Occam's Razor

 Occam's razor is a philosophical term meant as a guide to make sense of things.  In simple terms, it means that "the simplest explanation is usually the best one."... or make the least amount of assumptions to reach a conclusion.  If you don't have enough facts, you need to GET facts to make a conclusion, but once you have facts the simplest explanation is to believe them.

While this is a principle that has been ignored by the news media and readers for years, it is also something that many of us ignore when it comes to dating, relationships, and life choices.  Most of the time, the problem is that we are ignoring the facts because we want them to be something else.

I have two old stories that have been passed down that describe this.  The oldest is one my father told me.  A snake asked a man to carry him across the river.  The man says, "If I do you will bite me." The snake promised he would not do that, so the man carries him across the river.  Then, the snake bit him.  The man asked why, and the snake said, "You knew what I was before you picked me up."

The second is a more recent one.  A great flood came to an area, and a man prayed to God to save him.  After a while a boat came by and asked if he needed help, and the man said that he was fine...that God would save him.  Later, another boat and the same response.  Finally, a helicopter, but the man still refused, waiting on God.  When he got to Heaven, he asked God why he didn't save him, and God said, "I sent you two boats and a helicopter."

Many times, we refuse to see things for how they are in dating or the beginnings of things, because we want them to be something else.  Then, when they turn out to be how they were seen at the beginning, we act SHOCKED and betrayed, because we expected something else, when we knew how they were from the beginning.  Similarly and alternatively, when someone DOES help us or show interest in us but in a way that is not how we are looking, we can't later say that they didn't care for us... simply because it wasn't the specific way we sought.

Often times, when we are confused, the reality is that the answer is staring us in the face.  Is the person showing care (even if in another way) or NOT?  Am I making enough to pay my bills or reach my goals (if not... don't say the devil is attacking you, when it's your laziness or choice)?  Do YOU need to improve yourself to become more attractive or show more care to get a response?

If we really want to improve, we need to ask the hard questions and judge them by the obvious facts, rather than our hopes or misguided faith.  Then, we need to make the required choices in ourselves or in our associations in order to find the happiness we seek.