August 26, 2013

ISIQ-0236

“We live in a rainbow of chaos.” – Paul Cezanne

Despite having a deep contentment about life, and its direction, I feel like I am swimming through a rainbow-coloured cacophony of chaotic colour and movement. (And alliteration. Huh.)

Interestingly, my immediate reaction when I found this quote, was: “Perfect! That’s just how I feel right now.”

The thought that followed straight afterwards was: “Right. Now, how do I fix this chaos, so it becomes a little more orderly?”

Next: “Hmmm. Might have to make tonight’s IQ writing a short one, so I can get some sleep, exercise tomorrow, and kick ass at turning my chaos into order.”

But I wonder.

Firstly, is the chaos ever likely to lessen? Probably not. I simply look to nature to give me half a clue on this one. Everywhere, plants are trying to bring natural chaos back to human-created order. (Take a look at any footpath, any old/abandoned building, any disused road.) Gardening is, in essence, exactly that pursuit – creating order out of chaos.

(Side note: nature does not create straight lines. Antonio Gaudi, the famed Spanish architect, and creator of, among others, the Sagrada Familia church, recognised this. His architectural works are largely devoid of straight lines, and instead have beautiful curves throughout. He shaped the chaos of nature into a more orderly form, while still being true to nature’s inherent chaos. He is also my favourite architect ever.)

Secondly, is creating order out of chaos even a worthy goal, in and of itself? Again, probably not. Drawing on Buddhist / Zen theories of “non-attachment” and other spiritually-based pursuits of mindfulness and gratitude, I suspect the higher-order goal is more along the lines of: “Just go with the flow.”

Thirdly, and importantly, is chaos a bad thing anyway? Again, not at all. The chaos in our lives forces us to learn, to live, and to innovate. This is a good thing.

To quote a wise gentleman by the name of Harold Leslie Smith: “You learn something new every day. And if you don’t, you’re not trying.”

(That was my Grandfather, on my Dad’s side. Might have to make an IQ out of that one sometime soon. Wise old bugger, he was. Full of sayings.)

To resolve, conclude, and otherwise complete this evenings’ rambling paragraphs:

Get down, dirty and funky with chaos. It lives here permanently – we’re just visiting.

With chaotic love,
Israel. xo

PS Sorry about the weird time-lag on today’s IQ. I don’t know what caused it. Apparently my email hosting provider thinks that sending emails a trifling 6 hours after they’re scheduled is a good thing. Who knew?!

PPS Thanks to my friend Kate and her hubby Ian who booked tickets for my Canberra seminar. (High fives! Can’t wait to catchup again!) If you missed the link, here it is again. I’d love to see you there. By the way, while this is a paid seminar, tickets are only $22 each and I’m only aiming to cover venue hire costs, so I’m essentially giving this material away for free – that’s how important I think it is. If you’re curious, and can spare a couple hours, drop in. It’ll be transformational. :)

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