May 9th

Uncertainty


Kicking a pebble by the side of the road,
Watching it tumble pell-mell.
Chance and randomness become order.

There is chance in this world. Things happen randomly. When a pebble is accidentally kicked down the hill, there was no arrangement, there was no plan. It simply happened -- a colliding of bodies. Some people argue that there is order to this universe, asserting that "God doesn't play dice." What is the relationship of order and disorder?We might say that randomness becomes order. There might be an overall framework to things -- like procreation, for example -- but within that framework, we have the random combination of cells that accounts for the vigor and creativity of the system. By the same token, we may have some constants to a system, such as gravity, but within the constraints of that system, there is chance. One wonders if this means that everything tends toward disorder.
For this to be true, there would have had to be order in the first place. Where did it come from? How was it imposed? Or was there always disorder and chance inherent in the universe, and did they somehow become part of the fabric of reality? Those who follow Tao say that there is no definitive way to resolve this question. They are more interested in accepting the fact that there is always uncertainty in the universe and working with that. For them, incorporating uncertainty into life is at the heart of Tao. That is when they feel the most human.

Personal Interpretation

Uncertainty is part of life. Followers of Tao worry less about why this is so than most other spiritual adherents. They embrace the truth of chance in the universe. That is enough. But what is the relationship of order and disorder? Perhaps our understanding of chaos can come to color our worldview. Does the universe tend toward chaos? Was there once order or is chaos inherent in the design of things? Whatever decision we come to, the acknowledgement of uncertainty means that free will matters. Nothing is predetermined. It is our decisions that will ultimately determine the flow of our lives.