Absolutely. It all depends on how you perceive order. Many things that upon observation appear to be chaotic actually may possess a grand element of order upon further reflection. One example of this is a chaotic moving mound of ants in an ant colony. Upon first look, it may seem like the ants are a pulsating jumbled brown mess. If you begin to look at the ant colony more closely, you will start to see an ordered hierarchical group of creatures moving in quite a sophisticated manner. Each ant is communicating with other ants using pheromones, creating bridges, carrying large items and searching for food. There is a collective intelligence that is created out of all that seeming chaos.
Fractals as patterns of complex systems
Fractals are beautiful displays of ordered chaos. They are a visual display of a pattern set in motion by a small variable in the initial stages of formation. As I did more research on fractals I got more interested. It seems that you can find fractals on display in many parts of nature. For example, fractal patterns are seen in coastlines and mountains as well as parts of galaxies. These complex, contained patterns are beautiful and interesting to look at. It makes me wonder about the infinite variety of patterns that potentiate our universe giving rise the inherent creativity we see all around us.
Consciousness out of Chaos?
How does consciousness emerge out of chaos? Or is chaos inherent to the creation of consciousness? Is chaos the variable that infuses creativity into the universe giving rise to this complex system of life?
Consciousness and creativity are what give rise to my set of questions above. As it was stated in one of last weeks articles, "Systems in advanced states of order become inflexible and relationally dead." Of course, to balance this out was also the statement, "Systems in advanced states of chaos become limp and relationally incompetent."
Consciousness is a creative expression of the universe because consciousness allows for reflection, which allows for more creative expression as we ponder this grand mystery. I imagine that consciousness must have emerged from a chaotic system with just enough order to maintain the integrity of the system's relational creativity. This is the balance of yin and yang at its highest expression.
Hi Amy,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading your blog and am particularly interested in bringing order to chaos/creativity to the degree that others may access and utilize the inherent information/energy there. It's that whole synthesizing/analyzing thing but in such a way that more than one person can use it.
Megan