Before a great vision can become reality there may be difficulty. Before a person begins a great endeavor, they may encounter chaos. As a new plant breaks the ground with difficulty, foreshadowing the huge tree, so must we sometimes push against difficulty in bringing forth our dreams.
“Out of Chaos, Brilliant Stars are Born”
Nothing in the world can change from one reality into another unless it first turns into nothing, that is, into the reality of the between-stage. And then it is made into a new creature, from the egg to the chick. The moment when the egg is no more and the chick is not yet, is nothingness. This is the primal state which no one can grasp because it is a force which precedes creation. It is called chaos — Martin Buber
Chaos should be regarded as extremely good news — Chogyam Trungpa
“Chaos in the world brings uneasiness, but it also allows the opportunity for creativity and growth.” — Tom Barrett
“Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish.” — Chuck Palahniuk
“Chaos is a friend of mine.” — Bob Dylan
“An eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a facade of order – and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order” –Douglas Hostadter
“Chaos in the midst of chaos isn’t funny, but chaos in the midst of order is.” — Steve Martin
“Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds.” — George Santayana
“Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit” — Henry Brooks Adams
“Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting.” — Alan Dean Foster
“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“Oh, God, why don’t I remember that a little chaos is good for the soul?” — Marilyn French
“We live in a rainbow of chaos.” — Paul Cezanne
“If we wish to make a new world we have the material ready. The first one, too, was made out of chaos.” — Robert Quillen
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There is much order in perceived chaos, and much chaos in perceived order. To bring forth one or the other, adjust perception accordingly.
Chaos
At her brilliant blog Changing Places, Donna Woodka has posted a marvelous collection of quotations about chaos, quotations that bridge the traditional and mathematical uses of the word. Here are a few I found especially illuminating, but be sure to
[…] state which no one can grasp” because it is a force that precedes creation; it is called chaos. It is the same with the sprouting seed. It does not begin to sprout until the seed disintegrates […]