The Beauty of Simplicity
As I was pondering today, I marveled at the wonder of God's creation. As I wrote my thoughts down I came to an understanding. When I look at creation I see two elements which testify of God. I see the complexity of life on one hand, and the simplicity of living on the other. Let me explain.
In Alma we read "all things denote their is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." (Alma 30:44) Or in Psalms 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." All around us we see signs of his divine Hand. There is beauty in the majesty of the planetary rotation, the complexity of space and physics, or in life. As a physician I had to study a lot of chemistry, anatomy, and physiology among other things. Life is complex. We can take it down to the microscopic level and see how the body functions chemically or further with theoretical physics. Each cell operating and functioning with adjacent cells in systems upon systems of interconnections. It is a beautiful and wondrous thing. Yet it is also simple. Each component part can be learned with layer upon layer of understanding. But the practicality of it all is simple. It simply works by design in most cases. This pump functions for this reason, these diffuse to there, and so on. All happening without our knowledge. We just function within this world of divine law or the laws of nature.
The more I learn as a physician and as a disciple of Jesus Christ, is the beauty of simplicity. The human body, life, earth, everything is complex don't get me wrong. There are many working parts that are all interdependent. It will take eons to learn it all. We are discovering new things all the time. We learn simpler concepts first and then layer it. We layer knowledge upon knowledge, growing and grasping for new truth. But that doesn't mean it is overly complex that only a few can understand it. Though we do often make it that way with unnecessary jargon and overthinking certain things. I am a huge proponent of simplifying language as much as we can. Not to take away the beauty of language but for everyone to understand.
President John Taylor taught, "It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself, and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it." We all have the capacity to understand truth, all truth as soon as we are ready to receive it. Some things do have prerequisites. It is hard to understand calculus without arithmetic. The Gospel of Jesus Christ operates the same way. We learn line upon line, principle upon principle, light upon light, growing brighter until the perfect day when we will know Christ because we will be like him. It is a step by step process like climbing a ladder.
Alma taught his son Helaman, "For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land...O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever."
Though the sciences are complex and can be hard to understand, I find the application and practicality of it all to be of a simplistic nature. Moreover, I wholeheartedly believe if it wasn't for money, power, and popularity, 3 of the 4 things Nephi warns us about (1 Ne 22:23), the sciences wouldn't be hard to understand. So often we are more worried about our ego and our wallet rather than helping others especially amongst the learned community. As Hugh Nibley observed speaking of the faculty at a university, "the faculty there had but one objective in life—to achieve eminence—and all labored under the pathetic illusion that mere association with a prestigious institution was the nearest thing to human satisfaction that this life could offer." There are many other derivatives one could extrapolate from that too. We overcomplicate things for power and money.
So simplicity. It is amazing to me as a physician how simple things really are. Almost all good health can be tracked back to what our ancestors did for thousands of years, move often and eat a variety of food in their season. Or as Michael Pollan says, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Yet we want to complicate the matter by saying we are smarter than nature and we foul it all up leading to more and more chronic disease. God knew what he was doing when he taught Adam and Eve how to cultivate the Earth. It is only when man starts intervening and thinking he can do things by the strength of his own arm that everything falls apart. Some of the worst things we see today are done in the name of serving others. We poison and make others subservient for money all in the name of feeding the world.
This can be seen in other areas too. Economics is one area we overcomplicate. It is meant to be a simple system of trade. But we confuse the heck out of it with taxes and greed. Other areas we regulate so heavily that causes one to be immobilized in fear of not fitting to the norm. I think specifically of writing as I am typing this post. I have written a great deal of papers in my time. I do believe we need to learn to write well but so often we split hairs of minor details that meaning of writing gets lost.
I have been watching a lot of farming and homesteading videos lately and it is amazing how we foul that up. There is beauty in simplicity. There is beauty in working with nature not against it. To subdue and have dominion over the earth does not mean to control and alter the Earth in your own image. But to cultivate, care for it, and learn at the feet of the Creator. He has so much to show us if we will let him. All things testify of Him, from the complexity of life to the simplicity of living within nature. If we but remove the shackles that bind us down and take off our blinders we can see the simplicity of nature and give up the false ambition of seeking for money, power, and gratifying our desires.
In Alma we read "all things denote their is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." (Alma 30:44) Or in Psalms 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." All around us we see signs of his divine Hand. There is beauty in the majesty of the planetary rotation, the complexity of space and physics, or in life. As a physician I had to study a lot of chemistry, anatomy, and physiology among other things. Life is complex. We can take it down to the microscopic level and see how the body functions chemically or further with theoretical physics. Each cell operating and functioning with adjacent cells in systems upon systems of interconnections. It is a beautiful and wondrous thing. Yet it is also simple. Each component part can be learned with layer upon layer of understanding. But the practicality of it all is simple. It simply works by design in most cases. This pump functions for this reason, these diffuse to there, and so on. All happening without our knowledge. We just function within this world of divine law or the laws of nature.
The more I learn as a physician and as a disciple of Jesus Christ, is the beauty of simplicity. The human body, life, earth, everything is complex don't get me wrong. There are many working parts that are all interdependent. It will take eons to learn it all. We are discovering new things all the time. We learn simpler concepts first and then layer it. We layer knowledge upon knowledge, growing and grasping for new truth. But that doesn't mean it is overly complex that only a few can understand it. Though we do often make it that way with unnecessary jargon and overthinking certain things. I am a huge proponent of simplifying language as much as we can. Not to take away the beauty of language but for everyone to understand.
President John Taylor taught, "It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself, and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it." We all have the capacity to understand truth, all truth as soon as we are ready to receive it. Some things do have prerequisites. It is hard to understand calculus without arithmetic. The Gospel of Jesus Christ operates the same way. We learn line upon line, principle upon principle, light upon light, growing brighter until the perfect day when we will know Christ because we will be like him. It is a step by step process like climbing a ladder.
Alma taught his son Helaman, "For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land...O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever."
Though the sciences are complex and can be hard to understand, I find the application and practicality of it all to be of a simplistic nature. Moreover, I wholeheartedly believe if it wasn't for money, power, and popularity, 3 of the 4 things Nephi warns us about (1 Ne 22:23), the sciences wouldn't be hard to understand. So often we are more worried about our ego and our wallet rather than helping others especially amongst the learned community. As Hugh Nibley observed speaking of the faculty at a university, "the faculty there had but one objective in life—to achieve eminence—and all labored under the pathetic illusion that mere association with a prestigious institution was the nearest thing to human satisfaction that this life could offer." There are many other derivatives one could extrapolate from that too. We overcomplicate things for power and money.
So simplicity. It is amazing to me as a physician how simple things really are. Almost all good health can be tracked back to what our ancestors did for thousands of years, move often and eat a variety of food in their season. Or as Michael Pollan says, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Yet we want to complicate the matter by saying we are smarter than nature and we foul it all up leading to more and more chronic disease. God knew what he was doing when he taught Adam and Eve how to cultivate the Earth. It is only when man starts intervening and thinking he can do things by the strength of his own arm that everything falls apart. Some of the worst things we see today are done in the name of serving others. We poison and make others subservient for money all in the name of feeding the world.
This can be seen in other areas too. Economics is one area we overcomplicate. It is meant to be a simple system of trade. But we confuse the heck out of it with taxes and greed. Other areas we regulate so heavily that causes one to be immobilized in fear of not fitting to the norm. I think specifically of writing as I am typing this post. I have written a great deal of papers in my time. I do believe we need to learn to write well but so often we split hairs of minor details that meaning of writing gets lost.
I have been watching a lot of farming and homesteading videos lately and it is amazing how we foul that up. There is beauty in simplicity. There is beauty in working with nature not against it. To subdue and have dominion over the earth does not mean to control and alter the Earth in your own image. But to cultivate, care for it, and learn at the feet of the Creator. He has so much to show us if we will let him. All things testify of Him, from the complexity of life to the simplicity of living within nature. If we but remove the shackles that bind us down and take off our blinders we can see the simplicity of nature and give up the false ambition of seeking for money, power, and gratifying our desires.
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