Chaos versus Order
Café-Salon Philosophique #74
January 20, 2001
No. of Participants: 8
Topic of Discussion: "Chaos versus Order"
After welcoming everyone to the Café-Salon gathering, Samuel asked participants to share why they came to the discussion? Judy read about it in the paper and liked the topic, "The Meaning and Purpose of Life." Chris said she came because Judy "dragged her out of the house."
Ruth thought it would be enlightening to share in a philosophical discussion. Dorit and Michael came by personal invitation of Samuel. Rae is a regular participant in the discussions.
Participants were then asked to share topics of interest. Chris is really wondering, why are we here? She feels as though she has just been going through the motions of everyday life, and is "missing something." Judy has studied quantam physics and is interested in the chaos theory. Samuel asked her what she thought chaos was? To her, "chaos is complete disorder.""It is something that is truly undescribable." "Things are constantly changing and in motion." She thinks daily we assemble and disassemble our selves. (during sleep and wakefulness)
Michael says "we spend too much time concentrating on the physicality of things. We really are not what we think we are." "It appears we are solid masses just like this table, chair, and all these other objects around us, but, really we are just molecules in constant motion floating around in space," he said.
Dorit thinks "time is necessary" for considering how everything fits together. There are steps towards progressing in evolution which occur when one is in a learning process. It can be a real juggling act trying to balance the inner and outer worlds. The mental, physical and spiritual understanding of being are all important and need equal attention. If one, is neglected, then the rest of the organism can suffer. Our original being is cloaked by the centuries of masks, ego, and personnas.
Humans become trapped in living for the material world. We become self-occupied in fulfilling our outer needs, wants, and desires while neglecting the physical. We ignore body signals and let it run on "automatic." The hectic pace continues to escalate.
"What about the body? Who is it that resides in this body? What force activates the motion/stillness of it? What makes us "be"? Why do we neglect it so?" asked Samuel.
The group then "bounced" to Chris describing how she finds it hard to balance life. We use the excuse that we don't have time, but really we don't make the time. And then when we have it, we don't know what to do with it, so we are either bored or stay "busy."
Busy filling time. Even though entertainment can be boring, even though routines can be boring, even though we exhaust ourselves with athletics, outdoor adventures, shopping, etc, we continue.
Ruth has been thinking and would like to know, "How can one be conscious every moment? How can one live with total awareness, without the outside world affecting you and the shifts in mood making ?" She answered her own questions by saying, "it requires a conscious vigilance."
"You've got to know how to navigate the body in this chaotic, hectic world," said Samuel. "Who is the driver of the body vehicle anyway?" "I try to remember that every motion I make sets me up for making the next motion possible." "To me, motion just is, and there is no driver," said Judy.
"What is it that causes us to say and think differently than what we really say and do?" asked Samuel."Past conditioning," said Judy. "We learn to accept routine. We might ask ourselves the question, "there's got to be more to life than this, isn't there?" But do we really want to know the answer? "We do differently because we are not conscious all of the time," says Judy. "We are not open, honest and receptive with ourselves to see what's really happening," said Ruth.
"Our consciousness is free of concepts. It is what we hold onto that gets stuck," said Michael. "We have to be open to receiving without judgment." Rae agreed. It requires being centered and finding that inner, peaceful, calm place. Michael wishes he could find a way to maintain centeredness while working at his occupation, and for dealing with every day stresses of life.
Most people just give lip service in saying they want to discover a new way of being. If you really want to know, you will attract the teacher. If you don't really want to know, then you won't find it. You'll just continue on as before ignoring the signals.
"Some of us have a greater urge within us to know than others," said Samuel. This urge depends upon our willingness to want to change and learn. Personalities, roles and the ego get in the way. For the mass majority of people, the trends of Society dictate our way of being.
"We do not learn to believe in our selves," said Dorit. "We deny those instinctual inner urges of knowing." We ignore the mind and body signals. We all agreed that one definitely needs guidance to make order from out of the chaos. "The body is ordered, but, we are born into chaos," said Samuel. "We have to learn how to navigate the body through this world of chaos."
"Is the human race teachable? Are people open to change? Willing and able to take the time and patience for learning?"
The group then discuss how most of us would rather "explain, rationalize and talk about what's happening, rather than making changes happen."
Samuel has learned over the years as a teacher, there are three kinds of students.Those that need the "crack of the whip to respond," those that learn by the "intention" to crack the whip, and those who can be "looked at" and know to move with the intention of being hit. We all learn differently.
"We have to come to the edge of the asking, answering and speculation in order to begin the true business of knowing our selves." "We need to learn to swim in the other 95 senses rather than only the five that we know, in order to begin to discover the true nature and business of this universe," he said.
"Is there more to life than what we see?" "What is in the invisible?" "Is there another world? Other worlds?" Samuel "Who is the other? One in opposition?" "I don't know," said Judy. "Is there another?" asked Rae.
"Forms change all the time. We are endless change. Even though we are in this form, the human body container, we don't have to grab on to all the concepts that are floating around out there," said Michael
"In my line of work - mime, "the mime has to know how to touch the invisible - sculpting and forming images for a reflection to humanity," said Samuel.
The group then "bounced back" to discussing how "no change will happen unless we learn to cultivate our inner worlds." But, because of the overinflated egos, the desire to control, divide and conquer, we will continue to miss the true knowing of the creative process.
People are asleep out there. "They are not open to the concepts of creative learning. It is too strange and different in this competitive, material world," said Michael. "Talking about and thinking that we know, is more acceptable that being honest and open with our selves." So we stay in the ruts, routines and go along with the crowd.
Ignorance, fear and acting out are a reaction, that we as individuals use for self preservation and protection for the ego self. Most of us don't want to change because we think we will be losing something. Without our ego self, we think we will have no point of reference. When we learn, we think we are out to "prove" something - our intelligence, our existence, our status, our beingness. Who's ap-proval do we need? And, for what?
Our discussion concluded with Samuel asking participants what they had learned tonight?
Judy wants to "try and prevent accidents." Dirot's sense of wonder was increased. Michael felt as though he was exposed to infinite possibilities. Ruth appreciated the discussion being at a higher level. Chris was glad to meet new people and make the connection. The discussions always challenge my senses of awareness.
Our next Café-Salon gathering will be held February 3, 2001 at the Boulder Book Store at 1107 Pearl St. in Boulder, CO. Start time is 6:30 p.m. Invite your friends! Bring a new and exciting topic.
Reported by Alessandra
