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Making
things happen - with integrity. A weekly CyberMemo designed to keep you on task. Monday December 4, 2000 Volume II Number 49 |
FOCUS - Indecision
An ancient story becomes particularly poignant given the headlines screaming at us from all directions. It’s a parable that speaks volumes, over six hundred years later.
It’s the story of an indecisive donkey. The parable’s genesis traces all the way back to the fourteenth century, and a French philosopher named Jean Buridan who pondered the nature of free will. The ability to choose, according to Buridan, is the most apparent evidence of the existence of free will.
The debate is as old as language itself. Are we really free to decide, or does some unseen irresistible force determine our life path? Does that force render us incapable of change or choice? Is free will simply an illusion… an imaginary way to make us feel powerful, significant, responsible?
Or do we really possess the capacity to choose? And if so, how do we decide?
In the famous “Parable of Buridan’s Ass,” a famished donkey is presented with two identical bales of hay. He looks at one and then the other. Then back at the first. Back and forth. Back and forth. Both are equally appetizing. Both enormously appealing. Either will satisfy the aching hunger that causes the animal to drool at the sight. But the donkey is paralyzed by indecision. His inability to choose strikes him powerless. In the presence of abundance, he lies down and dies of starvation.
The philosopher argues for the existence of free will, but asserts that choice is dependent on reason. The intellect informs the will by reason, and enables choice.
The poor donkey had the solution to his problem right there under his nose. But he lacked the intellect to reason through his dilemma and inform the will to make the choice and then finally to satisfy his hunger.
It sounds reasonable enough – isn’t it better to make a tough but courageous choice and enjoy the benefits of choosing than to remain paralyzed in the no-mans-land of indecision, and suffer the terrible consequence?
Such an action requires intellect. Reason. Determination. Initiative.
A novel idea.
* * * * * * * *
We have some interesting metaphors to describe the donkey’s dilemma. Analysis paralysis. Lost in a Black Hole of options. In Limbo. In between. Decision constipation.
And all too often, I am the donkey. You, too. Right?
We doubt. We hesitate. We vacillate. We dilly-dally. We shilly-shally. We hem. We haw. We sit on the fence. We give it far more diligence than is due. We are equivocal. Irresolute. We remain in perpetual pause. We keep our options open. Schizophrenia reigns.
Analysis is good. Gathering data is important - running through the punch list. Checking the detail. Doing the comparisons. Researching. Verifying. All essential. But each a whole lot easier than making your choice.
Eventually, perpetual analysis leads us to a predictable destination. Paralysis. Indecision.
In 1994, astronomers verified the theory of the “Black Hole” using the powerful Hubble Telescope. Physicist Steven Hawking popularized the fascination with this cosmic phenomenon. Researchers, peering through the mighty telescopes we use today, have located invisible spots in space - as though nothing is present. But something is. The mass in the Black Hole is so dense, the gravity so powerful, that every bit of matter passing by is hopelessly drawn in, and galvanized, disappearing into the mass of jet-black matter. Black Holes are dark stealth masses of matter the size of galaxies. Some postulate that Black Holes are formed by burnt out stars. Solar masses then collapse into the dense matter, and lose their distinct identity. Nothing can exist in the presence of a black hole. Everything is sucked hopelessly into itself. It’s said that in a Black Hole, even time stands still.
Indecision can be a black hole.
Roman Catholic theologians pondered a deep theological problem. They believed in Heaven – the reward for the righteous. They believed in Hell – judgment for the damned. It was pretty clear that some people were destined for the eternal bliss of Heaven. And just as certainly, there were those who deserved the eternal torment of Hell. But there were a whole lot more who didn’t really fit in either category. What do we do with them? It was a dilemma.
So they conjured up a place called “Limbo.” Limbo was a world that wasn’t Heaven or Hell. It was the great abyss where the millions upon millions who deserved neither bliss nor torment found their eternal home. It was neutral. Bland. Indistinct. Colorless. Harmless. Empty.
For these theologians, it was an easy out. When you considered one’s eternal destiny, and you could not decide Heaven or Hell, then with a shrug you would default to a non-place called Limbo. It became a synonym for oblivion.
Indecision is the yawning gulf we call limbo.
You may ask someone “what is your occupation?” and they may answer, “I’m currently in between.”
You may ask someone else where they live, they may say “I’m in between.”
You may ask another, “are you still dating Joe?” And the answer, “I’m in between.”
In the first case, one has left the old job and is looking for a new one. In the second, one is out of the old house, and looking for a new. In the third, Joe’s former girlfriend is on the lookout for a new boyfriend.
In between. An interesting phrase. It’s redundant, really. Two prepositions lined up in a row… one underscoring the other. The dictionary defines between as “in or through the position or interval separating.” Examples – “somewhere between eleven o’clock and twelve o’clock.” “A railroad between to cities.” “Choose between riding and walking.”
If you are in between, you are right there in the middle. You are undecided. For you, it may be this, it may be that. It may be here, it may be there. It may be now, it may be later. It may be yes, it may be no. It may be thumbs up, it may be thumbs down. You are in between.
Betwixt and between.
Your perpetual analysis sends your options spiraling, disappearing forever into a Black Hole and leaving you in the awful state of Limbo.
That gnawing, empty starvation is threatening your very life.
* * * * * *
This is, no doubt, the reason why the past two weeks of media blitz and Presidential politics have been so painful.
Decisiveness should not be a rush to judgment. Good decisions can take time.
You are a leader. You make decisions every day. You’ll make decisions today. You want them to be good decisions. Based on valid information. You want to listen, and make sure the people who will be affected by your decisions have input.
But some of us are caught, like some of the players on the current national stage, in the middle. Like Buridan’s donkey, hungry to know, they just cannot make up their minds. They probably will not make up their minds, until there are no more options left.
Let’s you and I determine as leaders to have the courage to decide. No analysis paralysis. No Black Hole of never ending options. No Limbo. Often times, it’s a choice between good options. But we will make the choice.
Let’s present our people with a clear direction. No apologies. No vacillation. No foggy, mushy little bit of this and a little bit of that. Let’s say it straight.
It’ll pay off. Big time.
© Copyright Kenneth E. Kemp 2000
Special Thanks to my good friend David Belcher, owner of Rhino Media Group and creator of WisdomGram
LeaderFOCUS is a service of Good Stewardship Associates
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