Tell them I said something

Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something “. Francisco “Pancho” Villa (1878 – 1923)… apparently.

I’m sure the world has been unable to breathe while waiting for me to say something since… you know what. Here’s what I’ve got:

It’s complicated

It’s complicated, that’s it. There are some great commentaries on what might happen to specific things, like trade, geopolitical tensions or otherwise, inflation, interest rates, and who will go after who for doing or being what or whom. The good ones are educated guesses and useful if you’re someone like me who has to take a view. Anyone that tells you they know ‘THE’ reason for “what just happened” and what is now going to happen, well…

I have watched and read extremely self-satisfied gloating, doom-sayers, intellectuals, academics, armchair warriors, and Uncle TC and all his mates pontificating on their take of the why (past) and the what (future), and I’m more convinced than ever that the answer is extremely not, simple, and easily explained.

Here’s the problem, though, and in the intellectual circles in which I move, which are pretty small, this has been a recurring theme for the last few years – the whole complicated burrito of good and bad stuff is beyond our ability to cope with. Most people cannot hold two opposing views in their heads at once, let alone the situation we now have.

The inability to cope with and work with complexity is the root of all woes of the world that the great hoard of ‘consultants’ (and associated purveyors of surefire solutions) is ready to tell anyone who pays, whatever the person paying wants to hear, dressed up as a solution. These range from simplistic ‘one size fits all’ manualised deck-based instruction manuals to those who claim to be able to harness complexity and make it simple.

The inability to cope with complexity is the root of the world's worries. We have been conditioned into binarism… binaryism? I’m making up words huh. Anyway, binary, technological thinking, driven by the myths of individuality and freedom, into the arms of a fledgling world monarchy, fuelled by the very ancient (actually) human desire to gain status. How to gain status hasn’t changed for millennia – get wealthy and have a bunch of well-trained and equipped thugs on call.

Our inability to cope with complexity has conditioned us to look for and cling to certainty. Certainty is felt. Ah, but great risk-takers who drive business and prosperity for all, what about them… nope, they calculate things to a level most of us couldn’t begin to conceive and reduce risks – mainly by making them someone else’s risk. That’s how very few individuals end up with such wealth and elevated status – they convince others that they, too, can have the same if they do what they’re told and work harder. Eventually, every bully meets someone bigger, nastier, luckier, swifter, etc., than them in the moment, and they fall – it can take generations. Still, it’s been this way in human history for a long time.

Is there some way to deal with this for us little people – and by little people, I include a great many people who, in their own orbit, may not have the emotional or intellectual wherewithal to understand their Leprechaunishness (very pleased with that one!)?

Yes, there is; stop thinking in binary terms. Stop looking for ‘the’ answer. Develop a pragmatic, practical, flexible, firm, assured, wise, intellectual, emotionally connected, realistic, and optimistic way of being while being all the other things. I told you it was complicated, and I will have missed a few more instructions on ways of being, too.

Above all, think about getting used to complexity and being in constant flux, interacting with it, and experiencing that happening. Allow yourself to become and help others understand that there is nowhere to get to, which is the everlasting pinnacle of wealth and status. The only place we get to is dead. In the meantime, do everything possible to engage with the possibilities of the present, which is thrown out into our futures. Not all in a great rush, and not so you can engage in prolificity (insta-life, brown-nosing on Inked Lin, etc.).

Being as calm as possible, putting in place multiple possible ways forward, and then allowing them all to have their space and time ready to use if needed is complicated, but that’s the point. By all means, hold the view, the sure and certain view, that some people are Richard Craniums, and some ideas and situations are just plain stupid. We’re all human. I was told by someone I still don’t particularly like over a decade ago that if someone is really getting to you, pray for them – or at least make a point of wishing for them a good life and hope that they will become able to see things in the best way possible. I’ve done this. It helps. There’s still one or two, though…

Seek out not like-minded people but like-spirited people. Get used to liking being challenged - it helps to find people willing to engage, even if they bring some fairly fixed ideas. Spend time in intellectual discussion rather than binary grandstanding. Work on your own thinking and, by all means, engage in a committed manner and learn to enjoy having to go away and think some more – even if it is to sharpen your proposition. Avoid echo chambers – try deleting things you agree with on social media but are completely one-eyed – it’s an interesting experience.

There, I have said ‘something’; it all pertains to dealing with ‘you know what’, but I didn’t mention it…