Chaos Theory
I read a terrific quote today, one that really struck a chord:
“Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.” –Henry Miller
I think what he is claiming is that if you have to compare life to a composer’s work, it is a John Cage, not a JS Bach. If you tune 12 radios to random stations, or if you just sit and listen to the ambience for 4 minutes and 33 seconds, you have the reality of life.
My first response was to sigh and agree. Life is, indeed, full of moving parts that seem to have no bearing on each other. It can be full of blinding flashes of light that seem to do nothing to illuminate the general darkness. It can be vast, foreign, unknown, and unattainable. It can be like this:
This picture, probably my favorite picture ever, always makes me stop. What a universe. Talk about vast, foreign, unknown, and unattainable. Talk about blinding flashes of light amidst the general darkness. And talk about moving parts that seem to have no bearing on each other.
But don’t talk about chaos. Is it possible to have an ordered system more dramatic than this? Is it possible to have an unattainable vastness more perfectly blended by the forces that hold it all together? The same gravity that gives us a chance to live an ordered life on this planet orders the vastness that is so far beyond our comprehension.
And the same God that decreed the order of gravity can be relied on to provide order in the vast moving parts of life. Despite the complexity, the vastness, the confusion of it all, He orders it all.
So put away your randomly tuned radios, and turn on a fugue by Bach. Every unique, individual voice, singing apart from all of the others, is bound together by a common theme, the counterpoint of the master.
And welcome. Welcome to the Fugue of Life. Welcome to the confusion of this world, held together by the counterpoint of our Master. Now that you’re here, join me in praising Him for holding it all in the palm of His hand.