Occam’s Razor & Watership Down

Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem

“Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.”  In other words, “The simplest explanation is usually the best.”

We can glean wisdom from the most unlikely of sources. I remember watching an animated movie back in the day called Watership Down.  It’s based on the novel by Richard Adams.  Watership Down, in a nutshell, is about a band of talking rabbits that are trying to find a safe place to live and perpetuate their species.  Once they find their “paradise,” they realize that there are no females in the group.  Their quest to find mates pits them against the rabbits of Efrafa.  Efrafa is the name of a den (warren) of a military-like band of rabbits.  That movie is NOT for children but I digress. I watched the movie as a kid and read the book as an adult. For years, I haven’t really thought anything of it. A day or so ago, I had the urge to watch the movie again. I did a google search and found that there was a TV series based on the book. My excitement turned to disappointment when I saw the show. It came off to me as painfully juvenile. Now THIS is aimed at children. The characters I once knew and loved were altered…but was it for the worse?

I watched the first 7 episodes, as painful as they were, and was actually surprised at the depth of the characters. Not only that, but there were some very deep themes that the original animated movie never got into but is discussed by the characters in this series.

There is a conversation between two Efrafa rabbit officers who are watching over their charges. One officer comments that two normally trouble-making rabbits are suddenly going out of their way not to cause trouble. The second officer just thinks that the two have accepted their lot in life. The conversation then turns to what it means to have one’s spirit broken. The observation was true enough and so profound. I found it heart wrenching because that is true of many of us on the planet. It reminds me of a quote by American author Henry David Thoreau “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

My recent comments have focused more on personal development and not enough on my Chinese journey.  I will remedy that starting with the next post, but I wanted to share this little bit with you.

Watch the video. The conversation takes place at 2:30.

So, what do Occam’s Razor and Watership Down have in common?  Nothing really.  The connection I made is to stop making things more complicated than they are in my life and to guard my spirit from being crushed like it was in when I was in graduate school.  Now that that’s out of my system, on to Chinese study!