Have you ever noticed how most of us have canned responses loaded and ready to the question “How are you doing?”
Fine. I’m okay. Awesome. Today was a horrible day.
Responses quickly become conditioned and habitual and have a way of becoming self-fulfilling prophecies.
Most of the time, “How are you doing?” is nothing more than a formality, and I think it’s fair to say askers are not expecting an essay on the existential musings of a wistful summer breeze.
Occasionally, though, you get a response that’s a little out of the ordinary.
Whenever I asked my naturopath how he was doing, he would inevitably respond with “I’m always good.”
That’s different!
As I got to know him better, I began to see that he was very intentional with his language. He would say “sadness” in place of “depression.” Most of us are quick to label our feelings as depression, but in his world, depression indicated a serious medical condition, so he wasn’t one to casually throw around a term like that.
He also beat cancer using his methodologies. Let that sink in.
So, I thought to myself…
As someone who’s studied the power of words and has even given presentations on the topic (see below), shouldn’t I also be mindful of the words I speak into existence?
Almost without fail, my response to “How are you doing?” is now “I’m always good.”
We live in a complicated world. We live complicated lives within a complicated human landscape. Our complicated lives are made more complicated by the complicated biological, ecological, zoological, psychological, socio-economical, political, technological, and cosmological realities we interact with every day.
“Interact” may be too kind of a word to use in many of these cases. So often, too often, we don’t really interact. We’re more likely to react to the overwhelming realities that surround and often dominate us.
For complicated people like us, reacting is often the least complicated thing we’ll ever do. Reacting doesn’t make us simple, except perhaps for the simple conclusion we often reach as we react to the overwhelming reality – that complicated equals chaos.
By definition, chaos makes no sense. We are persuaded, even conditioned, to believe that our inability to make sense of these massive complicated realities renders the whole hot mess an expression of massive chaos.
Of course, if it is chaos, it’s probably also massively random as well. The most recent and fashionable new meme for this chaos is called the Law of Unintended Consequences. Does it really seem sensible, beyond our desire to appear intellectual, philosophical, or even spiritual, that the gentle beating of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil can set off a catastrophic tornado in Texas? That feels like an unintended consequence, which could only be verified if you were able to ask the butterfly its intention.
In this episode of The Question podcast, you will hear highlights from Frederick Tamagi’s presentation on “The Message of Symmetry”, as well as the music of David Andrew Wiebe.
Thank you for listening!
What questions will you be taking with you after listening to this episode?
We encourage you to connect with us via social media:
In 1963, Edward Lorenz was a meteorologist, a mathematician, and a recognized father of Chaos Theory. The scientific definition of “chaos” is when the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future.
Chaos Theory, which was of Lorenz’ invention, seeks to articulate the mathematical relationship of the approximate present to the approximate future.
A classic Chaos Theory predictive exercise is around the throwing of dice. Every time you throw the dice, there will be a different outcome. Chaos Theory seeks to measure and analyze the different conditions under which a different outcome for dice-throwing takes place.
Even if a person stands in exactly the same spot and thinks they’re throwing the dice in exactly the same way, with exactly the same hand position, arm position, force, they can never get the same outcome. They always come up with different numbers.
Chaos Theory contemplates the fact that there are minute small changes – even ones we cannot see and detect – that determine multiple outcomes.
Dr. Lorenz introduced a new mathematical model that has forever changed the way we look at everything, from climate science, to social science, to quantum mechanics.
The scientific foundation of this new model was articulated in a revolutionary academic paper that Lorenz entitled Deterministic Non-Periodic Flow.
The mathematical foundation of the new model was a system of underlying equations called The Lorenz Attractor, which he developed to analyze and plot the possible future impact of minute changes to conditions in the present. Lorenz invented a method to plot how the approximate present might impact the approximate future.
By 1972, Lorenz had further developed his chaos base mathematical system and presented an even more famous academic paper to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This paper was entitled Does The Flap Of A Butterfly’s Wings In Brazil Set Off A Tornado In Texas?
Lorenz proposed that the tiny atmospheric changes caused by a single butterfly flapping its wings could prompt a chain-reaction of multiple and exponential atmospheric changes, that taken together, could ultimately determine the creation and position of a major tornado event.
In this historic academic paper, Lorenz illustrated the possible implications of what became known as The Butterfly Effect.
In this episode of The Question podcast, you will hear highlights from Frederick Tamagi’s presentation on “Butterfly or Tornado”, as well as the music of Hello Moth.
Thank you for listening!
What questions will you be taking with you after listening to this episode?
We encourage you to connect with us via social media:
We live in a complicated world. We live complicated lives within a complicated human landscape. Our complicated lives are made more complicated by the complicated biological, ecological, zoological, psychological, socio-economical, political, technological, and cosmological realities we interact with every day.
