You know a book is going to be interesting when its preface is riveting. William Steinkraus’ prefatory comments to Lt. Col. A. L. D’Endrödy’s excellent work on equitation “Give Your Horse a Chance” provides powerful insight into how to be more effective in living. Steinkraus noted:
“It is ironic that so many of the people who have never studied the literature of riding – to which the present volume makes a significant addition – simply ‘can’t spare the time’ to do so. That they should cherish time is reasonable enough, for, after all, time is life; but they only way in which we can truly save time lies I borrowing from the experience (which is to say time) of others. Nothing is more wasteful than the tedious search for a solution to a problem which others have long since solved.”
This principle can be applied at any point in the learning curve of any challenge you face in life. Don’t be afraid to ask the experts who have gone before you, consult their notes if they are available and put their solutions to the test. Times change, of course, but to the degree that their solutions were applications of timeless principles, their relevance will hold no matter how many grains of sand have passed through the neck of the hourglass.
Steinkraus went on to describe that:
“Thus all of us who aspire, in our practice of riding, to something more than an interminable repetition of the same errors of technique or of understanding will find ourselves indebted to Colonel d’Endrödy, who has made it available to us in this volume the most precious gift a rider can pass on to his colleagues-his own experience and his understanding of it. His experience has been vast; he has probed it with an exceptionally keen analytical mind for the basic logical and consistent principles that are the only short cuts, and he has set forth these insights in an integrated, systematic form with the most painstaking thoroughness.”
In every field of human inquiry and activity, there are “basic logical and consistent principles that are the only shortcuts.” These are the principles of truth, which, when properly applied, constrain to the most efficient and consequently, elegant solution of any problem.
The masters in any field are those who have harmonized their function with its underlying logical and consistent principles.
Gregory Hake 
Thank you for the reminder of the need to return to principles. In looking up the word principle in the dictionary it is defined as the ultimate source, origin or cause of something. It is comforting to know that there is a principle reality upon which all is based.
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It is very nice to know that there are principles that can be learned and used by anyone: they are universal. It is in this way we can hope to make progress as a species. Yet while there is a shortcut, we still are required to internalize these principles to the point that we really understand their application. Reading is not enough, theory is not enough. These are things that must be lived before they can truly be put to use. That said, these shortcuts are invaluable and I hold the people that wrote them so meticulously in great regard.
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It makes perfect sense to learn from those who have perfected the art of their craft. If we are wise, we will make the time to do this as we are only wasting time by not doing so.
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When a principle is not just grasped but integrated and internalized, the resulting actions can seem like magic to one who hand’t been aware of that principle. And I suppose they are, if we define magic not as a supernatural occurrence but as that wondrous (somewhat indefinable) quality of living function!
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Understanding the basic principles of any endeavor can take more time on the front side but may offer more guarantee for a successful outcome. I find when I’m interested in a subject reading about it is as satisfying as the doing. Also the actual experience is usually easier and often more rich with nuance.
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Finding a solution to a real problem is worthy of praise as people can be in the bad habit of creating unnecessary trouble in the world. Finding an elegant solution, well that’s sublime. Elegance speaks of resourcefulness, where not an ounce of extra energy, effort and funding is neither wasted nor needed to accomplish the given objective.
There is always a thrill when elegance is captured. Ask any mathematician, who after pondering the relatedness of a set of variables, arrives at a concise equation. A musician, who succintly harmonizes the melodies and rhythms that are playing out. The poet who captures the essence of a sentiment. The doctor who procures the right medicine for the quickest cure. The parent whose instruction carries with it the greatest blessing and protection. One surely can go on and on, in all walks of life in all spheres of activity.
True elegance is evidence of the truth. When something is true it needs no fluff for it stands on the veracity of its own reality. It doesn’t get any more real than this, and an honest man knows it. Having said that, it’s perfectly acceptable and necessary to work towards this end, as surely as the world was not built in one day. I find the practical implications of this to be in the stripping of fluff from our own lives, a return to simplicity and the fundamentals, never for a second being confused as simple-minded for being single-minded.
Elegance is a virtue!
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I find the same applies with reading your daily blog. Thank you for continuing to share your experiences.
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