problem solving

I enjoy problem solving through and through. It's my life's passion. Sometimes I'm a little misguided in it, but I get better over time.

There's a particular principle I feel "cuts to the chase" in problem solving, dubbed "Occam's Razor", named after it's creator in the thirteenth century. Its notion is as such: "Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected."

Essentially, in scientific problem solving approach, simpler theories are more preferable to pursue, as the complex alternatives that require many unknowns to be solved or proven are less testable theories. If you can't test a theory, or not easily, you can't prove it. We want to prove our theories in problem solving to determine if they work or not.

This is extremely relevant to home mechanic work (in any sense). I recently dropped my most recently purchased tape measure (a nice one I might add) off a third story deck. When it hit the ground, the case split, but thankfully the tape stayed wound. I used it split for a while, then wanted to fix it when I was done with my project. There can be many competing tracks of thought here, but here are three examples:

1. Assume I'll break it more if I try to fix it. Do nothing. (Note that this is based off the assumption that I can't fix it, which is predicting a negative future on all other possible tracks, which is a cognitive distortion).

2. Assume that it could be realigned if I remove the center screw (the only screw) and loosen the housing or open it completely (This is the most testable, as it actually involves action).

3. Assume that the tape coil itself is bound in such a way that the case won't go back together, and it might take hours that I don't have to fix this $6 tape measure. I also don't want to make the tool useless, as while it's broken it's currently functional.

Note that following 1 and 3 are both untestable. I either won't test the theory that I'll break it out of fear of breaking it, or I won't attempt the repair because of the assumed time investment and chance of breaking it.

Ultimately, number two is the track I took and the fix required backing the screw out about a 1/2 turn, the case popped into place and I tightened the screw again. I'm not sure anything has ever been so easy to repair.

So, I suppose this "proof" of Occam's Razor only really applies to situations in which motivation and confidence play a role, but you get the idea. Next time I might blog about something more interesting.

self-awareness

I was at a Buddhist monastery recently, and a young woman visiting had this written on her hand. I thought I would borrow it.

intro

It is so easy a thing to be good and do good. It is easier still to be bad and do bad. It is easy to judge ourselves and actions as either. It is easier still to judge others and actions of others as either.

Pursuing a balanced path, one not of judgement, selfishness or ego, but a path of equanimity, is a great challenge. All the mindfulness I can encourage in myself has taken me a single step onto this road.

In the past, I've had many strong motivations. Each of them has played out leaving me accomplished but with an emptiness that cannot be described but that one undoubtably understands, although perhaps not on the surface. Never has one of them touched on my core beliefs in such a way as to temper and play off my value system such as my pursuit of mindfulness has.

I could speak of mindfulness until I could no longer, and one still may not "get it". Maybe one needs to be pushed there, by a great hardship, or a need for help and guidance that could only come from oneself. To meditate means to study oneself. To learn one's own true core values, and to learn one's own actions and reactions, emotions and desires. 

The greatest gift it gives is a stable footing in life, to learn a certain lateral state beside pride and shame, to treat others with equanimity and fairness in all situations, to recognize and embrace equality.

Having felt like a cartoon character on banana peels in recent times, this stable footing is a boon to my psyche. 

I can now see the doorway through which those who are religious find a certain peace in the nature of causation. However, this doorway in myself is of an empirical and secular humanist nature, devoid of superstition and lies to myself. It sits peacefully, like an archway of cold stone and moss, hundreds of years old, built for a humble purpose.

I have not reached it yet. But I'm taking one step at a time.