A Look into "My Mentor - Epiphanies of the Utterly Obvious"

Here is a quick look into my next book!

Introduction

As we stood at the edge of a perfectly mirror-like lake, so close, in fact that even a ripple would have made our feet wet. He reached down, picked up a small stone and broke the silence with a contemplative whisper, “Even a rock this small can change the nature of this large lake!” With that, he threw it as far as his arm could muster. It, amazingly, flew quite a distance and broke the perfectly flat surface, with a splash. So disruptive was the small impact that, for a moment I thought I heard the sound of glass shattering!

My mentor placed his hand on my shoulder and in a commanding tone that I seldom heard, “Watch the waterline with me…we have something to learn.”

What seemed like minutes passed and suddenly the tiny ripples from the stone’s interruption of the glass-like surface appeared at our feet. “See what I mean?” he asked.

I watched as the static edge of water quivered ever so slightly and then resume its perfectly motionless state. “It changed for a moment as the ripples met and encountered the shore, but it went back to what it wanted…didn’t it? “I replied.

He smiled, shook his head and in almost a taunting manner responded, “That is only partly true…the ripples are only the result of the initial event has led to a permanent change in the lake!”

“What permanent change?” I asked in a disbelieving tone.

“After the rock entered the water, it did not dissolve. It was added to the lake. It increased the overall volume of content of the lake! If you were observant enough, you would have noticed that the level of the lake rose ever so slightly! The water was lifted because I did something. It is that we are not sensitive enough to realize that we truly made a difference!”  We are desensitized to our real impact on the world around us and this blindness has many negative implications.

Without saying a word my eyes caught his and asked, “Can you please tell me more?”

He graciously and humbly continued, “We delude ourselves into believing that everything that we do and say has to have a huge impact. The fact of the matter is that everything that we say or do either adds or subtracts from the world. It may make a splash as we intended, but it is what happens after the ripples are gone that really matters!  One stone made the difference that was required, yet we continue to throw stones until we see the level rise with our own eyes.  The problem is that too many stones are a problem by themselves.”

It was at that moment in my life that I realized that I had learned more from my mentor in our brief encounters than our formal sessions! It was in our brief interactions, like that time or as we walked to our cars after work or passed each other in the hallway, that he would throw a few words (stones) at me (usually a sentence or two), hoping they would shatter the surface and ponder them at their true depth.

He hoped that I would be ultimately uplifted and grow as a result of the exercises and experiences.

These axioms were not flippant phrases or clichés. They were crafted and released only after years of experience, observation, testing and thought. These were his pearls. He meted them out as his most precious treasure. Luckily I listened to the whisper as we stood by the lake.  I almost missed this gift!

Adages! Aphorisms! They are words of wisdom that are the result of an amazing intellectual-distillation process. Being universal in nature, these gems do not require time or location to be meaningful. They transcend all of that! These epiphanies are little arrows of truth and insight. Most, if not all of the important and life-changing ones hit their intended target and stuck. Each had a tiny and almost unnoticeable affect, yet over time I knew that they had become part of my nature.

In an attempt to ensure that his “effort in insight” was not wasted, I started a new notebook. This was when I started carrying two notebooks! One book was for me and the other, more precious book was used to record his “Epiphanies of the Utterly Obvious!”

He would often remind me that “The greatest truths hide in plain sight. “That is how the notebook got its title. Flashes of great insights (epiphanies), hiding in plain sight (the utterly obvious).The “epiphany exercise” was not reserved to a “him to me” venue. Over a short period of time, it became a competition to see who could find a truth and create a “knock your socks-off” quip. We became each other’s best and worse critic! We would judge the value of each of these by our responses to them. If we exclaimed, “Oh man, why didn’t I see that?” that epiphany was a winner and was given a place in the record book!

That first notebook and the many others that followed were not only permanent records of the insights, but also a scoreboard that along with my other journals are among the few treasures that I have cherished and lugged with through my life’s journey. Unlike the journals, they do not record the time, place and situation. There is no need to! Instead, they are records of observation and insights, facts that apply almost universally. They contain the adage and when necessary, a brief explanation. Most of them however did not have to be explained.

“They are meant to be applied…” he once said as I wrote, “…which means that they have to be interpreted by the hearer and directly used in their context, not one biased by our explanation.”

As it was with that stone that my mentor tossed into the lake, his epiphanies made temporary ripples in my life and at the same time, I was permanently uplifted ever so slightly, but so little that I didn’t realize it.  As the number of epiphanies grew, it became apparent to me that I was better for the experience.  The shoreline of my life had risen to a point that I could see a real difference!

“True wisdom should never be hoarded…but shared with those who possess the ability to understand and apply them!” he advised, “It is not our right to judge who is capable or incapable, so share them as often and with as many people as possible.  Let them be the judge of the value.”

As I stand at the edge of this proverbial “tranquil lake” of life, loosely clutching a handful of epiphanies, the urge to throw them is unbearable. I long to see the tiny ripples reflected in the eyes of the listeners, knowing that even if they do not immediately realize or feel it, they were lifted ever so slightly by the impact and inclusion of them, in their lives.  

“Be patient and do not become discouraged…someday they'll notice how high they have been raised!”

“Even a stone as small as this can change the nature of a very large lake…”

Our first Epiphany of the Utterly Obvious!

Chapter 1 – Setting the stage

My mentor emphasized that EVERY interaction between individuals should carry meaning and value.  It was that belief that spurred epiphanies of the utterly obvious.  Rather than an impersonal and meaningless greeting in a hallway, he (and later I) shared with each other, what we believed was a new insight of value.  Given that…let’s walk past each other and not waste time with stories.  Let’s jump right into a series of epiphanies of the utterly obvious that sets the stage for the rest of this book.

Our first epiphany…

History is our greatest teacher and will relentlessly repeat its lessons until we grasp…what it intends to for us to learn…

Our second epiphany…

The most valuable trait that a person can possess is called “common” as in “common sense”…

Our third epiphany…

Wisdom is as endangered as is the passenger pigeon…OH YEAH!  The passenger pigeon is extinct…

Like me, these three epiphanies, when considered in both, individually and in combination, generate some interesting thoughts.  The thought that comes to me is...

Information is king…or is it?

One of the inevitable “facts of life” with the widespread use of the internet, the 21^st century has truly become the “information age.”  The easy access to information provides many advantages to individuals and to our society, but with those benefits there is a cost.  We are often inundated with “Too Much Information” (TMI)!  Valuable information is often buried in a mountain of worthless trivia, to the point that TMI has become a commonplace abbreviation in conversations.  Other times, we simply do not want to know certain “tidbits!”

I do not have to belabor this point, the 21^st century’s offering of easy access to information is a liability.  We simply get too much information, it becomes expected, and a commodity and we underplay its overall value.  We lose!  The loss is the result of a narrow and somewhat arrogant view related to the value of information.  Information (or knowledge) is only part of the real “value equation.”  This may sound a bit cryptic. 

“Information is only one component of the entire recipe…”  

Let’s shift gears and digress for just a moment and gain a deeper understanding of the “I” part of TMI, information.  Traditionally, information is regarded as the accurate understanding of “Cause and Effect.”  In other words; “if this…then this” is the information equation. 

This is the essence of scientific method and what man has relentlessly pursued for centuries.  Information is not completed understanding, but the first step of the understanding process.  It holds within itself the potential of action, but must be put into context for it to be valuable.  Information may not be king, but it holds within itself the “royal bloodline!” 

Based on the prior thoughts, information is a critical component, yet without application, it has no value. Information is a description of a cause and the related effect.  It is a discovery or insight (information) providing an understanding of what to do to get the desired effect.  If one does not act upon the information, nothing happens.  Moreover, without a complete understanding of other “effects” related or directly linked to a specific “cause,” there may be other effects, some adverse and others positive.  There also may be other “effects” associated of connected to the desired effect (Any effect can itself be another “cause in an infinite chain), creating other “effects.”  We can conclude that action based upon myopic information may have a “net effect” with a considerable negative cost.  This can be likened to taking a drug to combat pattern baldness, which grows hair, but causes pancreatic cancer in every instance.  It did what it was designed to do, but at a huge cost to the patient,    

The oft missing component from the effective use of information is what I have labeled as “impact.”  If cause/effect is understood completely, it carries beyond the “narrow” and finite view, which is only focused on the desired effect.  For it to have value, it must be significantly understood with a broadened “global” view that not only includes all of the intended effects, but also the unintended consequences or effects (negative and positive) which were related to the initial cause initiated or the effects related to the desired effect, causing other effects (negative and positive).  It is an understanding of and the ability to forecast the “costs” or “impacts” related to the information possessed (cause and effects) that leads to real value.  This value is recognized as wisdom.  

It is easy to confuse Information with wisdom and as a result many believe that simply possessing an ocean of information with the ability to make effective change is wisdom.  When acted upon, information can create change, but is it valuable?  Not unless it has a net positive valuable impact.  Those who possess that information are considered “wise” or at bare minimum ones with “common sense.”   

    

Wisdom generally comes through experience.  It is not the exclusive right of the aged!  Wisdom can be shared and handed down from generation to generation.  Because of the availability of information and the misclassification, we have lost much of the traditional transfer of wisdom.  Although the transfer of wisdom is weak at best…we (who continue to relentlessly share our thoughts) are on the right track.  Like “Mother Nature” we have to persist and repeat ourselves until the lessons are learned.

Information is important.  Insight and wisdom are to be preferred.  When obtained, the real value becomes obvious.

Let’s not stop here and pursue our thoughts even deeper.

The prior thoughts addressed the “Information” part of TMI.  Shifting gears, yet again, we find that the “Too Much” part TMI is just as destructive to what mankind is “designed” to do.  “Too Much” information makes all of it unintelligible!  TMI is simply noise!  The 21^st century will in all likelihood go down as the period in our history filled with noise and distraction!  

This label will come back to haunt us unless we grasp the true beauty and elegance of simplicity. 

“Truth hides in plain sight…” 

Ignoring or filtering the noise and extracting the simple truths that anxiously wait to be discovered will carry a premium to the few that grasp this talent. 

What talent?

  

Let’s look at the simple discipline.

First is the recognition that Information is the understanding of “Cause/Effect”.

Second is that most “Cause/Effect” relationships are cloaked by noise of frivolous pieces of data.

Third is that it is necessary to filter the noise to get to the truths.

Fourth is that “wisdom” goes beyond “Cause/Effect” to “Cause/Effect/Impact”.

 Fifth and finally is that from the very beginning truth is simple and elegant.  Those who can see it must create short and meaningful ways to convey it to those who don’t or can’t.  Real genius is not found within complex explanations…but in the elegance of simplistic explanations of most complex and pressing challenges…AND THEN VALUE IS ADDED WHEN WE ACT ON IT!

Albert Einstein was able to explain much of the universe with 5 characters!  E = MC2.  It can’t get much simpler than that!  As I pondered his equation, it hit me that he did not create the laws of the universe, but simply found them and explained them in an elegant and simple way that was easily understandable!  They were hiding in plain sight, waiting to be found.  His equation remains, to this day, an elegant epiphany of the utterly obvious!

Let’s travel back in time…to the dawn of man…”a simpler but precarious time” when the future of the species hung on one’s ability to learn the essentials of survival.  After a harrowing day of eking out a living and escaping imminent dangers, the wise (oftentimes lucky) elders gathered around a fire and shared their stories and the rest of the tribe sat in the shadows and intently listened to the wisdom and applied that insight to their own lives.  The human species survived because the living learned from the tales told of the less fortunate and were able not to repeat their errors.  History will repeat itself until we learn!  In their case a failing grade in the school of life was fatal!  Our ancestors “learned and lived” and not the opposite as we often (and wrongly) quote.  They would listen to everything and glean out the important, yet hidden messages, realizing that they were a matter of life or death.  

Epiphanies of the utterly obvious evade widespread discovery by hiding in plain sight.  They also are often rejected by most because their perception is calloused by their own experience and biases (internal and external noise).  When found the flash of insight is often amazing.  Many have had the “eureka” moment, the epiphany of the utterly obvious.

What is an epiphany of the utterly obvious? 

It is a simple truth that, when grasped, changes the world of the “grasper!”  As we delve a bit deeper into understanding this type of epiphany, it is not a simple restatement of a truth that everyone knows. It is an observation of reality that everyone knew but was unable to state in elegance or apply easily.  In other words…epiphanies of the utterly obvious are potentially life changing quips.  They are truth found and distilled into as few words as possible to the extent that they are understood by all those who stop long enough to savor the beauty of the combination.  Wisdom is rare, but it is not yet extinct.  It is just not as easily shared as it was in the past.  It is hidden by the noise of the 21^st century.  Let’s cut through that noise and find some together.