I don't think of chaos and order as happening simultaneously from one perspective. I think a chaotic process or situation can seem that way to one person and to another person it can seem perfectly ordered. I think of my houseplants. Their growth seems very chaotic to me, especially the growth of some of my more unusual succulents. I water them when they seem to need it and they get ample sunlight and yet their growth is totally unpredictable to me. Yet, when one of my plant savvy friends comes over she can explain the order or reasoning behind their seemingly bazaar growth patterns, and how I might change my actions (watering, planting container) to influence what I previously saw as pure chaos.
I also think of the process of human creation of being a mix of order and chaos. The jumbling of genes then separation of them through mitosis seems like a constant dance between chaos and order. With all the potentials for something to go wrong, it seems phenomenal that the vast majority of us exit the process mostly functional. I suppose it's a good reminder that chaos can give birth to incredible ordered things, which makes an easy segue to fractals...
Fractals as patterns of complex systems
Fractals illustrate the way a particular action can be magnified on a scale that is challenging or impossible for the human mind to comprehend but that creates something that's end result appears quite simple. They show one action on a myriad of scales. Because of the complexity of fractals and the vast amount of information that goes into creating one, they are primarily created by computers now.
Consciousness out of chaos?
The way our minds work seems like a perfect example of ordered chaos. There is a reason behind the way our minds pull thoughts and emotion and yet it happens all too fast for us to understand without further scientific research. The article in our reading "Chaos and Consciousness" broaches the idea of our consciousness being a whole cloth of tightly knit patchwork of subprocesses, which I agree with, and then he/she adds "each made possible and supported on all sides by the totality of the cloth itself, while at the same time contributing its part to the creation of that totality." I love this idea of consciousness almost folding in on itself constantly to be recreated in every moment. I think of an image like a flower blossoming then closing then blossoming again but always with different colors, textures, and shapes.
One other idea is that perhaps rather than just one flower or layer, there are many layers to consciousness that are being reborn/changed all the time.
The Bhagavad Gita, a story often referred to in yoga gives at least one perspective to the layers that might exist. I like that by looking at a racing chariot it may not be clear how many forces align or fight for that chariot to move in a particular direction, and yet upon closer inspection that are so many factors at play that are in a constantly changing relationship.
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| photo credit: http://www.harekrishnayoga.com/2013/02/arjunas-chariot.html |
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