Let Me (not) Be Clear
“Perfect is the enemy of good (attributed to Francois Marie Arouet, aka Voltaire).” What an adage! Simple, clear, thought-provoking, diagnostic, corrective; all this in only six words.
I would like to introduce you to her less witty cousin - “Clarity is the enemy of simplicity.” I am sure this adage will not reach the same popularity as the former; however, its substance is worth your consideration and, perhaps, your adoption.
Let’s parse this out. Clarity and simplicity are often used interchangeably. In fact, clarity is a synonym for simplicity and vice versa. But they are different ideas and often at war. By definition, simplicity is minimalistic. She seeks to subtract, to cull, to eliminate excess. Simplicity’s beauty and power are in her brevity, her ability to be understood without explanation.
Clarity seeks a different goal - thoroughness. She is expansive and prone to metastasizing; preemptive. Where simplicity rests, clarity keeps going. She never stops talking, answering questions, asked or not. The point and thrust of what she seeks to convey is lost in a sea of detail and thoroughness. She doesn’t know when to stop, when to stop adding weight. She obscures her own point or makes all points matter the same. That said, clarity is not without enormous value, particularly if she can learn to be simple.
In all simplicity is clarity if simplicity is the primary goal. The reverse is rarely true. Consider Ben Franklin’s famous adage, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” The sentence requires many caveats if our focus is clarity. Not everyone who rises early is healthy and some night owls are famously rich. Some of the dumbest get up early. Shouldn’t that be said? Wouldn’t that be more clear? More thorough? No. Franklin (or Poor Richard) was seeking to convey a greater message - a rule of thumb, a generality. That singular point is the star of the adage! The adage serves simplicity not clarity and in Franklin’s genius, he accomplished both while making it rhyme!
Simplicity is often singular and will sacrifice absolute clarity for potency. If details obscure the core message then the details are discarded. In the same way that the pursuit of perfection destroys good so clarity destroys simplicity. Precision does matter; however, it must find it place in the hierarchy of objectives. We need simple notions. When too much clarity is added the simplicity is lost. When simplicity is lost, the power is gone. Simplicity first. Clarity second.
One more thing to consider when striving for simple. Simple prefers placing a little burden on the hearer or reader. When you leave some space (something short of thorough) you invoke thinking. A good adage should require a half second of thought before the delightful rush of pleasure. In that magic, the reader becomes part of the adage. One of my favorite examples of this is a proverb from King Solomon of ancient Israel. “Where no oxen are the crib is clean; but much increase is by the strength of the ox (Prov. 14:4 KJV).” It is simple but leaves a bit for the reader. What does it mean? Feel the magic?
“The simplification of anything is always sensational” (attributed to G. K. Chesterton).
