A Gordian knot is one that cannot be untied. It is usually so because the ends cannot be seen. In the modern age, this phrase is used to refer to any problem that is too complicated to solve. But in Greek mythology, this was a real knot made from an actual rope.
The story goes that at one time, the kingdom of Phrygia was without a king. The people approached the Oracle on how to find a new king. The Oracle said the first person to come riding into the town on an ox cart should be made the king. A person called Gordius arrived in the town square riding an ox cart with his wife. The people of the town made Gordius the king. Gordius was so overjoyed that he dedicated his ox cart to the God Zeus. He tied it to a pole near the temple of Zeus with an elaborate knot that was so intricately tied that no one could unravel it. Over time, it became famous as the Gordian knot.
The Oracle made a prophecy that whoever untied the knot would rule over Asia. In 333 BC, Alexander the Great captured the city. He was told about the knot. Alexander was curious to see it. When he saw the knot, he thought for long about how to unravel it, but finally understood that it could not be. It is said he took his sword and cut the knot into two. The Oracle’s prophecy proved correct, as later Alexander went on to conquer all of Asia.
The story of the Gordian knot illustrates the point that some problems in life may be very difficult to solve; they may resist all attempts to solve them using traditional methods. In such cases, we need to think out of the box. We need to find creative solutions to problems that defy normal solutions. If we can do so, we may go on to achieve great success like Alexander the Great.
There is another way we can look at the story of the Gordian knot. Some situations or problems may be so complex that the possible solutions to them may be super-complex and unachievable. In such cases, we may need to sit back and take a fresh look at the problem to see if there is a simple solution that works reasonably well that we might have overlooked. If Alexander had persisted in pulling at the rope and trying to find its ends, he might have remained stuck like the rest of the people who failed to unravel the knot. Instead, he went for a simple solution that may not have been the absolute best, but got rid of the problem.