Philosophizing to No One in Particular
I've often heard the argument that the world is random and chaotic, usually from postmodernists. The world I see around me is structured according to lovely patterns, especially notable with today being the equinox. Day becomes night becomes day, the seaons change, the daylight and nightdark lengthen and shorten, each in its turn. Birds migrate at the same time to the same places; plants grow and die at their appointed times; tides ebb and flow, dancing with the moon.
We are part of nature; we can't escape it, as much as we try. And so we, too, are part of and subject to those great patterns, our lives composed of patterns upon patterns. Perhaps we rush too much. Perhaps we need space and quiet and time to step back and observe the patterns.
3 Comments:
I'm no postmodernist, though I do think of the world as random and chaotic, at least as it applies to us humans. You're certainly right about the patterns of nature, but often those patterns are so far beyond our comprehension or awareness that their effect seem random: witness the Florida hurricanes that keep appearing as if from nowhere.
I do agree, too, that we don't pay enough attention to nature. I also think that we don't pay the right kind of attention: every time there's a huge storm or mudslide or tidal wave or something, it reminds me of how, in many ways, nature doesn't seem to really want us here. I mean, we'll stand in a beautiful field and look at a majestic mountain and feel like we're part of that somehow, but I'm not sure nature is our friend. It tends to be quite destructive.
As for patterns, I think that often we look for them as a way of imposing meaning on the haphazardness of life. Our daily routines, in some ways, give the illusion of meaning, or at least of consistency. It's true of course that the equinox, the seasons, etc., are real patterns that were in place long before we got here. But on a daily level, for me, the things that happen from luck and circumstance, typically trump any structure that nature might impose.
Eric: how's it feel to be WRONG? ;)
Oh, I'm quite used to it.
:)
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