Chaos Theory

Ok, so in my college experiences, I have taken a lot of courses that have altered my life a lot, made me think outside of the box and have experienced a lot of life situations that have "forced" me to change my close-minded view. I am taking a course this Jan-Term called Chaos Theory. I think that already, this class is going to have a big impact on my life. This was the first week that the class started, and I was already intruiged by the subject, but today, it was like God smacked me upside the head with something that I always knew, but couldn't really accept. My teacher is Jack Burns, so I'll just call him Jack for now, but basically, today in the middle of class, he was discussing this theory about how there are three different stages in which an organization can be it. The first is the "equilibrium" stage or the "implosion" stage. This stage reflects an organization that is secure; and by secure, I mean that the organization is stuck on its long term plan and is not willing to make any changes along the way. The reason why this stage is also called the implosion stage is because any organization that stays in this stage will evenutally implode and die. The reason why?? -THINGS CHANGE. Not a single person can predit the long term future of an organization. No one could have predicted that the 9/11 crisis would happen and what it would do to people in the U.S., nobody can say that they are going to be able to reach a certain point in the long-term future because life just doesn't happen like that. Accidents happen, changes happen, growth happens, destruction happens...it's all very ambiguous. The second stage is called "Chaos." The chaos stage can be depicted with a picture similar to what the results of a lie detector test look like, wavy, sporatic, and almost never consistent. Then above the wavy line there is the concept of the ultimate purpose of an organization. (Or mission statement as some people might call it.) Below the wavy line is the organization itself, either in hierarchical format or as Jack proceeded to draw it as, in circles with boxes surrounding each circle to represent the team members of the organization. Each Box on the circles represented one person in the organization and each box was connected to others and so on, symbolizing the relationships that each member of the organization had with eachother, as well as the relationships that people had with other people outside of the organization. Now, if you can picture this, and if I described this right, then I will be amazed haha, but if you can imagine taking a line from each of these circles, through the wavy line, and eventually all connecting to the purpose statement above the wavy line, then this may be clearer to you. But anyway, the interesting thing about this picture is that the wavy line is representative of all of the crazy stuff that life brings...the conflicts, the different personalities within an organization, the different talents, natural disasters that have an effect on the organization, etc. The list could go on. Jack explained that the waves within an organization are the keys to helping the organization survive and thrive. the purpose at the top of the picture is something cohesive that can bring the whole organization together as a whole, ideally. The circles below the waves cannot stay in their "dominant schema" or in lamen's terms, they can't stay with one way of doing things for so long without changing. Jack asked us, "have you ever been around a really creative person?" And we all raised our hands, and then he was like, "well, weren't they really annoying? How do you feel when your around somebody like that?" The class didn't know what to say. He characterized the extremely creative person as someone who was all over the place. They did their own thing, they messed up the order of things and made things uncomfortable within an organization. Immediately I started to process this information and relate it to my own life. I don't think of myself as an extremely creative person at all. I try to be logical and cool-headed about most things, and that's pretty much who I've tried to be. But the memory of a swim team experience in the past brought me to realize that I am one of those people who would manage my business in the "equilibrium" stage! :-O I thought of some people that were on the team that I just had the hardest time dealing with because I would always think that they were there solely to disrupt any kind of peace/unity that I wanted so badly for the team to have. I had to learn this the hard way though with experience throughout the past four years that I need to be flexible. I need to adapt. I need to be a person that is ok with change and that is open to learning new things. Now, I had definitely learned this lesson through the swim team by the end of my freshman year and have definitely found myself improving a lot on noticing when this happens, but to have had it spelled out so succinctly by my professor to me with that one example, I knew I could not be a leader unless I was willing to lose control. When an organization, yes, has a long term goal, but doesn't bank everything on that, and just takes things one day at a time within the "chaos" model, they are the most successful organizations and learn the most. The third stage is the "random" stage which was basically was all of the really creative people that were out in the world that wouldn't belong to any kind of organization that may have a very strong expertise in something, but are not willing to be within an organization. This stage wasn't all that exciting to me so I just ignored it haha. :) jk, jk. But still. :) So anyways, this whole lesson today made me really think about other aspects of my life that I have held in the "equilibrium" state, whether that be in my family, relationships, friendships, acquaintances, etc, you name it. The same basic concept applies. You gotta lose your life to live it. Such a good reminder of God's calling on us. I was very convicted. I really hope that God will remind me of this daily so that I will not lose sight of the fact that I have a mission in this world, and its not a mission that I can go on if I think that I am in control of it. Chaos is actually good for me. It is learning...we learn when we are in hard times, or at least I seem to think that....and the same can be said for when God brings us through trials...it's way harder, but it bears the most fruit. So with that, I am SO rediculously excited about life. Still nervous though...I'm not THAT good at giving up control and I know that some things take a little time, which God is VERY patient with me on that, but I'm very compelled to see if he will make a possible success out of all of my many failures.