The Blessings of Chaos

"We live in a rainbow of chaos."

Paul Cezanne

I was in a panic! After spending literally hundreds of hours trying to refine a paper for my BYU doctorate policy class, I felt both my mind and my paper were in chaos. I was at my wits end on how to pull it all together in a way that would make a difference. After all, I wasn't just writing this paper for a grade. This paper was about my passion--How to improve the academic achievement and success of Hispanic learners.

While in the midst of this chaos and thinking all was lost I remembered some lessons I had learned in the past about the fact that chaos can actually be a good thing so I went on a google search to learn some good things about chaos, and I found some "gems."

First: The origin of chaos and what it means

In Greek religion and mythology chaos means vacant, unfathomable space. From it arose all things, earthly and divine. There are various legends and myths explaining it. In one, Gaea sprang from Chaos and was the mother of all things. Then Lord Bryon reminds us, "Out of chaos God made a world."

Second: Great things can come from chaos:

• Creativity/ Creation/ Invention

"No chaos, no creation. Evidence: The kitchen at mealtime." Mason Cooley

"Invention, it be humbly admitted, does not consist of creating out of void, but out of chaos." Mary Shelley

"Art is the triumph over chaos." John Cleaver

"I have a great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift." Septima Poinsette Clark

"Confusion is the welcome mat at the door of creativity." Michael Gelb

"Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not yet invented." Henry Miller

"The things we fear most in organizations--fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances--are the primary sources of creativity." Margaret J. Wheatley

• Genius

"All genius is a conquering of chaos and mystery." Otto Weininger

• Discoveries

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." A. A. Milne

• Order

"A flock of birds may dart this way or that. The directions seem randomly chosen, but in the end, all of the birds land on the branches of the same tree. They are not scattered all over the landscape thudding into the ground at random trajectories and velocities. Out of the chaos comes order." Tom Barrett

So what should one do with chaos?

1. Overcome fear of chaos.
2. Understand that "every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction." Pablo Picasso
3. "It is important to do what you don't know how to do. It is important to see your skills as keeping you from learning what is deepest and most mysterious. If you know how to focus, unfocus. If your tendency is to make sense out of chaos, start chaos." Carlos Castaneda
4. "The key to achieving competitive advantage isn't reacting to chaos; it's producing that chaos. And the key to being a chaos producer is being an innovative leader." Ed McCracken
5. Mine for the great ideas within the chaos

"You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star."

Friedrich Nietzsche