2006-11-28
System
Imagine your car has got a technical problem. Not just cosmetic damage like my car had after it had been hit by some idiot who could not park his own and didn’t leave a note. (I’m still angry about it! I could have bought a nice telly for that money.)
No, I mean some problem with the engine. Let’s say it gets heated from time to time. It is a very rare model and there is no obvious solution. What could you do with it? You could
A. spend a lot of time tuning the engine to reduce the heat production,
B. add a bigger fan to improve the cooling circuit,
C. stop speeding,
D. not use the car on hot summer days.
From the system point of view these are all good solutions. People will advise you to do one or the other, but no one would argue that you’re doing it wrong if you prefer another solution. From the car designer’s point of view there could be one best solution, since the car has been designed for a certain use and one could point out the abuse or malfunction.
Of course the example above is a metaphor. As usual it’s a bad one; I’m good in bad metaphors. What if you don’t have a problem with the engine of your car, but with your head? Sometimes under certain conditions you get overheated. What could you do? You could
A. spend time with a psychotherapist,
B. take some medication to soften your temper,
C. take a break when necessary,
D. move to an environment that suits you better,
E. go running for an hour every day.
In this case most people have very strong opinions. They say it’s really bad to go running, or take medication, or move to another environment. "You should face the real problem, the source of your anger."
The mind into a body is much more complex than the engine of a car. It’s hard to say what the real problem is. Maybe the 'cooling circuit' in your head is not functioning properly. Maybe you’ve got very much physical energy that needs to be burned; otherwise it will heat up your nerves. Maybe you’re always extremely eager. But does it matter that much what the ‘real’ problem is. The mind-body system is not functioning properly and since we don’t know much about our design, we don’t know whether it's abuse or some malfunctioning. Anything that makes it function better would be good. Or not?
No, I mean some problem with the engine. Let’s say it gets heated from time to time. It is a very rare model and there is no obvious solution. What could you do with it? You could
A. spend a lot of time tuning the engine to reduce the heat production,
B. add a bigger fan to improve the cooling circuit,
C. stop speeding,
D. not use the car on hot summer days.
From the system point of view these are all good solutions. People will advise you to do one or the other, but no one would argue that you’re doing it wrong if you prefer another solution. From the car designer’s point of view there could be one best solution, since the car has been designed for a certain use and one could point out the abuse or malfunction.
Of course the example above is a metaphor. As usual it’s a bad one; I’m good in bad metaphors. What if you don’t have a problem with the engine of your car, but with your head? Sometimes under certain conditions you get overheated. What could you do? You could
A. spend time with a psychotherapist,
B. take some medication to soften your temper,
C. take a break when necessary,
D. move to an environment that suits you better,
E. go running for an hour every day.
In this case most people have very strong opinions. They say it’s really bad to go running, or take medication, or move to another environment. "You should face the real problem, the source of your anger."
The mind into a body is much more complex than the engine of a car. It’s hard to say what the real problem is. Maybe the 'cooling circuit' in your head is not functioning properly. Maybe you’ve got very much physical energy that needs to be burned; otherwise it will heat up your nerves. Maybe you’re always extremely eager. But does it matter that much what the ‘real’ problem is. The mind-body system is not functioning properly and since we don’t know much about our design, we don’t know whether it's abuse or some malfunctioning. Anything that makes it function better would be good. Or not?
