The ancient philosopher, Pythagoras envisioned the universe as a harmoniously ordered whole, hence he called it the Cosmos which meant order and beauty. This order was perceived as harmony, as consonance between ourselves and the Universe.
All living forms on earth, with the exception of most human beings, willingly adhere to a living order, a sort of natural “code of conduct” respective of the universal laws that govern and serve life. This “code of conduct” found in what you might call our very own life’s “procedural manual” represents a universal truth that:
Life naturally proceeds and progresses in a proper and right order.
Order is an interesting concept in that it means to follow a procedure as well as a directive to obey. Order can mean a customary mode of procedure and it can mean a command, an authoritative direction. Order in nature means there are occurrences that are sequential, reliable, and dependable. It means the same for the human nature as well.
Perhaps the three most common words used by people in explaining their desires or justifying their behavior are: “in order to…” I did that in order to get this. It implies that there is a causal link between what we intend to do “in order to” achieve a certain result, or what we did through certain means that justifies the ends. In our lives we can assume a proper authority over our inner workings of our mental activity. We need to understand that there is in fact a right and proper working order to how our lives can proceed and progress that is in the higher interest of our well-being. The way we lead our lives and the direction we assume has much to do with the order that we follow.
The Natural Act of Order
All of nature adheres to an order. Nature knows in its own way that there are good rules to live and grow by. For example, if you plant a rose seed, and it has the essential elements for its growth, it will follow the natural course of its development. The seed is operating within an internal dynamic system that generates the order spontaneously. Within the right conditions, the seed will fulfill its purpose of becoming a rose. The order is a given, its free, meaning it does not have to be imposed or imported from outside the system. Nature does not challenge the order but instead follows the inherent process, and in doing so it is fruitful under “ripeful” conditions. Nature in fact is duty bound to the order and repetitive in doing what works as it is in constant movement toward perfection.
We on the other hand are in constant movement toward satisfaction. We are driven to satisfy our needs and desires and in doing so, we can create problems for ourselves as we negatively impact basic principles of healthy order in our lives. Hence, all conflict can be perceived as a loss of order and therefore all inner conflict is a disorder of the self. We know when this occurs when we feel fragmented and we sense a lack of unity of our self. On the other hand, we have a natural tendency toward having order in our lives and there are certain orienting mechanisms that we can be consciously aware of for self-directing our lives to regain and maintain its proper course. They are there to help us get our act together.
My next writing will present some of the mechanisms for righting ourselves.