As a victim of abuse, I spend my life in a very strange state of confusion. It had always been there so confusion wasn’t strange, just life. But somehow disconnected. Whenever I voiced concerned, I was accused of acting out, being different, changed. My parents gaslighting let me question myself, maybe it is me, am I being difficult, is my behavior misplaced? Till this day doubts creep up on my sometimes. Luckily, I see things clearer now. I can then reassure myself – because the law of parsimony apples I can safely assume, I am right. They abused me.
The law of parsimony or Occam’s razor is really not limited to the field of biology or science for that matter. But it is often used in evolutionary science to establish branches on the tree of life. It generally warrants that the simplest hypnosis should be preferred. The physiological changes between fossils and living species are assessed. Then they are lined up in a way that only small changes come with each step of evolution. With every step as few as possible parameters or physiological trades change. Ergo, scientist look for the simplest way to explain the evolution of different species.
The law of parsimony in my life
I find that the law of parsimony is applicable for my life journey, too. Over the course of my life, I had collected many symptoms: Stomach pain, insomnia, chronic back pain, and inflammation everywhere. I went to see many practitionersTM but either they didn’t see anything at all, or my tests came back with values below clinical relevance. Surprisingly, I actually understand they confusion. To explain all those symptoms individually it makes a long list including genetic predisposition, parasites, and a number of accidents I wouldn’t remember. If, however, I consider the frightening possibility that my parents abused me, it would drastically simplify this web of symptoms, pain, and diagnoses. All these wild explanations get cut don’t to just one. One parameter, abuse, connects all my lifelong struggles. As much as I want to believe I have loving parents the law of parsimony doesn’t allow it. Rationalizing my situation like this helps me tremendously to keep my gaslighted and abused brain to stay on track. And maybe it helps you, too.
