We live in a day and age that seems to be
increasingly chaotic even though innumerable aspects of our lives are regulated
through various laws that govern civil society.
Scientifically chaos theory deals with the apparent randomness and their
underlying patterns trying to explain how in many complex dynamically varying
systems, small changes in the trajectory of events can lead to largely
different outcomes in the future, owing to their high sensitivity to initial
conditions. Chaos is not the absence of
order, but weakness in predictability of future events. Patterns continue to operate and exist at all
physical levels reorganizing forces to result in a peculiar future outcome.
Our mind space is such a chaotic space and
the health of our mind depends on our choice of thought and action. Each person is given a set of initial
conditions and the choices he makes in life can take him through different
trajectories to different futures. And
the frequency of the thought waves in the mind are more often alternating than
not. It is only in highly evolved souls
that the mind space ceases to generate impulses. The process of diminishing the impulsive
energy inputs from the mind and retracting our consciousness to a witness state
is called penance. This transforms the
impulsive mind into an obedient tool that harmonises our body and mind to
create an energy flow that intuitively arises from an understanding of an eternal
and natural order.
In most ordinary people the mind space
generates impulses based on memory recall and we ride these impulses and
act. Often we add a certain energy to
this action as well – the wiser ones add a positive energy arising from a
stable intellect; and the lesser ones add a negative energy arising from an unnatural
sense of self called the ego. Positive
energy divides the momentum and creates time for fruition. Negative energy multiplies the momentum
leading to fructification of our action on a much smaller timescale.
Even in our minds, these positive and
negative choices alternate and we must make the positive choice in order to
arrive at a positive future. What aids
us in making this positive choice are the deep and natural laws that make up
the warp and woof of the manifest universe that are represented by the word,
Dharma. Dharma is nothing but the hidden
constitutive principles that guide the flow of assumption, sustenance and
dissolution of all physical forms.
Biological identities such as gender and
social forms like the family, community and nation exist as an extension of
natural social grouping such as class, order, family, genus and species. In nature, these forms are respected and over
time, even these orders go through chaotic periods when subjected to stressful
environments resulting in new orders that are more suited for the time and
space in which they live. The choice of
a modified and more evolved form is governed by its fitness to survive
competition and ability to propagate its own type. Dharma is that which enables us to similarly
sustain and endure our given form and create new offspring in our own
image.
Order and chaos alternate in our minds and
hence in our lives. Disruptive actions
create chaos and today’s world seems to be full of such actions. In every sphere, we seem to be seeking
disruptive technologies and approaches.
This phase of chaos succeeds an unsustainable trajectory and precedes a
new order. For example the evolution of
solar power as a sustainable source of energy is disruptive to traditional
fossil fuel based industries and yet remains a precursor to a future that is
more sustainable. Disruptive modes of
public transport and dismantling of traditional ownership patterns will
permanently alter the automobile industry and create a new order in the sphere
of ownership of vehicles and of transportation.
Disruptive modes of social communication while having a negative impact
on the health of individuals, may gradually impact people’s choice making and
result in a renewed respect for traditions, the classical arts and for social
forms and positions.
Mind driven people learn only from their personal
choices and intelligence driven people learn from the choices made by everyone
around them including their own selves.
Those that are driven by a false identity, the ego, hold on to their
choices to the detriment of their own forms and their mental well-being and
continue to suffer the negative results of their own actions. This is how addictions arise.
Chaotic choices are often hinged to an
element of drama – and while we indulge in drama, significant changes can occur
in our breathing patterns. A heightened
frequency of an altercation raises the blood pressure and the temperature in a
person and makes him vulnerable for chaotic transformation. Being subject to such drama, one can
experience a reaction in one’s mind field that will recreate the drama
internally through repetition, constant feedback loops, self-similarity,
fractals and self-organization [all of which are mathematical processes
involved in chaos theory!....source..Wikipedia]
unless one is mature and strong enough to detach oneself from the effects of
such an onslaught. If not, changes in
breathing patterns occur in both the proponent and victim of chaotic choices
that creates dark spots of absence in the mind-body field that will
consequently become vulnerable to disease.
Thus the game of individual egoic choice is a
dangerous game that could result in chaos and the best solace and answer to
this is to seek, sustain and encourage order.
Every time one does something to sustain the underlying order from which
a form arises, the same effect of durability and health is reflected in the
body-mind field of the choice maker and thus the importance of the declaration
of natural alignment of choice, the importance of a knowing obedience to its timeless and
immutable power, and the relevance of a discussion on Dharma. Thus Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Geeta,
‘mysteriously uncertain are the consequences of action’‘ [गहना कर्मणो गतिः]. This at some level is actually a warning not
to indulge in actions the consequences of which cannot be predicted – i.e.,
chaotic choices.
Chaotic choices are of three main categories
– infatuation, anger and greed. Infatuation
arises from the illusion that this life is yours to enjoy; anger arises from
the illusion that people and possessions in your sphere belong to you and must
satisfy your expectation; greed arises from the illusion that you lack
something. Each of these illusions
create a world of chaotic choices that result in some form of violence
resulting in unpredictability in your life.
Each of these illusions are powerful illusions and yet they are just
that – artificial forces with no basis in reality.
When we accept reality, a humility arises in
whose presence none of these illusions can exist. When we surrender our choice making to the
hidden order called Dharma, then this divine order guides us and protects
us. When our actions are aligned with Dharma,
then our mind-body-soul is integrated and this integration releases a fragrance
of internal well being, of a joy that cannot be taken away from us. This is the path to happiness.
Happiness is not something that can be
procured externally. It is something
within. All we have to do is do things
externally that do not conflict with this internal harmony.
In order to maintain harmony internally and
externally we must respect, instill and sustain order as opposed to chaos. Internally order arises from stillness. While the external world is full of events,
there is a deep internal space that is unmoving and unchanging. When we sit still in meditation, flying
thoughts gradually subside and slowly you ought to be able to reach into a well
of stillness. As you bring your
awareness from stillness back into the external world, you realize that from
stillness arises the consciousness of order, the consciousness of Dharma. This internal state of a deep stillness is
the witness state – the state of immutable joy, wholesome being and pure
awareness. As we learn to bet on this
source as opposed to external sources of fleeting happiness, the timeless source
of that harmony will then guide us to greater and greater levels of order, stability,
strength and joy. May the Lord give us
the strength to make the right choices in thought, word and deed.
