‘Simplicity is the ultimate (form of) sophistication’ …
… famously said by 16th century painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect, Leonardo da Vinci, for whom one might reasonably assume that simplicity was an elusive quality, to which he was not only drawn, but perhaps also attributed virtues it does not necessarily possess, if indeed sophistication is to be considered a virtue …
… She had always felt somewhat suspicious of the assertion, recited like a virtual mantra by those for whom simplicity is a distant, if not altogether obscure condition to which they have never truly aspired, yet like to believe that the mere acknowledgment of its alleged merits confers upon them some type of philosophical rank, whilst providing medium of atonement for leading heavily embroidered lives; worse still, as is symptomatic of the pack mentality that prevails in the 21st century, it is a statement that both elicits a Pavlovian applause, indubitably on account of its provenance alone, and is indiscriminately employed without any critical examination, for to cite 20th century philosopher, essayist and poet, George Santayana, in whom she happened to stumble upon a perfect alibi for the crime of disputing Da Vinci’s venerated words,
“… the spirit’s foe in man has not been simplicity, but sophistication.”
Her suspicions were further corroborated by a brief study of the etymology of the word, which prior to the 1800’s was explained as the use of sophistry, aka cunning and deceit, at the time deemed a trademark of the wise man, as opposed to the philosopher.
However, according to Wikipedia, sophistication was originally defined as ‘to denature, or simplify’, suggesting a deliberate means to an end, rather than the involuntary acquisition of an ostensibly desirable feature, the latter far more synonymous with the contemporary definition that is ‘a display of good taste, wisdom and subtlety’, the word display being something of an Achilles heel, for when scrutinized closely, it cannot unilaterally be divested of an aspect of sophistry, i.e. ‘make believe’.
In India, she had found the use of the reputedly flattering adjective, ‘sophisticated’, especially incongruous, and even somewhat comical, for its beneficiaries were invariably those that proudly bore the traits and tastes of their former colonial masters, whilst making awkward demonstrations of allegiance to their own indigenous culture, by way of donning traditional attire and serving local culinary fare on finely polished sterling silver thalis at sit down dinner parties; as a friend of hers had once quite cleverly remarked, “we, Indians, suffer from a permanent crick in our necks facing west.”
And in an even stranger twist of fate, was the outcome of her search for the Hindi language equivalent of sophistication on google translate, for it turned out to be the word ‘milavaat’, meaning adulteration, artificiality, duplicity and deceit; needless to say, the Indian people appear to have both simplicity and sophistication in spades, the former a product of penury, the latter by careful design … neither one worthy of adulation or praise.
She was thus forced to conclude, with a lingering sense of incredulity, that the most precise and impartial of all of the explanations of the word sophistication was the one delivered by American cartoonist, author, journalist and playwright, James Thurber, for it skillfully reconciles the exercise of sophistry with that of good taste:
“Sophistication might be described as the ability to cope gracefully with a situation involving the presence of a formidable menace to one’s poise and prestige (such as the butler or man under the bed – but never the husband).”