Tangled Light, 2015
Our final results appear almost self-evident, but the years of searching in the dark for a truth that one feels but cannot express; the intense desire, and the alternations of confidence and misgiving, until one breaks through to clarity and understanding, are only known to him who has himself experienced it.
–Albert Einstein, University of Glasgow Lecture, 1933
To paraphrase: The answers we seek are almost certainly before us. We just don’t recognize them as such, grasping as we do at threads that only serve to overcomplicate the situation. It twists our thinking to the point that the simplest and most logical answer seems nonsensical.
We become like the conspiracy theorists who see intricate plots with complicated and illogical twists and turns in places where the easiest and most evident answer contradicts their every assertion. We wander in the vast mazes we create only to discover that a simple straight line, in the end, leads to the answer.
It’s only when we finally come to that answer that we see that simplest way was the right and only way to get to the answer.
But everyone who travels that straight line afterward can plainly see that it was the right way. But they will never know the confusion, consternation, and doubt of those who were lost in the maze before finally stumbling across that direct path.
Okay, I’m done. That’s too much whatever-this-is before 6 AM on a Sunday morning. Here’s a song from the Postmodern Jukebox for this week’s Sunday Morning Music. Featuring the vocals of Rogelio Douglas, Jr., this is their version of the U2 classic I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.
FYI: The painting at the top is a companion piece to the one shown yesterday. It also lives with me in my studio now. I am looking at it as I write this, and it reminds me that I still have a maze to contend with. If you know how to get out of here, let me know. I just can’t see it yet…
Redtree Times 