Beauty as Action

When a truth rusts, a companion betrays, or your sanctuary crumbles—it is time to dig into your well of courage and recognize that the cycle is evolving. Call it winter, transition, shadow, or death—whatever resonates with you. It is a necessary part of the only constant: change. We evolve.

Our modern culture has tried to bury this inevitability in elaborate layers of illusion. As chaos theory teaches, it is not chaos that falls from some mysteriously previous order but order that spews forth from the primeval chaos. The isness gloriously and unashamedly starts with a messy, unorganized clamor.  

To Practice Honoring Entropy

1. Expect it. Since the cycle of birth/death/rebirth is inherent in all living systems, don’t pretend it will not be an integral part of your own experiences. Plan for it, even. I am not just talking about the usual run-of-the-mill sort of planning like writing a will and so on. Remember the old saying, “This too shall pass”? We usually invoke it about an unhappy event. But it is also a good thing to remember during the happy times. Planning for the end of a cycle means remaining conscious that even the good, sweet, happy times shall pass. We can only hope those passings will be more of an intermission!

2. So practice remembering “this too shall pass.” It can be an effective guard against taking those happy events for granted, the difficult ones too hard. There will always be a cycle; it will always include entropy.

3. Practice honing your abilities to be responsive and flexible in the face of those changes requiring dissolution of some sort. Think of job loss and divorce. Both involve major dissolutions of relationships, as well as perhaps status and economics. One’s sense of independence and ability to care for oneself are the abilities to keep honed.