Speaking to a client, the central theme of the conversation, which is the central to most organizations and life, is problem solving. “They are not Solution oriented”. The frustration is understandable and palpable. I have, and still do, think of my professional journey as one of problem solving, the problems just changed in nature and magnitude.
And yet today when I look back, I wonder if I “solved” problems. A Math problem is solved. A Puzzle is solved, a crossword is solved. Meaning, there is nothing more left to do in it. Left hand side is Equal to right hand side, all boxes are filled.
When I look at the “problems”, I have been engaged in, leadership, commitment of people, leadership, various ‘divides’, traffic, rising temperature – These don’t have “A” solution. There never was a time I have stepped back and said, “ok all boxes filled”. So which means the problem was not really solved. At best delayed the symptoms, maybe.
This feels really uncomfortable. If I zoom out, we have such an “addiction” with problem solving. It makes us feel like we achieved something. It is an ego booster for sure.
Not too different from, have a fever, take a dolo. Problem solved. People are not wearing Masks, fine them. Children don’t do what they are told, punish, shame or bribe them – Done.
This, way of looking and even defining WHAT is a problem – May be the problem.
This is important because of Three things:
- Suddenly we are blinded by the “illusion of Control”
- We stop being curious about the Problem. Stop asking questions that are uncomfortable.
- Once we have defined a “problem”, We stop exploring and start explaining.
Many years ago I started to work with tribal youth. We found that the young people in that community were getting into bad habits, drinking, gambling, falling sick. We, of course immediately declared the “problem” – Education. And then quickly, too quickly started to “Solve” this. We had a solution for this problem.
“For a Hammer – Everything is a Nail”
I am so intrigued by, how often our diagnosis for such ‘situations’ so quickly moves towards education. And such naive assumption that “having education will solve all problems” . We just have to look around our world to know just how wrong we are, in that assumption. Wars are fought, corruption happens, people lose lives because of decisions made by some very educated people.
So, clearly education or lack of it, is not the problem. Something else is. Something that we don’t have a solution for.
The anatomy of Problem solving is fascinating.
One of my friend’s mom, is so good a solving Sudoku, after a while she used to beat her own record.
There’s a reason millions of people try to solve crossword puzzles each day. Amid the well-ordered combat between a puzzler’s mind and the blank boxes waiting to be filled, there is satisfaction along with frustration. Even when you can’t find the right answer, you know it exists. Problems, puzzles can be solved; they have answers, somewhere.
But a Mystery is different, it offers no such comfort. It poses a question that has no definitive answer. “Why Covid?”, No definitive answer. Because the answer is contingent and emergent, maybe, it depends on a future interaction of many factors, known and unknown. It is ambiguous.
It is quite fascinating to see the statics of people and the problem solving behaviour. It may have a clue to how our future can be “designed”.
“Moreover, for seven in ten, solving jigsaw puzzles is a family tradition (69%). The majority of those who puzzle further agree that they like to puzzle while on vacation/holiday break (59%), and three quarters admit that they puzzle more in the winter (76%).”- Rachael Cagel, Audience analyst
“How anxious we are to find an answer to our problems. We are so eager to find an answer that we cannot study the problem; it prevents our silent observation of the problem.” – J. Krishnamurthy
I sometimes wonder, what are we really going when we do that. Do we solve the problem of the problem or the problem of our feelings of anxiety about not knowing.
I know of people, who cannot handle the anxiety of leaving a movie or a book..unfinished.
My friend savvy, for years has been insisting on me finding out the “Mystery” behind my childhood story. I can almost see her stop breathing out of anxiety. And she often says in disbelief, “aren’t you curious about what happened? – and to be honest, I am not. It will unfold when its meant to. In my mind it is not a problem – It is a Mystery.
Problem and Mystery are two different things.
We seemed to have collapsed it. And hence the inability to stand back and observe and understand the problem in a more nuanced way. We think of it as a mystery and then can’t handle the suspense, the not knowing.
Problems are experienced as physical and mental states in which we don’t have something enough of, in or from the world. Not enough resource, love, money, ideas, space, morals, capacity etc. Not enough facts, data, information to figure things out. There is something that is known, knowable, which we don’t know. And gap between where we are and where we want to be, is the problem. If we did know we could solve the problem.
But what if this “where we are” is a function of how we are seeing, which is a function of so many other things?
Mysteries on the other hand, are states in which we have more, the universe gives us more than we can understand, can hold are be able to articulate. Like when we stand infront of the ocean – It is a Mystery.
Just because you know something is called a “leaf” does not mean we understand what a leaf is
“Be patient towards all that is unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms, like books written in a foreign tongue. Do not now strive to uncover answers: they cannot be given you because you have not been able to live them. And what matters is to live everything. Live the questions for now. Perhaps then you will gradually, without noticing it, live your way into the answer, one distant day in the future.”
Rainer Marie s Rilke in Letters to a young poet
Mystery Definition: Something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain.
There are thousands of mysteries around us. How do plants know where is the sun. How does the weather change, how do we end up thinking of somethings in some places only, what do dogs really see. So on and so forth.
These mysteries and not problems. They are not meant to be solved. They are meant to be wondered at, relished, and allowed to invoke awe. And with it humility. That we cannot know everything. Ever.
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”
― Bertrand Russell
The pain in my back is a problem – The occurrence of this pain at specific times is a mystery.
Problem is an absence of something– Mystery is a presence something.
A mystery is a problem that encroaches upon itself because the questioner becomes the object of the question. Getting to Mars is a problem. Falling in love is a mystery. – Gabriel Marcel
Problem solving is at the core of Human evolution, that is how we have learnt to survive and not die.
Mystery is at the core of the Human spirit, that is how we live. Sometimes inspite of the Problems
I wonder how would the experience of ourselves and our world be, if we looked at life not as a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived and witnessed?
Would we be more curious and more observant. We have been unsuccessfully trying to “solve” the problem of global warming, of inequality of poverty. Perhaps that is not the problem.
I wonder how people feel when they are approached as a problem to be solved.
Maybe if we started to be OK with the feelings of discomfort, ambiguity and not knowing, we may actually stumble upon “The problem”. We do more harm to ourselves, our loved ones and our environment trying very hard to solve problems we don’t understand. There is a kind of arrogance about it. I suspect in doing that we are really trying to solve some other hidden problem.
A friend sent me a video about Women and standards of “beauty”. Defining “beauty parameters” has turned it into a problem that needs to be fixed. Thousands of dollars are spent in trying to find and then sell a solution. Often money that people either don’t have or that could be used elsewhere. Look where it has got us. Today we have rising numbers of issues, with men and women, with self esteem, with depression, because we “don’t fit” some standards. We can’t solve that problem.
Can we define the beauty of a slug, a flower a dawn? The Why people. I am often amazed at the beautiful faces of street women and children.
Short term, short sighted “problem definitions” lead to more complex problem later on. Like the Masks – We “solves” one level problem but have created a whole different order of other issues, CO2, retention, claustrophobia, psychiatric illness to name a few. And we cannot even comprehend what else, in the future.
Problem solving is a way to have control over our environment. Perhaps if we didn’t look at everything as a problem we may actually start to understand it better.
Problem solving has brought us a long way, sure
and yet…
It has taught us how to cross oceans, But not how to marvel at the depth of the ocean bed.
It has taught us how to fly, But not how to feel the invisible breeze in the sky.
It has taught us how to build homes, But not taught us how to inhabit them
It has taught us hod to cook,But not how to know what we are hungry for
It has taught us about five languages of Love, But not how to be in the pain and ecstasy of it
~Rhea
Perhaps we need to every once in a while, look up ,suspend the pen, and the mind and wonder…..at this very moment. Which has been travelling for zillions of years to be here, just Imagine the Privilege of experiencing it.
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