Think about almost anything…
The first thought is simple. Then, if you keep thinking and studying, layers of complexity with expanding horizons, exponential new factors, and conflicting facts appear. Yet, after more thought and study, the holistic conclusion is simple. A few words very loaded with meaning suffice.
Think about yourself, family, work, relationships, life and death, religion, politics, history – any field of knowledge or aspect of human experience. Simplicity followed by complexity resolved by value-laden simplicity.
If you’re still reading, this isn’t an exercise in gibberish.
Let me explain. When I was a young man I wrote a number of columns titled “Introspection” – at West Point oddly enough. Not an institution noted for philosophical meandering. I was trying to figure out the Vietnam War and my role as a citizen, soldier, and Christian. Not in that order. I went through the Simple-Complex-Simple thought process.
One of the only seven electives I was allowed in 4 years was “Political Philosophy”. It was the only course where I earned the rank-ordered number one for that term. I saw the distinct differences between Aristotle, Plato, Augustine, Hobbes, Montesquieu, Hume, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, Kant, Marx, Mill, Camus, and whoever else I’m omitting from a course 56 years ago.
The complexity of the differences fit as expanding patterns of thought. Thought A was followed and altered by thought B, etc. The patterns could be labeled clearly in a few words.
Simple-Complex-Simple
Likewise, when I thought – and read – as widely and well as I could about God, life and death, war and peace, nation, family, and self, it all got really complicated really fast.
Yet, slowly, the disparate pieces of facts, theory, and opposing opinions settled and fit together like a complex picture puzzle. Voila! Completed as a single picture.
I believe this “Simple-Complex-Simple” paradigm applies to others as well.
Since 1775 when Americans are asked to send their beloved sons to war – truly risking life and limb – the reason is boiled down to simple words.
America’s simple war “ask” included: Liberty, We have no King but Jesus, Remember the Alamo, States Rights, Preserve the Union, Remember the Maine, Make the World Safe for Democracy, Remember Pearl Harbor, Defend the Free World, 9-11…
The simple slogans cover the myriad of individual decisions soldier’s make to fight.
Ultimately, the complex individual reasons fit into a simpler panoply painted with a broad brush.
Here is a graphic example of one paradigm for U.S. History. Very few words saying a lot.
One picture of the U.S. just before 9-11:
Often, I write “Culture Commands.” There’s a lot of complexity embedded in just two words.
Culture Commands us in the U.S.. The ideas matter.
There are ideas with long genealogies in conflict. There are regional identities linked to distinct ideas. There are some ethnic identities in play. There are politicians playing on controversy for their personal gain – as always. There are front-burner, temporal issues with limited competing options. Plenty of complexity.
Yet, our personal understanding is fitted by our worldview. So, Culture Commands.
The complex devolves to the abiding truth of one’s time. The good and the necessary according to its time – bonum et necessarium in suo tempore – rules.
Consequently, it’s this paradigm for our American Civilization and the whole of Western Civilization which leads me to write, “Islam Out.”
Read James Atticus Bowden at https://jatticus.wordpress.com/ and https://substack.com/@jamesatticusbowden and https://x.com/jatticusbowden
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