Wednesday, September 14, 2005

complexity and simplicity

I'm thinking about the paradox of nature’s being complexity and simplicity at once. My wife will deliver a new baby in a matter of hours not days. On the one hand a baby growing inside his/her mommy is very simple. It just happens. On the other hand, how vastly complex. We have a cool baby book that tells us day by day what organs and systems have developed, what maturation has occurred, what to expect, etc. It's absolutely incredible the intelligent design of growth—not just of a human but of any animal or plant for that matter. On the other hand, things work the way they work because they should work they way they work—fingernails, hair, etc.—no one plans it out, it just simply follows the path of least resistance. Maybe that's why some people have determined that it's all about adaptation and evolution, that over time every type of creature is transformed into something most suitable for its environment.

If I take animals out of the equation and just consider the plants, it seems much simpler. They grow toward the sunlight, they perk up when they are watered, they wither in the heat. They grow around whatever is in their way. But look at babies. They turn to their mother's voice, they perk up when they are fed, they wither if they are not held enough. They just want what they want, with no real concern for what they should want or ought to do.

Somehow I think the life of a child is better, that simple is better. Jesus said I have to become like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven.[1] He also said that if my eye, which is the lamp of my body, is simple then my whole body will be full of light.[2] I was also told that simplicity is the best way to give gifts.[3] And I have been warned not to be conned out of the simplicity of Christ.[4] Most of all, the offer of Christ is a simple heart, one not divided or broken, a heart free of confusion and anxiety.[5] I heard one time that genius is the ability to make the complex simple. I wonder what word to use for the restless urge to make the simple complex.

And now I am at the same paradox but not of nature’s, but of nature’s God. I understand God to be the highest thinker, the most complex being. And yet, He says that His kingdom is about simplicity. Maybe that’s His genius. Maybe the smartest thing for me to do is to spend the rest of my days finding the simple way.

[1] Mark 10:15
[2] Matthew 6:22
[3] Romans 12:8, 2 Corinthians 8:1-2
[4] 2 Corinthians 11:3
[5] Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22, Isaiah 61:1, Philippians 4:6

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