You are not the victim of a complex world, but rather the one who actively chooses that complexity

In a quiet room on a winter night in Kyoto, a young man filled with anger and skepticism confronted a philosopher. The young man believed that the world was a chaotic amalgam of contradictions and injustices, where individuals were chained by their past and circumstances, as if trapped in an inescapable labyrinth. Yet the philosopher made a startling claim: “The world is actually very simple, and so is life. It only appears complex because you are the one making it so.” This statement is not merely philosophical. It establishes the foundation for a profound cognitive restructuring of self and reality through the lens of Adlerian psychology.

First, the perceived complexity of the world originates from a fundamental confusion between objective reality and subjective reality. According to Adler, individuals do not live in an objective world; rather, they inhabit a world that has been interpreted and imbued with meaning by themselves. Consider the example of well water, which maintains a constant temperature of 60°F year-round. For someone drinking it in the oppressive heat of summer, it feels refreshingly cold; yet for that same individual in the middle of winter, it feels warm. The water remains unchanged, and the thermometer does not move, only the subject’s perception shifts. Therefore, when an individual claims that the world is complex, they are in fact perceiving reality through a tinted lens. The issue lies not in the world itself, but in the way it is perceived.

Second, individuals tend to complicate life by adhering to etiology, the belief that the past determines the present. In contrast, Adler proposed teleology, which posits that human behavior is guided more by present goals than by past causes. From this perspective, individuals are not passive entities pushed by prior events, but active agents who pull their behavior toward specific purposes. For instance, a socially withdrawn person is not simply that way because they were hurt in the past; rather, they are pursuing a present goal of avoiding relational risk. They may even sustain anxiety and fear as psychological tools to achieve that goal. As Kahneman (2011) noted, the fast-thinking system tends to construct coherent narratives about the past, even inaccurate ones, to maintain a sense of control and consistency. When the question shifts from “Why did this happen?” to “What purpose does this serve?”, the seemingly complex structure of justifications begins to unravel.

Finally, what we commonly refer to as personality is, in Adlerian terms, a “Lifestyle”, a system of beliefs and strategies for living that is formed early in life. Although lifestyle is often unconsciously established around the age of ten, it is not a fixed sentence; it can be reconstructed. However, individuals frequently maintain complexity through what Adler termed the “life-lie”: attributing one’s difficulties to circumstances, heredity, or the past to avoid confronting the fundamental life tasks of work, friendship, and love. This choice is not arbitrary; it serves a psychological function. Pessimism and unhappiness, despite their negative valence, provide a sense of familiarity and safety, allowing individuals to avoid the risk of failure that accompanies change. As Adler emphasized: “The important thing is not what you were born with, but how you use what you have.”

The Adlerian journey from complexity to simplicity does not require changing the world; it requires courage. True freedom is achieved through the separation of tasks, focusing only on what lies within one’s control while relinquishing what belongs to others. We often spend our lives complaining that the world is too complex and that we have no choice but to suffer. However, according to Adler, the reality is quite the opposite: we are not victims of a complex world; rather, we actively choose that complexity. This is because complexity functions as a perfect psychological fortress. As long as the world remains complex, we retain valid reasons to avoid change, to evade responsibility for our own happiness, and to escape the fear of being disliked by others. In other words, we uphold the myth of a complex world because simplicity, inseparable from freedom and responsibility, imposes an existential burden that not all individuals are willing to bear.

References

1. Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
2. Kishimi, I., & Koga, F. (2018). The courage to be disliked: The Japanese phenomenon that shows you how to change your life and achieve real happiness. Atria Books.
3. Pinker, S. (1997). How the mind works. W. W. Norton & Company.