Facing Chaos
The sage does not bring order
in times of chaos.
Here is a very deep Taoist truth. Taoism breaks up times in human society relative to Times of Social Order and Times of Social Chaos.
How one reacts and works with their community varies based on if times are orderly or chaotic.
Currently, we are experiencing a transition from orderly to chaotic times. You can see this within the uncertainty many people feel in their lives.
The first truth: Don’t confuse times of negative order to be chaotic.
Up until recently, the last 15 years 2001 to 2015, we have been witnessing a significant degree of negative social order, changes in rules and business that have been causing financial meltdowns and social unrest. However, as chaotic as it felt, it was still an orderly process. The times were being controlled by a few people profiting through changing rules and social conditions. Since these changes were negative, people considered the times to be chaotic. Chaotic change is neither negative nor positive. Instead, chaos is unpredictable and not controlled by any one group or person.
The second truth: Humans are primarily orderly beings.
People work towards minimizing chaotic periods as much as possible. As a result, truly chaotic times are more of a rarity than people realize. When experiencing chaotic times people often yearn for order. People will desperately grab for any social order, including negative order to fill their lives. As a result in times of chaos, dictators and despots often take advantage of average people. We find despots pushing their negative order as a positive change to changing society into something they can profit from at the expense of others.
It was so nice to read your comments about play. All my life play has been my way to flow with change. It is my grounding source as well as a quality force for exploration of potential. Living life as play helps me flow gracefully in a society that is going through an energy shift. Thanks for valuing it’s strength in our lives!
@Carmen: Yes very much so. If the times are going to change and if the chaotic aspects make it unpredictable. We might as well use all the exposed energy to play along with the changes. Adding in our own creativity to improve and find new options that work better for us rather than just accepting negative outcomes. We can be playful thru it all and let the play shape the times and our own experience more gracefully.
Dear Casey, Over the past few months, I’ve become a big fan of the Personal Tao website – your writings and Julie’s are truly inspirational. I find that reading and thinking about many of the writings (sometimes several times over) on the site helps me to see myself and the world more clearly, and this increased insight has in turn fostered some positive movements that I’m very happy about. I would characterize the past few months as a time of pause, looking inward, and becoming aware of potentials. Yet I feel that a new, livelier energy is starting to take… Read more »
@Josh: Aloha and thanks for the compliment. I would point you to two pages to read Patience Just replace the word patience with pause and it flows with some insights that will help you. Living Guidelines Pause is not inactive, passive yes, inactive no. It’s active since it allows you to engage your awareness. But you still need to dance in life. Life represents the dance between the partners of pause and action. Where pause is the neutral gear that allows one to shift actions gracefully. Often paralysis comes out from depression or fear. So you may want to search… Read more »
Yes Jenny Pausing is important even with movement practices like Dance. Since the pause sets one up for the next movement to be ever more graceful, from what one gains in the pause.
A great outlook on change.
The pausing bit reminds me of dancing, where it’s key so the body can align and then a form can re-emerge (and in contact dance it’s accompanied by a subtle ”giving-in” movement where the whole structure (bones) melts into the floor before it can move again)
I like the bigger perspective you offer here Casey. It helps me frame my own change of directions (or rather the shivering I can feel of things being re-organized). I need a pause, a break (oh boy,to break….. )
@Greg: Thank you for the compliment. I am glad A Personal Tao has been helpful!
It’s not ignorance when you accept we cannot hold to all truths or see everything at once. That’s the starting point of wisdom.
Thank You Casey! Have been visiting this website on and off for several months now. Also have recently done/doing some other (small) reading about Taoism and Buddhism. I keep coming back here. In my perception, your words ring true. When I was young, many times I heard it said that “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” In my perception of events gone by, I think that this has occurred many times in my life. Often times in fleeting moments, and I did not always learn the lessons! Your words are reaching me. Don’t know that I am… Read more »