Chaos entails a lack of order, unpredictable nature and hysteria. Whilst on paper we could probably all agree that the idea of chaos is unappealing, meaning that we would not wish for our lives to contain chaos as it sounds unhealthy and certainly dangerous. But we know this to be true – kingdoms, anarchy, the times before laws, oppressed groups and a lack of knowledge, all saw beheading, blood stained streets and un-matchable rates of murder. All of which I’m sure we would rather avoid and with a golden nugget of knowledge, that could hopefully invoke a sense of appreciation for the times we live in now – Structure and laws, services to enforce them and punishments for those who behave out of the order for the benefit for the whole not just the enforcers are now all in place to ensure that history does not repeat itself. For perspective, you’re more likely to die from suicide or obesity than at the hands of another human in an act of violence in most places in North America and Europe.
However to see chaos as something to be averse to, see it as a parasite, it manifests itself in the niches of the human psychology, knowing within the laws and structures that we live in, chaos will not influence the body of humans to wield a kitchen knife, run to the streets and displace aggression on someone because of a betrayal of trust. A parasite knows rather how to work with the forces of its host and environment, if able to adapt quickly enough, then a parasite could wield the knowledge to end our species. So in preventative measures our societies heavily punish these acts and therefore the parasite of chaos knows in order to survive it must influence our rational thinking rather than only our contextual understanding, restructuring or destroying the structure of how we compose our expressions within the means of the laws in our societies.
The first line of behavioural influence that chaos may borough its head into is our inclination and desires to listen. It’s a common mantra for a reason and it is certainly a great tool of preservation(not listening) but we can forget about progression if we wish to preserve our ideas. It is like putting a flower in a dark room, whilst you are preserving it from any external factors, it will rot and it most definitely will not grow. But that is the nature of chaos, limiting external factors to ensure its survival and manifest anti – life behaviours other than for its own. “Don’t listen to them, your ideas are yours to keep, don’t let anyone dictate your opinions. Resist and fight if they try to investigate and you will remain free.” The voice of a victim preparing to be victimised.
These dialogues are occurring all over the world as we speak as chaos has chained itself to the alluring idea of freedom. Yet it is still misunderstood despite the efforts of exposing thinkers throughout history. In an attempt to fly, people run off a cliff edge, no creatures can influence the flailing body in an attempt to be free, they are now falling with their own bodies and the voice that provoked their impetus to jump. From afar to see those falling, mirages their sight into seeing flight as you cannot distinguish if they had wings or not. Chaos chose well, picking up on a human’s greatest desire, to be themselves, a liberated being.
Now, listening is just the henchman, the brick wall to protect the real offspring of chaos – Pride. It is indeed pride that gives meaning and the justification towards your actions and beliefs. It filters into our language, our political beliefs and our ideas of a moral compass, which as we imagine if all being strong within any one person that doesn’t use the skill of listening, is a very dangerous mind. The parasite will make sure your ideas stay intact and that the world knows how proud you are thus this deflective, reactive state, pride induces exactly the shield chaos needs. What better way to protect than to not let anything in? We can observe that the attempt at an idea of liberation and free will is most often as a consequence of chaos, it leaves an individual deluded in thinking that in order to become so, that they must exterminate external influences, thus birthing strong group identities, labels, disgust for their own species and people unable to use a tool that was key in our evolution – Communication.
However, chaos does not have access to all of human psychology, it can be overcome but it takes discipline. Once order has been reinstated then an individual can claim without hypocrisy that they do not wish for any chaos in their life. The antidote is far from complex but by no means does it entail that it is easy and of course it may vary from person to person due to the diversity of personalities. Orderliness is what chaos despises, if we want to overcome a lack of structure then it’s within our best interests to add order – restoring alignment to our compass that helps us navigate the world on the created land of the reasonable.
We can look to Confusian philosophies, the presence of rituals and mindfulness can transform a life from one controlled by desires and clutter. A fragmented mind will most likely have a fragmented environment, meaning that their possessions, tidiness and order will be a reflection of their psyche. From the first action as your eyelids peel open at the presence of light, to your last gesture the world sees before you fall into unconsciousness – should all have a purpose and that purpose may be nothing more than just for the sake of doing it. It’s a mindfulness exercise, few or little, you have privileges and if you want any hope at feeling happy then sure need to recognise your lil’ treasures.
Fold all your clothes before you sleep, you will wake up to a more ordered world. Know where all of your possessions are. The first thing to consume should be healthy things, like water, before and after sleep – you have to show respect to your home. Stay hygienic where possible, even if it is just washing your face and applying some cream, brushing your teeth, washing your clothes, all of those together would certainly stop people from assuming you’re a manifestation of chaos in the flesh.
Now for those ordered behaviours to maintain any weight you must also order your thoughts and information. This is not the suggestion of controlling emotions, it is just to understand and know the placement of your knowledge so that you can then apply it, as wisdom, if needed. Educating yourself on topics of self help should not be a hard task for the many, having devices with clouds filled with data on any book or article that you wish to read, there is no shortage of information. Although more options or an abundance of anything doesn’t necessarily provide more freedom, it does allow you to explore more, whether you choose to or not. So, to apply order to your educational, mind expanding rituals that you can install – note what you write. Knowing what you’re reading and how you interpret that information is key for remembering. How can you expect to order the world and others if you cannot first order yourself? Once we have first ordered ourselves and where we spend most time pondering then we may have a reasonable attempt at ordering the world.
There really is not much to defeat chaos, it’s the grand villain that we may come to meet and realise it’s nothing more than a tiny worm pulsing to manipulate a host that is weak to desire. Humans are prone to habituation – once exposed to something pleasurable multiple times then the desire to continue to look for more is ever present. So chaos whilst destructive in its nature has chosen the channel of pleasure to work the human into ways that are consequently digressing for the greater good of humans. Which we could suggest is an idea of Global majority contentment.
It would seem that these micro behaviours are insignificant – that may not be applicable to the idea of a greater good as it doesn’t account for the presence of diversity in human personality. But knowing that, some people have a head start at certain goals on the map of achievements, a prosocial and extroverted person may find it much easier to navigate their behaviours towards finding reference and comparison to others virtues in order to hone in on their ideals. Whereas, an introverted person might struggle to even build the courage to ask for perspective due to the anxiety of feeling a level of exclusion if their proposal is excluded. So these diversities and maps of how each interacts with the world may make the behaviours of mindfully folding your clothes every day tough for some individuals and easier for others, then this is the fate of which you are set. Knowing that your aversion to the idea of chaos is present, you may want to apply that same disgust for the parasite into a motivation to do the right thing when it’s the hardest thing to do. Alternatively, there is always mindful acts that may add significant order into your life, it is still possible to not fold your clothes and be ordered however if you wish to view order as a a result of holistic placement – knowing of virtues and the environment that those virtues can be applied to, then the environment must also be influenced by your internal impetus to oppose chaos.
Green Dharma 
Thank you for this. In my experience the laws of thermodynamics are another way of explaining chaos and transience. There is no way to effect the ultimate process but only create whatever semblance of order within my environment that I find useful. I have no specific control over the constant scanning and flow of the thought stream. I can, by using language recording tools, focus my attention on certain extracted subject. But even that is subject to disappearing in the flow of rising thoughts. Thank you for sharing this.
Exactly that sir, there are efforts we can make to minimise the inevitable happenings of chaos. I would suggest though that using the tool of mindfulness to experience time in its purity is not the a great way to experience sustained order which I think is quite hard to attain. But it most definitely layers peace and primary purpose on top of these responsible actions we make to ensure we live with structure!
Thank you brother for taking the time to read it.