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Principle # 3:
The Principle of Chaos & Reorganization
Mind chatter | by Bill Harris
Change is the one constant in this universe. One of the first things the Buddha noted
when he began to teach was that everything changes. For that reason, understanding
change, how it happens, what makes it difficult and what makes it easy is of crucial
importance to anyone on a spiritual or personal growth path.
But how does change work? Why does it happen? And, how can we allow it, without resisting
and suffering?
The answer is found in the Nobel Prize-winning work of Russian-born Belgian theoretical
chemist, Ilya Prigogine. Prigogine, working in the field of thermodynamics, became
intensely curious about what seemed to be a contradiction between one of the basic
laws of science and some equally basic observable facts, including the existence
and evolution of life itself. This contradiction, though seemingly unrelated to our
everyday lives, contains the seed of profound practical wisdom for anyone committed
to mental, emotional and spiritual growth.
The second law of thermodynamics (stay with me -- this really isn't complicated,
and it's very interesting) states that whenever work is done, some energy is irretrievably
lost. When expanding steam causes a piston to move, for instance, some energy is
lost from the system in the form of heat radiation due to friction. In addition,
the machine itself, unless energy is added to the system in the form of an overhaul,
new parts, etc., will wear out and eventually break down.
This fact of nature is called the law of increasing entropy. Entropy, simply
put, is a measure of the amount of randomness or chaos in a system, and the law of
increasing entropy is an expression of the fact the universe is irreversibly moving
toward a state of increased disorder and randomness. Left to itself, with no energy
input from the outside, any system will break down and become increasingly disordered.
A car will turn to rust and fall apart, a mountain will be worn down, and so on.
Even the expansion of the universe is a movement in the direction of increasing disorder,
increasing entropy.
Yet we can see that many things in the universe tend toward increased order -- the
opposite of what the second law of thermodynamics predicts. Life has evolved as atoms
became molecules, then amino acids, proteins, cells, multi-cellular life, social
systems, and so on -- definitely a process of increasing order, and against
the flow of increasing entropy. This seeming paradox puzzled scientists for over
a hundred years until Prigogine discovered the key: that order arises not in spite
of entropy, but because of it!
Dissipative structures
For centuries, the scientific community
had been more interested in idealized closed systems, systems
that have no interaction with the environment -- the molecules
of hydrogen in a closed container, for instance, or an ideal machine.
Prigogine, on the other hand, was interested in open systems,
those that constantly interact with their environment, changing,
growing, and evolving. Living things are prime examples of open
systems. Far from equilibrium, they constantly take in energy
in the form of light, heat, nutrients, air, water, etc., and then
dissipate to their environment carbon dioxide, heat, waste products,
various activities, and so on. In this way, they constantly adjust
to their environment, changing, growing, healing, learning.
Prigogine set out to study open systems in an effort to solve the riddle of how systems
of increasing order (systems that can change, grow and evolve) can exist in a universe
inevitably tending toward disorder and chaos. Studying certain far-from-equilibrium
chemical processes, he obtained results that again seemed to contradict the second
law of thermodynamics. That is, until he ascertained that while the system itself
did indeed become increasingly ordered, it did so by dispersing entropy to its environment!
These experiments proved his hypothesis that order emerges not in spite of chaos
but because of it -- that evolution and growth are inherent in far-from-equilibrium
(open) systems. The key to such systems is their ability not only to take in energy
and matter from the environment, but also to dissipate the resulting entropy to
the environment, creating an overall energy dynamic that does follow the second
law of thermodynamics.
Progigine called these open systems that evolve and grow by taking in energy and
matter from their environment and dissipating the resulting entropy "dissipative
structures." Prigogine's discoveries apply to every open system in the universe,
whether a chemical system (as in Prigogine's original experiments), a seed, a highway
system, a corporation -- or a human being.
Such structures, to maintain their existence, must interact with their environment,
continually maintaining the flow of energy into and out of the system. And, rather
than being the structure through which energy and matter flow, dissipative structures
are, in fact, the flow itself. In other words, this is not a universe of independent
things, but rather one of process, a changing, flowing, evolving and intimately
interconnected system of interactions.
Evolutionary growth: "escape into a higher order"
Dissipative structures (such as human beings) flourish in unstable, fluctuating environments.
The more ordered and complex a system becomes, the more entropy it must dissipate
to maintain its existence. Conversely, each system has an upper limit, due to its
level of complexity, of how much entropy it can dissipate. This is a key point. If
the fluctuations from the environment increase beyond that limit, the system, unable
to disperse enough entropy into its environment, begins to become internally more
entropic, more chaotic.
If the excessive input continues, the chaos eventually becomes so great that the
system begins to break down. Finally, a point is reached where the slightest nudge
can bring the whole system grinding to a halt. Either the system breaks down and
ceases to exist as an organized system, or it spontaneously reorders itself in a
new way. The change is a true quantum leap, a death and re-birth, and the main characteristic
of the new system is that it can handle the fluctuations, the input from the
environment, that overwhelmed the old system. In Prigogine's words, the system "escapes
into a higher order."
Out of chaos comes a new order, a more-evolved system. This new system has a new
stability and is able to more easily exist in the previously overwhelming environment.
But if input increases again, to a level beyond the system's new and higher capacity
for dispersion of entropy, the process will repeat, resulting in new internal chaos
and another reorganization at an even more-evolved level.
The human brain as a dissipative structure
How does this affect you? The human brain is the ultimate dissipative structure,
constantly taking in energy and matter from the environment, constantly dispersing
entropy. We are able to handle amazing amounts of input from the environment, encountering
all kinds of new ideas, stimuli and events, handling them without threat to the system.
But if input (all that stuff that happens in your life) reaches a certain critical
level, different for each individual, we begin to feel overwhelmed and become less
and less able to deal with increased input. We go into chaos. Eventually, the system
(our mental construct of "what is") is forced to break down or reorganize
at a higher, more evolved, level. The process goes something like this: at first
things make sense; then, as chaos increases, they no longer make sense any more;
finally, after reorganization, they make sense again, but in a whole new way, never
before imagined.
Certain types of people, those who constantly open themselves to ideas and experiences,
will be more likely to reach this "moment of truth" -- what Abraham Maslow
called "peak experience" -- giving themselves the chance of "escaping
into a higher order," giving them a chance to evolve and grow. On the other
hand, people who resist new ideas, who won't try new experiences, who reject what
doesn't fit their beliefs, and who never doubt their way of seeing things -- in other
words, people who resist the influx of new energy, stumuli, ideas and matter into
their brains -- almost never have peak experiences and evolve very slowly, if at
all.
If the input affecting the brain is strong enough, however, even a brain resistant
to change can be impacted. This is what happens when we meditate. Meditation (particularly
the technologically based Holosync® meditation we use at Centerpointe Research
Institute) creates fluctuations in the brain that eventually affect even our deepest,
most unconscious resistance, creating change at a very deep level. Eventually, the
brain evolves to a point where it is able to perceive, experience, and be one with
the interconnections of the entire universe, allowing the healing of addictive and
dysfunctional patterns and the growth of a profound sense of peace.
High-fluctuation brain wave states and evolution
Why does meditation affect the brain in this way? High frequency brain wave states,
such as the beta state (that of normal, non-meditative consciousness), have very
low amplitude. The wave form has little difference from its highest to its lowest
point -- a small amount of fluctuation. Lower frequency alpha and theta brain waves
-- those of traditional meditation (and the even deeper delta brain waves created
by Holosync) -- have very high amplitude -- a large amount of fluctuation.
Because the amount of environmental fluctuation determines a system's possibilities
for evolutionary change, a beta state does not push the brain to evolve. In the alpha,
theta, and delta states, however, the brain experiences larger fluctuations, which,
as we have seen, stimulate evolutionary change in dissipative structures. When an
open system like the human brain is exposed to such low-frequency, high-amplitude
fluctuations, it can (and will) make the quantum leap to the next higher level.
What, then, is the practical application of this model of change? And why does change
often result in dysfunctional feelings and behaviors and other kinds of resistance?
Remember that chaos precedes change. Whenever there is chaos in your life, it means
that your current map of reality is not able to handle the environment. In other
words, you are over your personal threshold for what you can handle. If handled consciously,
however, this chaos leads to positive change. At such times, remember that:
• A new and higher threshold, and a new and more highly evolved map of reality will
solve many of the problems that the old map of reality can't handle.
• Chaos is a sign you're getting ready to create a new map by reorganizing at a higher
and more functional level, and if you get out of the way, this will happen more easily
and quickly.
In other words, chaos is good!
Most people don't recognize when they're in chaos, for several reasons. Some people
self-medicate whenever they begin to feel stressed. They reach for a drink, a joint,
a cigarette, food, a sexual partner, or an adrenaline rush -- anything to mask what
they are feeling. They don't realize that chaos is a growth opportunity and that
by not taking advantage of it they keep their map of reality from evolving -- which
means that every time it is stimulated in the same way, they will become overwhelmed
again. A new and more highly evolved map, however, could handle what the current
map can't, ending their overwhelm.
Also, most people don't take responsibility for the chaos or stress they feel. They
project it onto something outside of themselves. They find something to blame: "I'm
stressed because of him." "I'm stressed because I lost my job." "I'm
stressed because of the terrorist attacks." "I'm stressed because of my
kids/parents/partner/finances/health/whatever."
But the only reason you are stressed or in chaos is that your threshold for what
you can handle is too low. And, the one and only real solution is to raise that
threshold higher.
So first, notice when there is chaos. "Here I am, in chaos." Then, acknowledge
why it's happening. "My threshold is too low." Then, remind yourself
that chaos is the first step in reorganizing your map of reality at a higher level
-- one that will work much better -- and that this is actually an opportunity. "Hallelujah!
I'm about to evolve, and once I make the leap to the next level, I'll be able to
handle more, and lots of things that cause me to suffer will fall away!" Let
it be okay that you're temporarily in chaos, and just watch what happens (more about
that in a future article). Resisting will, at best, make the process painful, and,
at worst, will keep the reorganization from happening at all.
Few really understand how change works. Instead, they fight it. If they win this
battle, they lose the war. By fighting change, you get to be pushed past the same
old low threshold over and over, experiencing the same pain over and over.
Understanding change will save you untold suffering, if use your knowledge. Change
is natural. You don't need to know "how" to do it. The entire universe
has evolved, for billions of years, by this very mechanism. All you have to do is
get out of the way.
Here, again, are the steps:
• Notice and acknowledge
that you are in chaos.
• Realize it's happening because your threshold for what you can handle is too low
to handle your current environment.
• Remember that this is a good thing, and means you are about to evolve to the next
level, where many current problems will disappear.
• Let it be OK that this is happening.
• Watch with curiosity and don't resist.
Or, you can avoid being in
situations where you get pushed past your threshold (good luck). You can stay home,
isolate yourself, don't participate in life, don't take in new information, etc.
Or, blow off steam when the pressure builds. Get angry, worry, compulsively talk,
or exercise, or eat, or have sex (or whatever you like to do). Of course, you'll
keep the same threshold in that case, with the same limitations. You already know
what that's like.
Next month: I will discuss the fourth of my Nine Principles — The Map is Not
the Territory.
Bill Harris is director of Centerpointe Research Institute. To find out more about
Centerpointe Research Institute, and to receive a free Holosync demo cassette or
CD and Special Report, visit www.centerpointe.com or call 1 (800) 945-2741 or (503)
672-7117.
Copyright ©
2003 Bill Harris
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