Truth is usually simple.
Confusion begins
when people start adding to it,
taking from it
or twisting it.
THOSE THAT MAKE IT COMPLICATED
Simply put, people who make things more complicated than they are often become the problem themselves.
By complicating an issue, they instantly create attention, dependency and confusion within a world of their own making.
What is interesting is that the origin of most things begins simple.
We naturally understand them as introduced.
It is when we start adding to them or taking away from them that things stop making sense and become…
NON-sense.
ASK AND ANSWER?
This reminds me of taking an oath in court.
Originally, it was simple:
“Do you promise to tell the truth?”
Simple question.
Simple answer.
No raised hand.
No Bible.
No theatrical performance.
But then the less honorable began playing games with the simplicity.
NO LONGER SIMPLE
Deviousness entered in and corrupted it.
So the system countered back by fine-tuning, redefining and legally pinning everything down to prevent manipulation.
Now accountability comes with criminal penalties attached.
Why?
Because innocence was lost and complexity took its place.
MONEY DRIVEN
Take the IRS for example.
Most forms are completely one-sided and written to favor the agency.
Why would someone deliberately design things that way?
Apparently because people learned to game the system…
and complexity became the countermeasure.
LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO
The law is no different.
Read a criminal code, civil procedure, traffic statute or business regulation and prepare to reread it several times while still wondering what half of it means.
When was the law broken?
To what degree?
Was intent involved?
Did the person know?
No wonder attorneys exist.
MED-TALK
The medical field can sound equally mysterious.
Some illnesses cannot even be pronounced.
Then the medications designed to help somehow sound even more complicated.
Use two medical terms in one sentence and many patients mentally check out immediately.
People used to just “take two and call in the morning.”
Not anymore.
REAL ESTATE SPEAK
Even real estate gets complicated.
Before becoming an agent, I remember reading the material and wondering:
Who exactly are we trying to help understand this?
Property and land somehow became buried beneath terminology, definitions and explanations that discouraged people before they even started.
TO SIN OR NOT TO SIN?
Even religion has complicated things.
Some belief systems become so interpretive and ritualistic that people no longer know whether they are sinning or not according to whoever is explaining it.
And because interpretation is subjective, enough agreement suddenly becomes “truth.”
Meanwhile the core message remains incredibly simple:
Love God.
Love people.
Not complicated.
DRIVER’S LICENSE
There was a time when if you had enough money to buy a car…
you simply drove it.
Now look at the written driving tests.
The multiple-choice answers all sound correct.
I remember reading them thinking:
“I didn’t know that.”
“Should I know that?”
“Who actually does this?”
Written reality and actual reality often differ greatly.
YOU’RE KIDDING?
When we were children, life felt much simpler.
Wake up.
Watch cartoons.
Go outside.
Play.
Laugh.
None of it required overthinking.
But then adulthood arrived with structures, rules, systems and expectations layered upon everything.
Even learning cursive in school once felt overwhelming.
Growing up slowly introduced complexity into what once felt natural.
COVERAGE?
Read an insurance policy or warranty if you really want a crash course in confusion.
The fine print alone can melt your brain.
What is covered seems simple.
But what is not covered suddenly involves riders, exclusions, exceptions, clauses and “acts” of various mysterious origins.
And after asking a question…
the answer often sounds even more confusing.
AGREE OR DISAGREE?
Every app, website or membership eventually asks:
“Do you agree?”
Most of us never read the fine print.
We simply hit AGREE and continue moving forward.
One day I clicked “I DO NOT AGREE.”
The system immediately kicked me out and left me standing at the curb.
So I agreed…
though I still had no idea to what.
WINGING IT?
Instructions today can feel equally exhausting.
Assembly manuals.
Recipes.
Warning labels.
Product directions.
There is often so much information that user-friendliness disappears completely.
Most people simply wing it and hope for the best.
And if all else fails?
“Call 1-800 for assistance.”
COMMON SENSE
Perhaps that is why we all begin life childlike.
Maybe we were meant to naturally mature into a society guided more by intuition, common sense and simplicity rather than endless instruction and complication.
But ahhhhhh…
that is another posting.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
Been expecting you