The Experience of Chaos

There are times when life hits us with a whack and emotional chaos ensues.  Something comes out of the blue or something happens for which we are unprepared.  These experiences knock us off our center. We lose our clarity as we struggle to find our way to a new normal.

The most distressing part is the emotional chaos. Conflicting emotions and thoughts are experienced all at once. We become reactive. Our mind is flooded with anger, anxiety, frustration, worry, insecurity, doubt and obsession. We are unable to move forward on dreams and goals because we don’t know how things will turn out. We are confused. The worry and anxiety that come with intrusive thoughts, sensations and images can feel overwhelming.

We are taught that chaos is bad, and we try to flee.  At its worse, we feel that we have failed somehow because our efforts at keeping order in our lives haven’t worked.

However, if we shift our perspective slightly, we can see that this journey of chaos and confusion is a process of self-organization towards a new normal and new way of being.

Cymatics

The work of Hans Jenny, a Swiss scientist contributed to the central image for me during my training as a Jungian Analyst in Zurich.   Dr. Jenny experimented with subjecting plates of sand to various sound wave frequencies.  As the frequency changed,  sand spontaneously formed into new and more complex mandalas. Mandalas are universally known to reflect wholeness.  In between each image,  there was chaos when all the sand vibrated without a definite shape.  Here is the link to a YouTube Video  Individually and collectively, this image gives us an idea of the message this time offers us.

Jung on Chaos

C.G. Jung experienced in his own version of chaos during the time that he was working on The Red Book: Libra Novus. As Sanford Drob writes:

“Chaos,” in the sense of a disorganized and disorganizing confrontation with the unconscious, plays an important role in the Red Book, as it does in Jung’s later work. Perhaps inspired by Nietzsche’s aphorism in Zarathustra that “one must have chaos if one is to give birth to a dancing star,” Jung determined to welcome chaos as the vehicle through which he would encounter his own soul.

Here is Jung in his words:

“There in the world of chaos dwells eternal wonder….Man belongs not only to an ordered world, he also belongs to the wonder-world of his soul. Consequently you must make your ordered world horrible…”

 

“Everything inside me is in utter disarray. Matters are becoming serious, and chaos is approaching. Is this the ultimate bottom? Is chaos also a foundation? If only there weren’t these terrible waves. Everything breaks asunder like black billows”

 

The descent into chaos is perilous, but it also yields great rewards: “If one opens up chaos, magic also arises”.

As Jung has shown us,  emotional chaos is the first step in the process of transformation.  This first step is known as the “massa confusa” or “prima Materia” It is the time when all that needs to be transformed from the past rises up from the unconscious and needs to be examined.  We can embrace this as a time for self-reflection rather than reactivity.

Mastering our fear in uncertain circumstances

We do not have the power to control the circumstances around us. We do however have the ultimate power to look at and if necessary, change the way that we look at these circumstances.  In the moments of collective chaos, we need to master our fear. It is our fear that will cloud our judgments and limited our ability to make appropriate choices for ourselves.   Fear is linked to our autonomic nervous system. Our bodies will react instinctively to perceived threats. It is the fight or flight reaction that is built into our bodies.

Our ability to self-reflect allows us to embark on a journey of discernment. Is the fear that we are experiencing a tangible threat of not having enough money for food or to make ends meet or the fear of losing someone close to us? Or is our fear being driven by our thoughts and anticipatory worry?

Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, spoke of the “The Stockdale Paradox”. It was named after Vietnam war veteran and prisoner of war James Stockdale. Stockdale was able to stay alive because of two things that lay within his mindset.

“You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

Our fear contributes to our confusion about the current action to take. It clouds our judgment and limits our ability to be creative and to change our attitude or mindset when new circumstances arise.   We must understand our internal world and bring a lot of self-awareness into play. The more we understand what we are actually afraid of, then the more steps can be developed to take care of things in the future.

Movement into Clarity

The alchemical journey from confusion to clarity is portrayed as the movement from the blackness of confusion to the clarity of white. The alchemist called this albedo stage.

Here is Jung describing the process

“The dawn-state corresponds to the unconscious; in alchemical terms, it is the chaos, the massa confusa or nigredo; and by means of the opus, which the adept likens to the creation of the world, the albedo or dealbatio is produced, the whitening, which is compared sometimes to the full moon, sometimes to sunrise. It also means illumination, the broadening of consciousness that goes hand in hand with
the ‘work’

This is the birthplace of clarity.

Marie Forleo writes:

“ Clarity is everything. Clarity is power. If you don’t know exactly what you want, how are you going to get it? You can’t hit a target that you can’t see. So a great mantra to live by when you’re unclear is this: Clarity comes from engagement, not thought.”

We need to find out what is valuable and meaningful in our lives not just what is convenient. Thus, clarity is found from self-awareness and self-reflection, and connecting with ourselves and others in a meaningful way.

Our core values are what matter.  One of my core values in personal growth and integrity and I try to put these values into practice every day. It is how I measure if I am living a well-lived life.

The Power of Choice

Through finding our clarity, we have access to a fundamental power of our human experience: the power to choose.   Choices can be unconscious – that is we don’t choose and then we make an unconscious choice; it is still a choice.

It is easy in the moments of fear and vulnerability, that choice is very powerful when it is linked to our values Through the process of moving from chaos to clarity comes with the ability to choose. So many choices that are available to us. The most power is how do you look at the circumstances that are facing right now.

Questions for reflection

What are your core values and how can you use them as an anchor right now?
How are you going to respond in the moment?
Where are you going to focus my efforts?
What really needs to be addressed right here and right now?
What gifts are in the moment of the crisis?

Copyright Christina Becker
March 2020

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