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Guest column | Embrace the chaos, accept the imperfect
Chaos and disorder is inevitable; by aiming to achieve order, structure and a faultless situation, we subconsciously embrace the fact that life is imperfect, and that we are not in complete control
As you read this, the cells in your body are dying and degrading, you are getting older with every passing second, your tea is getting colder, and the floor getting dustier.
Zoom out a little – someone lost a loved one, a business deal failed, protests erupted, a relationship ended, and trees were cut down in the rainforests. Zooming out further, the entire universe is heading towards collapse. The universe inches towards chaos, entropy and lack of order, this being the fundament of thermodynamics. Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time says, “The increase of disorder or entropy is what distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time”.
Chaos and disorder is inevitable, entropy is a measure of this disorder, which further explains why our life gets more complicated as time goes by. By aiming to achieve order, structure and a faultless situation, we are subconsciously giving in to the fact that life is not perfect, and that we are not in complete control.
Most modern day youngsters set an overly high personal standard and their self-evaluation is inordinately critical. A constant self-requirement to perform exceedingly well at all stages, be it the work space, home front, as a parent, for a parent, a hobbyist or a socialite. This need for order and toxic perfection has hit young generation particularly hard. A recent estimate shows that almost 30%of undergraduate students experience symptoms of mental unrest and depression, which is directly linked to their hunger for flawlessness and the need to have their lives under control.
Science evolved from our everyday lives, making one believe that this law of thermodynamics takes its basis from the entropy in our everyday life. How everything tends towards disorder and our life always seems to get more complicated. The clean home becomes cluttered by the end of the day, the butterflies in the stomach wear off as the relationship progresses, youth fades, hair grey, skills become obsolete time, the house needs repair, paint chips, walls dampen, and the cracks become deeper. Perfection is unattainable, it is imaginary, a fanciful dream. Order is always artificial and temporary, disorder is not an omission, it is the default.
A world without imperfection and chaos, would be a world where dreams are fulfilled in the first attempt, where everything stays the way we leave it, where nothing breaks or fails, and everything remains immaculate. This would be the same world without a need for progress and growth, without science, innovation and creativity trying to improve our lives, a monotonous one without efforts to reduce the distortions. The existence of chaos, disorder or entropy is what keeps us on our toes and makes our life purposeful.
John Green, in his book, Looking for Alaska, says, “Everything that comes together falls apart. Everything. The chair, I’m sitting on. It was built, and so it will fall apart. I’m going to fall apart, probably before this chair. And you’re going to fall apart. The cells and organs and systems that make you - they came together, grew together, and so must fall apart. The Buddha knew one thing science didn’t prove for millennia after his death: Entropy increases. Things fall apart.”
As you read this, pick yourself up, embrace the chaos, the inevitable entropy, clean up the messy room yet again, reheat that cup of tea and accept the imperfect.
shazuks@gmail.com
( The writer is an advocate at Punjab and Haryana high court, Chandigarh)
