Chaotic Interconnectedness
“Evolution can be conceived as a goal directed process insofar as it is part of a goal directed universe, an unfolding of potentialities somehow inherent in this Cosmos.” Robert Wesson – “Beyond Natural Selection”
We have all seen the beautiful and ornate patterns (reminiscent of psychodelia) generated by mathematicians and computers engaged in the exploration of Chaos Theory. We are told that the wind generated by the flapping of a Patagonian butterfly’s wing contributes to Grandma’s cooling apple pie falling inexplicably from a window sill in Echuca.
Jungian explorations of the psyche (Man and His Symbols) finds that certain animals and plants are archetypical and feature in the dreams of people from cultures in which they do not exist and who have or had no prior knowledge of their existence. Similarly the visions of ancient shamans from different continents contain identical elements and creatures. Archetypical too are the images of the hero, the fool, the quest which permeate everything from our subconscious to tarot decks to popular entertainment.
Dervishes, Timothy Leary, Shamans …………, seems that in order to access clarity and understanding we must induce an internal state mirroring universal chaos and allow it to swallow us.
Universal interconnectedness……, t’would seem that despite our vastly divergent paths we are all on the same trip. What has inspired this trip in the first place? What is the quest?
We are told that man is created in God’s image. Does this mean we aspire to be Godlike, or that at the centre of this universal cascade into complexity and chaos is an unfulfilled potential similar to that of humanity’s? In pursuing self knowledge are we looking to fulfill a quest set for us by a divinity seeking to acquire a greater understanding of its nature and compulsively exercising its unlimited potential?
“What if God were one of us…”, or you were one of him or her?
Chris
