The Principle of Chaos and Reorganization

In my opinion, all so-called dysfunctional feelings and behaviors -- all those things that cause us emotional and mental suffering and cause us to seek therapy, personal growth programs, self-help approaches, and so on -- are really coping mechanisms we use in an attempt to deal with the stress of being pushed past our personal threshold for what we can handle coming at us from the world. When our threshold is too low for our environment, stress and chaos happen, and we exhibit these various ways of suffering.

These coping mechanisms are an attempt to keep our internal map of reality (which is really what is being stressed when one's personal threshold is exceeded) from falling apart. What we fail to recognize as we try to defend this map is that after falling apart, a new and better map will take its place.

This natural process, the identification of which led to a Nobel Prize for scientist Ilya Prigogine, involves this map (our concept of who we are and what our relationship is to the rest of the universe) going into temporary chaos in response to too much input, finally falling apart (when the chaos becomes so much the old map cannot hold itself together), and then instantly and simultaneously reforming itself at a higher level that CAN handle the environmental input that previously was too much for it.

Unless the system completely ceases to exist (the odds of which are one chance out of an infinite number of situations), this reorganization always results in a new system/map that can handle what the old system/map could not handle. The only reason we try to protect the old system and keep it from falling apart (and then reorganizing at a higher level) is that we think that map is who we are, rather than just a handy conceptual tool we use to help us through life. We get so used to using our concept of reality when making decisions about what to do, how to feel, how to act, and so on, that we forget it's just a tool and that who we really are is much more.

Because we think we are this map, we think WE are falling apart when the map begins to fall apart, and we then try to protect it, even though the deficiencies of this map are the real problem in the first place, and a new a better one will instantly allow everything to work better.

So what is the practical application of this model of how things change and why people create dysfunctional feelings and behaviors and other kinds of resistance? How does this work in real life?

1. a new map would be nice right now, and would, in fact, solve the problems the old map can't handle,

2. chaos is a sign I'm getting ready to create a new map, and if I get out of the way it's creation will happen easier and faster.

It is helpful, therefore, to recognize when you are in the initial chaos state, and to remind yourself that this is the prelude to positive change -- if you know how to get out of the way and let it happen. Many (most?) people cannot recognize when they are in chaos. Why? Several reasons. Many people instantly self-medicate whenever they begin to feel stressed. They reach for a drink, a joint, a cigarette, food, a sexual partner, or some kind of adrenaline rush -- anything to mask what they are feeling. They do this unconsciously and automatically. They do not realize that the chaos they feel is a growth opportunity and that by not taking advantage of it they are condemning themselves to repeat the stress and chaos over and over, since every time life pushes at their current map, it will always be stressful.