To preface my writing, I would like to make it clear that I am in no means attempting to argue that there is no bad in the world, but rather that there is never a total lack of order. The argument, this article shall present, serves the purpose of demonstrating how the noun of “chaos” is a word which doesn’t represent an existent thing, but rather how it is the word attributed to inconvenient perception.
Let us contend that “chaos” is not synonymous with bad things occurring, but rather it is only synonymous with “disorder”— “chaos” being the understood word for describing a destruction of order.
“Out of all things there comes a unity, and out of unity all things”, says Heraclitus, the ancient greek philosopher. This pushes me to ponder that perhaps the best way to understand what Heraclitus is attempting to convey, would be by examining the opposite of the key word to his statement— chaos. If all things come out of unity, than what does chaos create? Chaos has undeniable affects on the things it interacts with, yet how would things be able to come out of chaos if “out of unity all things” come?
The words of unity and chaos are total opposites, their definition’s purposes to convey differentiation— perhaps the ideas do exist together, like the philosophy yin and yang. If this is how it is,than that would mean that the two create a balance. Yes? I contend however, that they cannot create a balance because the idea of “chaos” is simply unity our eyes are blinded too by cloud of misunderstanding.
Unity is synonymous with order, and chaos is synonymous with the destruction of order— yet, what is understood as "chaos" seems to create or contain some purpose, and results in an ultimate end which presents order to our eyes. Much like a storm, to us it is chaos because it can be negatively affecting our things we have placed value on, yet, the purpose of a storm, within the context of nature, is to re-order things, in a very ordered fashion because it is nature acting in accord with it’s purpose.
Examining this proposition, it can be said that chaos, in actuality, is simply perception. If all things do come out of unity, and unity comes out of all things; that would mean that chaos doesn’t actually exist because it is our perception of certain unified things, which may be inconvenient for us or go against held expectations, that has created the noun of “chaos”. Holding to this belief, "chaos" is a subjective perception of certain unified things.
Things and unity, two peculiar words which have so much meaning packed into them both. Since a thing is not limited by being only a material body, it is allowed to be amongst the abstract; a thing can be a philosophy, a passing thought, or even an experience. Every experience is built upon each other, creating the unique unity of one’s life.
Though you may forget them, even the most random and quick experiences water the seeds of one’s life which bear us metaphorical fruit. This fruit can be plucked at the perfect time and provide us with an amazingly rich sensation, or this fruit can be ignored by us as we allow it to rot on the branch until it is so putrid that it falls to the ground, transitioning into nothingness. At times the fruit is infected by outside factors and we feel the disgust and pain in seeing how such an beautiful thing can be torn down from the pedestal to be amongst the level of the tainted. No matter whether there is a drought not allowing for new seeds to grow, or a certain seed never blossoms into a fruit, or even if the fruit becomes consumed by a mold, it is imperative that we remember that there is no chaos but only the perception of what is understood as chaos, or better put, the experience of the unexpected and unwanted.
Life can be brutal, and when the misfortune we experience seems to have no rational cause behind them it’s only natural for us to place blame on disorder and mystery. Bad things occurring are unavoidable, but to place the blame by describing such misfortunes with the word “chaos” disallows one’s ability examine the underlying truths. Accepting misfortunes allows us the ability to examine the order of it, and thereby correct paths which lead to misfortunes.
