{"id":24732,"date":"2019-11-04T17:00:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T01:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=24732"},"modified":"2019-11-04T17:00:03","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T01:00:03","slug":"sometimes-a-rosebush-is-just-a-rosebush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/sometimes-a-rosebush-is-just-a-rosebush\/","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes a Rosebush is Just a Rosebush"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thinking is a complex process.\u00a0 How we get from A to B says a lot about the ways our minds work.\u00a0 As was mentioned in Stuart Sim and Borin Van Loon\u2019s book, Introducing Critical Theory<\/em>, \u201cHow we arrive at value judgments, and, indeed, whether we can<\/em><\/strong> arrive at value judgments, are now at least as important considerations as what<\/em><\/strong> the actual value judgments themselves are.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 But the process of coming to conclusions on values can be daunting; it is a complex process of the consolidation of reason, experience, emotions, social factors, etc.\u00a0 So how do we cut to the marrow of the complexities and learn to think?<\/p>\n

This is where the concept of mental maps comes in use.\u00a0 Shane Parrish, in his book The Great Mental Models<\/em>, delves into the idea of a map as a metaphor for mental models.\u00a0 Maps can provide a frame of reference, but one must realize that maps are a reduction of the complexities of geography, national and international boundary lines, locations, and even the distribution of people.\u00a0 In the same way, mental models must be taken into the same consideration.\u00a0 Parrish writes, \u201cStill, in using maps, abstractions, and models, we must always be wise to their limitations.\u00a0 They are by definition, reductions of something far more complex.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

At the same time, there is a need to cut through complexity to understand the core of a problem.\u00a0 As humans, we are fantastic at complicating the simplest of ideas.\u00a0 I remember in high school when we were discussing The Scarlet Letter<\/em>, there was a moment when we were discussing the significance of a rosebush.\u00a0 At this point, I can\u2019t remember the details of that discussion, but what stood out among all the complex discourse on that bush was this statement: \u201cSometimes a rosebush is just a rosebush.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 Since then, that has become a personal mantra that I use when ideas get too complicated.<\/p>\n

What is the crux of an issue?\u00a0 How do you explain a concept in a way that is accessible to people who have little to no background knowledge on a subject?\u00a0 In my undergrad program, one of my professors told us that if you can boil a theological concept down to the point where you can explain it to a child, it means you have mastered that concept.\u00a0 Again, it\u2019s a reduction, but when people understand the basic notion of the idea, then it can be unpacked in more detail later.<\/p>\n

Last week, I talked about Drizzt Do\u2019Urden from R.A. Salvatore\u2019s The Legend of Drizzt<\/em> series.\u00a0 Since then, I\u2019ve finished what\u2019s been written of the series so far, and have some new insights onto the issue of his worldview.\u00a0 To summarize the previous outline, Drizzt\u2019s worldview and belief in the goddess he follows was challenged when his own morals did not align with a decree from the goddess.\u00a0 After being tasked to kill the Demogorgon, Drizzt accomplishes this and returns to his home where his view of reality is challenged.<\/p>\n

However, Drizzt\u2019s grip on reality is shaken as he succumbs to an Abyssal Illness due to the weakened barrier between the Abyssal Plane and the Material Plane.\u00a0 This is also a result of Demogorgon\u2019s corrupting influence.\u00a0 This sickness causes Drizzt to think that everything he had been through for essentially the entire book series was a lie.\u00a0 He recalls how a demon captured one of his friends and tortured him for decades.\u00a0 Drizzt believes that his reality has become this: That the rebirth of his dead friends never happened, that it\u2019s all a figment of a demon\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n

We may not fall prey to thinking that our reality is the concoction of a demon, but how many times do we overcomplicate various situations in our life?<\/p>\n

I know that I have a tendency to get stuck in my head and overanalyze conflicts at times.\u00a0 There have been countless times when I have agonized over the wording of a text message trying to decipher some hidden meaning.\u00a0 There have been countless times when I have overanalyzed the way people act around me trying to find some hidden motive behind their actions.\u00a0 The mind is notorious for concocting narratives and seeking validation of those narratives.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We gravitate toward complexity because we can\u2019t handle the simple truths around us.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 I think there\u2019s a part of us that seeks complexity as a padding or a coping mechanism to the conflicts that surround us.\u00a0 We get caught up in the moment and it\u2019s only much later when we look back, we realize just how ridiculous our actions were and now we\u2019re stuck with the consequences of those actions.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a beauty in simplicity.\u00a0 Twists and turns in the narrative are great, but the stories that stick with us are the ones that carry an element of simplicity.\u00a0 Lord of the Rings<\/em>, for example, is amazingly complex when one digs deep into the lore of Middle Earth, but as a plot it\u2019s very<\/em> straightforward: A Hobbit seeks to destroy the One Ring with a group of companions.\u00a0 Simple?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Powerful?\u00a0 Most definitely.<\/p>\n

Simplicity sticks with us.\u00a0 Simplicity speaks to us.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What I find amazing is when complex concepts I read in textbooks or more academic sources pop up in simplified forms in fiction.\u00a0 The complex concepts may be in the back of my mind, but it takes on a new meaning and becomes graspable when it\u2019s found in its simplified form.\u00a0 I like diving into complex ideas as much as the next person; these are normally some of the most life giving conversations I have.\u00a0 However, at the very end, I notice that these conversations are boiled down to a very simple statement.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s in those moments that I recognize the seemingly complex nature of the rosebush\u2026and that it was simply a rosebush.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Stuart Sim and Borin van Loon, Introducing Critical Theory,<\/em> (London: Icon Books, 2012), loc 103.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Shane Parrish, The Great Mental Models<\/em>, (Ottawa: Latticework Publishing Inc., 2019), loc 529<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thinking is a complex process.\u00a0 How we get from A to B says a lot about the ways our minds work.\u00a0 As was mentioned in Stuart Sim and Borin Van Loon\u2019s book, Introducing Critical Theory, \u201cHow we arrive at value judgments, and, indeed, whether we can arrive at value judgments, are now at least as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1690,1695,1697,1692,1696],"class_list":["post-24732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-complexity","tag-hawthorne","tag-occams-razor","tag-parrish","tag-simplicity","cohort-lgp10"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24732"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24733,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24732\/revisions\/24733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}