When I launched ritanerland.com and this blog back in May, I thought I would be posting blog posts at least once a month. I have a lot of stuff on my mind and love to write. One tiny piece each month? Easy!
Well, since then, I have posted every other month on average. It’s not been a writer’s block or any of that sort. I write quite a lot. I think it’s been a mechanism of trying to not contribute to perpetuate the very same problems I’m facing through my quest for answers that has surfaced. There is so much content out there. I call it information overload. Pick any theme. Google it. Depending on the breadth of the theme I assume one could spend anything from days to decades reading up and synthesizing the information, often ending up feeling more confused and less informed than before the quest.
Why is this? I think one of the main causes is the binary right/wrong, yes/no, should/shouldn’t thinking. We search for that one right answer. The panacea. Preferably an answer that’s simple, easy to understand and contains few components. Stripped of complexity.
Everything we put out there contributes to creating the future. I want to be mindful of what I publish, aiming to contribute to creating clarity on what living sustainable is about and how to get there. The amount of blog posts isn’t a good measure of whether I’m achieving this aim or not. I think the effect of my writings and other interactions is much more dependent on the quality of the authenticity I’m able to communicate. We don’t need more information – we need more wisdom.
In this quest, I again and again get my previous conditioning challenged. I strive to include complexity and relations into all the work I do and at the same time find myself searching for simple solutions that resonate. It’s a battle between simplicity and complexity that keeps me spinning in circles. I can find myself spending hours putting “things” into boxes (simplicity), before, in a time of clarity, seeing that the boxes don’t make sense and diminish the most important component of the puzzle; the relations between the components in the boxes (complexity).
There is a fuzzy line between simplicity and complexity. Transforming societies into more sustainable pathways will demand us to utilize the knowledge we have in new ways, to integrate and relate, and to embrace complexity. And I have a feeling that even though doing this won’t be easy – we’ll look back at this seeing that it’s actually really simple. That there are some overarching principles about how to live and relate that are so straightforward, so simple, so natural.
Hope you’re having a great start of the year and are taking care or yourself and those around you. Spring has arrived here in Trondheim. The sun is warming and the colours still so crisp. I’m looking forward to spending time out in nature this weekend.
-R
ritanerland 
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