IN QUEST OF THE METAPHOR ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE

The complexity of things – the things within things – just seems to be endless. I mean nothing is easy, nothing is simple. ~ Alice Munro, Canadian Writer

Hmmm, in a typical backyard, there can be as many as 1,000 different insects at any given time. If there is that degree of complexity right outside our door, how can we possibly make sense of the world in which we live?

This conundrum works its way into my consciousness from time to time against my will. In general, I like to keep things as simple as possible. Unknowns, unsolvable puzzles and loose threads dangling without reason can make me profoundly uncomfortable.

Yes, I know that the need to make sense of things is universal. But some of us have a more urgent pull in that direction. We feel cognitive dissonance more acutely than others.

The evolution of knowledge is toward simplicity, not complexity.  ~ L. Ron Hubbard, American Science Fiction Writer, Founder of Scientology

I'd very much like to believe that Hubbard is right. I have an analytical mind which revolts against ambiguity. I habitually attempt to break complex situations down into their component parts and extract simplicity from them. Order from chaos. Clarity from confusion.

Sometimes I'm successful at this process. At those moments, it feels like I have my life under control. But every now and then something comes along that defies categorization. I can't find logic in it anywhere and that leaves me adrift.

It may well be that my love of nature arises at least in part from my yearning for order. There is infinite complexity in nature. But within that complexity there is harmony. All things are connected and interrelated. Each species makes sense as part of the continuum.

Three reasons problems are inevitable; first, we live in a world of growing complexity and diversity; second, we interact with people; and third, we cannot control all the situations we face.  ~ John C. Maxwell, American Entrepreneur and Author

Human relationships are one of those situations that often defy reason. The reality is each of us is perfectly unique – an unpredictable collection of desires, likes and dislikes and idiosyncrasies. Some of us, of course, are more idiosyncratic than others. And yes, I am one of that breed.

I'm quite certain that my need to write is born out of the compulsion to wring reason out of the dizzying complexity of the world and that intangible, indefinable, delightful thing called love. I am forever searching for the metaphor that will leap across the great divide and make sense of it all.

The perfect metaphor. Perhaps it is a fool's quest. But oh, what bliss if I should discover it!

Literature is the human activity that takes the fullest and most precise account of variousness, possibility, complexity, and difficulty. ~ Lionel Trlling, American Critic, Author and Teacher

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of "Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel" – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael's website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog. Visit www.smashwords.com to download a free preview of the e-book version.

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