Taking Stock

Taking stock after six months and as the end of the year approaches...

Hello It’s Complex Readers,

I hope you had a good two weeks and that you were not overwhelmed by complexity.

A Reminder for Familar Readers and an Orientation for New Readers

Here at It’s Complex we think about and deal with the world’s many complexities—from global issues to individual experiences. The world sure is a complex place, and it is easy to get overwhelmed. We end up glossing over complexity and postpone thinking about it. But much is at stake for humanity and for individuals. Let’s stop postponing; let’s embrace complexity and deal with it. At It’s Complex, we think about and deal with complexity from a holistic systems perspective. A system is a wider whole made up multiple, connected, and dynamic parts. So, we think about and deal with any complex issue in terms of multidimensionality (M), connectedness (C), and dynamics (D). I like to abbreviate them as MCD. Think MCD, be MCD!

• Multidimensionality refers to how complex phenomena are made up of multiple parts.

• Connectedness refers to the varied ways in which complex phenomena are connected or linked. Systems theory emphasizes interrelatedness, which refers to mutual and reciprocal connections between and among parts and wholes.

• Dynamics refers to how system processes are ongoing and can be played out in stable ways, as well as in varied, changing, and sometimes unpredictable ways.

For further details (or as a refresher), check out some of the first newsletter posts.

Newsletter: Taking Stock

After six months of writing It’s Complex and as the end of the year approaches, it seems like a good time to take stock by considering what I see as the point or goal of this newsletter. It is also fitting to take stock today because It’s Complex is going on indefinite hiatus, making this the last issue for a while.

But first: Thank you very much for subscring to and reading It’s Complex. And special thanks to people who commented, readers who clicked the like button, people who tweeted about It’s Complex, readers who shared It’s Complex on Facebook, and people who contacted me personally. If anyone is interested in having access to more of my musings on varied topics, or if you have questions or topics that you want me to address for you in some way, I would be happy to hear from you. You can respond to this email. Topics that I am interested in (and in some cases have some texts about) include: culture; constructivism; dichotomies (I never met one I liked); role models; causality; freedom; processes; genes; the mind (does it exist?!); eating, food, and weight; and problems with mainstream psychology (e.g., fragmentation, focusing on the average at the expense of subjective personal experience).

My main goal for It’s Complex thus far has been to introduce systems concepts and to show how they can help us to think about the world’s varied complexities, including the complexities of human functioning. I hope that you are starting to embrace complexity. I hope that when you are confronted with a complex issue, you START systemically with multidimensionality (M), connectedness (C), and dynamics (D). Think MCD! I suppose some people who know me would say that I’m a bit OCD, but I strive to be totally MCD. I also hope that you see systems everywhere. START from a systems perspective!! Doing so means seeing wider wholes that are made up of MCD parts and thinking about how the parts are inseparable, as well as how the parts are meaningful within the wider whole.

I remember listening to a climate journalist (Jeff Goodell) talking about some of the potential consequences of melting Arctic ice, focusing on the ice shelf that is breaking apart beneath the Thwaite Glacier.  https://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/transcript-all-chris-hayes-12-30-21-n1286913 He talked about how changes around the world are inseparable from wider climate changes and he concluded by saying: “So, it’s making these larger links that is – that is what’s so hard to bend your mind around the climate crisis and why it’s so import to pay attention to this stuff.” It seems to me that it is particularly hard if you think about the world in terms of separate or isolated parts. In contrast, seeing links is not so hard if you START with systems theory and its premise that the world is made up of interrelated parts. Rather than wondering if there are links, you START by assuming that there are links and you work to identify them. So, I hope that you always START from a systems perspective when thinking about any of the world’s complexities.

In commentaries on the recent US mid-term elections, I repeatedly heard analysts and pundits using the words “complicated” and “complex.” These words came up a lot when they were explaining that many voters did not vote in terms of one issue and instead voted based on several issues they were concerned about. These words also came up when they were talking about the complexities of local politics that do not necessarily mirror national trends. Voters were voting multidimensionally, not unidimensionally. The issues are also connected. And dynamics were certainly involved. Remember several months ago when everyone was expecting a Red wave? Again, none of this is surprising if you START by assuming complexity and by thinking about varied issues and situations in terms of multiple, connected, and dynamic parts.

I hope that you are working to understand people as systems and in terms of simultaneously-occurring, interrelated, and dynamic individual, social, cultural, bodily, and environmental processes. I hope that you are thinking about how everything everyone does develops and that development happens through simultaneously-occurring interrelated, and dynamic individual, social, cultural, bodily, and environmental factors. Hopefully, you are also thinking complexly about identity, which is certainly MCD.

So, be well and be MCD. Whatever being well means to you, it is complex and involves MCD parts. And as you think systemically and complexly about being well, and also about other life and world complexities, hopefully that will contribute to your well-being!