Sum of the Parts

To add to my wonderful outlook on life this week: my back went out!  Yeah, I turned slightly to the right and "click" spine goes out, loss of all movement on my right side and blinding pain.  I was at Costco, just sitting down to one of their wonderful Polish Dogs ...  Sigh ...

So, I am thinking about Thursday - so bizarre, so ... well ... bizarre!  No part of it made much sense at all.  I was laying in the tub, sometimes hot water loosens things up so that whatever will "pop" back in and Kris will be normal again!  I was wrong.

But, I got to thinking about a test I blew in seventh grade.  I was attending Ramstein Canadian, long story but it was a compromise between my parents - neither German nor American.  This particular test was on a section revolving around philosophy, for those of you whom have rolled your eyes - you must be the ones whom know me!  Because of that section - I have never had pity, mercy nor use for anyone espousing philosophy ever since!

The question was:  "How can the sum of the parts be greater than the whole?"

And my jaw hit the table.  The whole is always equal to the sum of all parts, it was not my fault that Aristotle was a raving maniac!  That is the problem of being a literalist in a society dedicated to symbolism.

But, here I am, laying in a tub of water, in incredible pain, working yet again through a 47 year old failure ...

And I got it!  Yeah, I finally figured out how the sum of parts can be greater than the whole - but only in life, appreciated and viewed through emotion.  Otherwise, well I was right and Aristotle is still a raving maniac.

Wow ... how long it took to figure that out!  But I will not share how I figured out the mystery - it took a review of an inequality in my life ... how can 1+1+1+1 ever equal 7?