Sometimes our world seems to be very structured and ordered and at other times it appears to be chaotic and unpredictable. If life were totally ordered everything would be the same and follow the same rules without any errors. It would leave no room for anything new to occur. If, on the other hand, everything were in total disorder and nothing could be predicted from one moment to the next, everything would be constantly new and nothing could have any sense of permanence.
Life, therefore could not exist in a totally ordered world or a totally chaotic world. Somehow we live in a world where there is a mix of both. There is enough structure that there is a sense of permanence and continuity in our lives. We can reasonably predict much of what will happen in our lives. We have a sense of personal identity that we can generally rely on to be substantially the same tomorrow and the next day. The patterns of the seasons and the heavens, the laws of physics, and even our own human laws give our lives enough structure and predictability to avoid becoming overwhelmed.
Also, there is enough diversity and unpredictability in life so that new and unknown things regularly appear in our world, things we can make use of to improve and grow. That unpredictability is generally not so large that we are overwhelmed by change. Life exists at a balance point between order and chaos.
Consider people running. They want to get to their goal as quickly as possible. Some runners will choose to be slow, careful and ordered in their running to make sure they do not fall over and perhaps not even finish the race. While the risk of total failure is low, they take too long to reach the goal. Some runners will put all their efforts into going as fast as possible, using all their energy, running in a more chaotic fashion. They will indeed advance more quickly, but the danger of falling and injuring themselves would be much increased. Neither approach is effective. Being too ordered takes too long, while being too chaotic is too dangerous. What is needed is the best balance point where the runner reaches the goal in a short time, but slow enough that the risk of injury is reduced enough, so that overall the runing is the most efficient that it can be. If it is too ordered it needs to become more chaotic, and if too chaotic, to become more ordered.
The most effective balance point, called the Edge of Chaos, turns out to be just before the runner lapses into chaos. The risk of falling into chaos and being injured is still real and catastrophes can and do occur in Edge of Chaos systems, but overall, it is the most effective place to be.
The Edge of Chaos is not a stable balance point like balancing a rod on its end so it stands on a table and will stay there until somebody shifts it. The balance point is a dynamic balance point more like a tightrope walker's balance point. The tightrope walker is stable on the rope, but must constantly work to maintain that stability. The runner similarly needs to slow down a bit when the terrain becomes steeper or more difficult to traverse and speed up when it becomes more even.
Also, the Edge of Chaos is more than just a balance point. It is a point of emergence. When the Edge of Chaos is reached, whole new behaviours can emerge that could not have been predicted before. There is a chemical example of the Edge of Chaos system called the Belousov - Zhabotinsky reaction where two chemicals are mixed and at the critical point of the Edge of Chaos, the whole mixture changes rhythmically from one colour to another. That change could not have been predicted just by looking at the original chemicals.
The Edge of Chaos. also, is found very often in nature; throughout ecosystems, in human dynamics, and in many other places in the world about us.
There is a great deal of debate as to whether natural systems automatically move towards the Edge of Chaos because of the assumption that is the most efficient place to be. While it is an appealing idea with a logic to it, in practice it has been hard to show. It is likely that in real life staying at the Edge of Chaos is just too stressful, and that instead, organisms move to the Edge of Chaos for short periods and receive a boost, but are not able to maintain that state, so then drop back until they have integrated the changes before once again approaching the Edge of Chaos.
Philosophical context. I believe that bodybuilders live their lives in the edge of chaos. Those left standing after a test of time are the emergence.
All the best to xuancheng in the upcoming competition! The time to step under the bright lights awaits you. Dont talk too early about it being your first and last competition. This Journey, its like the sea, you can see the beginning but never the end. I might not know you. I might not have seen what you've been through. But one things for sure.. You're a material of champion. I know it and you know it. Best of luck now.
Strength and honour.
Hydher
Labels: Edge Of Chaos
