Complex
solutions were not necessarily arrived at by complex means and only from the
minds of geniuses. They are typically
derived with unwavering attention at the exact point that needs it, and a
solution is ventured upon that point that may or may not work. It probably won’t. But there’s a possibility it does, and one can get good at
guessing which solutions shall work and which shan’t. All it takes is observation.
Reperepetitio est mater studiorum…
And
after that there’s a second pattern to notice: sometimes, one solution solves
not only the problem being focused on but in its same course solves a second,
yet unresolved problem. It’s here that
one can become even better at predicting the solutions, striving not only for
merely a solution that works rather than one that won’t but instead for
solutions that solve two problems rather than one. It is just as the separation between an average golfer and a good
golfer: playing from the same distance, the former aims for the green while the
latter aims for a particular spot on the green.
That
is the heart of elegance: single solutions that simultaneously, intrinsically,
solve several problems. It leads to the
association of complex solutions with brilliance, for there is the true heart
of genius: not just to pull something off, but to pull it off so elegantly that
it appears effortless.
