http://www.care2.com/greenliving/why-welcome-disorder.html
Why Welcome Disorder
Adapted from The Way of the Wizard, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 1995).
Modern life is so full of pressure pushing this way and that that most of us react by trying to impose order upon it. Our society of chaotic forces is thus a society of endless laws and regulations. This is not surprising, because humans thrive on order and are frightened by disorder. Disorder is unpredictable and out of our control, therefore it makes us feel stressed out.
Think of a time when disorder and unpredictability suddenly crept up in your life: Missing an airplane flight, having your car break down by the side of the road, hearing that someone you love has lost a job.
Almost always these events work themselves out; there is no real harm done to your existence, just minor inconvenience. Yet your nervous system probably reacted very strongly, expressing fear and discomfort when your plans went awry. The ego’s response to chaos is to fight against it and to impose even more control. The next time you flew you probably double-checked your departure time and left early. The next time you drove you took precautions against the same breakdown occurring again.
The problem is that all this struggle, worry, planning, and controlling runs against the grain of life. Life compresses chaos and orderliness together. You cannot have one without the other. If you want to be in the flow of life, you can’t struggle against it at the same time. Therefore the quester after perfection accepts that he is always going to be uncertain, that she is always going to feel off-balance. “The role of the disciple,” Merlin said, “is always to stumble but never to fall.”
Despite the fact that your ego hates unpredictability, the truth is that you have benefited from it again and again. Think for a moment about the unexpected opportunities that have come your way, offers of help you never anticipated, sudden brainstorms and inspirations, impulsive decisions to move or talk to a stranger that opened new horizons. This is the natural way to live.
“Your life is already organized within itself,” Merlin said. “Life flows from life, the bud unfolds into the flower, the child ripens into the adult. Trust in each stage, celebrate it, and allow the next one to come to you effortlessly.”
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add your comment »Yes, in my life I've found fighting against 'myself' gets me good and frustrated. And those times when I give in, there's space, and peace, and light. and it's all okay. that feels much better. After all, fighting yourself/ego is a losing battle. The ego loves to solve problems...that's it's purpose and that's good. But it is just a machine that can burn itself out if we don't learn to shut it down. Give it a rest. so good when we learn to turn it off, after a Situtation occurs and is solved or not solved. I know that if something doesn't et done today, it will tomorrow or maybe not. And I will try with all my love not to allow it to create anxiety in my sacred self. Peace to all.
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Frank,
Thank you for sharing that nirvana experience.
WOW! Let us all appreciate the life we have and understand those who have passed.
Thank you Deepak for bringing us all together.
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Here's a link to a beautiful video that explains how the ego works further:
http://www.microclesia.com/?p=320
Or "Google" Jill Bolte Taylor TedTalk
If you watch the video, try to think of the left brain as the ego center as she talks. This is a very up lifting testimony. It filled me with happiness, and that's hard to do these days. I too struggle with the deceptions of the ego. It is difficult to break years of thought habits/patterns, but I am trying, as we all are.
Peace and love to everyone.
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I am one who definitely always wants to be in control and,as you have said, It always causes me to stress out. The smallest inconvenience seems like the end of the world-LOL.
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It is so easy to confuse inconvenience with real problems. I try always to respect the difference.
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To Kurt K: Your life sounds "typical".
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Beautiful insight, very timely. Thanks.
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Beautiful insight. Needed to be reminded. This article compliments one of favorite passages from the Psalms: BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD. This passage is written on my wall, just finished reading it. It helps me so much to put this in practice when I accept the fact that there is a force bigger than myself.
Thank you for sharing such beautiful wisdom.
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Thank you for this insight.
I recognize that this is my natural state of being.
I wonder if there's a minimum baseline level of planning and orderliness required in order to _really_ get into the flow...
I wonder if I'm in the pathological zone of disorderliness. It's not like I'm a total slob with no degree of organization I show up for work, pay my bills, hang out with my kids, try to keep the house clean, but there's a taint of unsuccess to it; the feeling that I need to plan more, intend harder, visualize more clearly, take more focused action, be more disciplined in order for my life to move "forward" - whatever that means.
Much as I want to, and sometimes actually do these, my internal resistance arises to disrupt consistent sustained practice.
I wonder whether my lack of sufficiently deep awe and gratitude for the magic of my cell transpiration and other biological processes
keeps me from recognizing and appreciating all the magic in my life.
The laid-back, chill-out, minimal-planner, see-what-happens part of me is cheered by your words - especially "effortlessly" even as the parts that want to be successful, purposeful, responsible agonize in my NOTness of them.
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This was perfect for today. Especially, after a job that fell through when we were already anticipating it. "Stumble but do not fall" and benefit from unpredictability. Trust the natural way to live! Thank you again.
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