Disorder Is Natural, Order Is What We Need

All things in life tend to disorder and chaos.

The second law of thermodynamics states that as one goes forward in time, the net entropy (degree of disorder) of any isolated or closed system will always increase (or at least stay the same).

Entropy is simply a measure of the disorder in the universe and understanding its principle can help us make life more simple.

Let’s think about it in practical terms…

What would happen to our bodies if we stopped giving any food and water to it?

What would happen to our houses if we stopped cleaning it and taking care of it?

What would happen to our societies if we suddenly banished all the rules, regulations and lost the people that manage everything?

Chaos, chaos, and chaos.

“The ultimate purpose of life, mind, and human striving: to deploy energy and information to fight back the tide of entropy and carve out refuges of beneficial order.” -Steven Pinker

To progress in life we must keep things organized.

If they are left unchecked, they will always move towards destruction.

We can’t expect anything to stay the way we leave it and only by deploying energy we can do something about it.

That’s why we eat.

That’s why we clean our houses.

That’s why we have people creating laws and making sure everything is in order.

It’s a never ending process and if we think there’s an end to it, it’s mere delusion.

But why is this so powerful to understand?

When we realize that disorder is not a mistake but the default, we can then start expecting more of it.

And this simple realization comes with another realization.

That we are the ones responsible for maintaining order.

If we don’t do anything to maintain order, we can be sure that disorder will follow. That’s just how it works.

That is true for our environments, relationships, businesses, bodies, and very importantly, for our minds.

I meet so many people confused in their thoughts, not knowing what to do, procrastinating and not knowing why, feeling lost and stuck.

That’s what happens when we don’t pay attention to where we are putting our attention and we let our minds wander everywhere.

It’s naturally drawn to disorder.

It seems obvious but, if we want an organized mind we should spend time and energy organizing the mind.

After understanding this truth we now have the power to influence our destiny.

We become active forces in life, not passive.

Because now we know what will happen if we don’t take responsibility over our lives and if we let luck decide what happens: Chaos.

And this is very important to be remembered not only when things are chaotic but also when there’s order. That’s the moment when people get delusional and think things will be just fine as is.

Remember this.

Take responsibility for mitigating its effect.

And avoid a life of huge ups and downs.