who knew such machines even existed?
But we score points when we have a simple solution that cuts through the Gordian knot of complexity.
Perhaps a way out of the dilemma is to embrace simplicity that is far more complex than it seems.
Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself, we are taught.
Hmmm . . . just what does loving God mean? Could we have false gods? Might success have become more important that service? Just what is this force called “love?” And “Who is my neighbor?” Does that include everyone? Do we really forgive seven times 70 times to set the stage for loving one’s neighbor?
Attack, said the Dear Leader. Seemed like a good idea, surely a propaganda poster, perhaps even a bumper sticker.
To which the beautiful game said, “No. There is more to life than that.”
So the water, the stone, and the stream say to us once again.
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