Chaos: a confused or disordered state.
Change: to make different, alter, modify.

Change is not necessarily chaos, but chaos is always change. Is chaos then a special case of change? Perhaps chaos is disordered change. Change without (apparent) order. Is chaos really chaos, or is chaos the turbulence created in our minds when what we see is not what we expect to see? Is chaos the mind’s reaction to what it does not understand?

The thinking mind is infinitely small compared to the totality of consciousness. The thinking mind wants to impose its own order on the outer world, so that it makes sense. This is like someone viewing an abstract painting, and deciding what it represents. Chaos has been described as nature’s creativity. It is nature’s coloring outside of the lines. It is that from which newness comes.

Consider the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands. Imagine the molten lava spewing forth, and making its slow, random journey to the sea, where it sizzles and cools, extending the perimeter of the Island. Think of a blank canvas, brought to life with splashes of color. Something born, one-of-a-kind, unique in all of creation, expanding the perimeter of the artistic. Imagine words, put together in a profoundly provocative and inspiring way, extending the perimeter of consciousness. Chaos is the fertile garden out of which newness springs forth. Not like the garden, whose blossoms we can visualize as we plant the seeds. No, this is a garden of potentiality, of mystery, of magic. It is a garden of uncertainty, unpredictability, of the unknown. Chaos introduces us to randomness, synergy, the raw power of creativity, unbounded, undirected, uncontrolled by the human mind. It is the lusty, passionate energy of life, throwing back its head in complete surrender. It is not just pushing the boundaries, but redefining them, again and again. Surrendering to chaos is like floating on your back and gazing at the stars, rather than struggling to swim upstream. Yes, there is vulnerability, but at the same time, the opportunity to co-create with the universe. The creative universe is the ultimate lover, and when we surrender to its energy, we transcend the known.

Mind tries to control and define reality, perhaps in so doing to somehow ‘possess’ it. We want to ‘know’. But it is when we surrender into ‘not knowing’, when we embrace subtlety, ambiguity, mystery – opening ourselves to embrace the unknown, that the pace quickens, the heart beats faster. We become vibrantly alive, expanding our degrees of freedom, recreating our very selves from moment to moment. No longer observing ourselves from the sidelines, we throw ourselves fully into the dance, losing ourselves there as we become the dance.

Magnificent by-products of the ultimate creation, we carry the vibrational echoes of the big bang within our souls: the energy of creation manifests in myriad forms, of which you and I are each but one. Like glistening sunlight reflecting off the ocean, we flash brightly, in human form, for a second, and then we are gone. Yet we are a vital part of the cosmic landscape. If any one of us were not here, the entire cosmos would be altered. Truth lies at the heart of the paradox. Like listening to the sound of one hand clapping, we can contemplate the profound nature of the unity and harmony that lie at the very heart of the chaos.

Gwen Randall-Young is a psychotherapist and author of Dancing Soul: The Voice of Spirit Evolving. She has also written Echoes Through Time: A Message of Healing for Men, Baby Soul: A Blessing of Spirit, and produced audiocassettes entitled, After Recess: A Calming Meditation for the Elementary School Classroom, and Healing the Past: A Meditation for Wholeness. New Audiocassette!! A World Of Kindness: Experiencing Personal and Global Harmony grandall@telusplanet.net or gwendall@home.com