Let's talk about CHAOS

And in mythology

Pagan Goddess ERIS

Eris (Ancient Greek: Ἔρις, "Strife") is the Greek goddess of chaos, strife and discord. Her name is translated into Latin as Discordia, which means "discord". Eris' Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Latin counterpart is Concordia.

Chaos Cosmology
Emptiness, vast void, chasm, abyss
Chaos represents represents disorder and darkness.
Use of chaos in the derived sense has meaning of "complete disorder or confusion".
Paganism - Chaos was the first of the primordial deities.

Khaos

KHAOS (or Chaos) was the first of the Protogenoi (primeval gods) to emerge at the creation of the universe. She was followed in quick succession by Gaia (Earth), Tartaros (the Underworld) and Eros (Love the life-bringer).

Khaos was the lower atmosphere which surrounded the earth - invisible air and gloomy mist. Her name khaos literally means the gap, the space between heaven and earth. Khaos was the mother or grandmother of the other substances of air: Nyx (Night), Erebos (Darkness), Aither (Light) and Hemera (Day), as well as the various emotion-affecting Daimones which drifted through it. She was also a goddess of fate like her daughter Nyx and grand-daughters the Moirai

a reply to: FlyersFan

Chaos represents represents disorder and darkness

A more neutral and inclusive Chaos can represent change, because change always happens, and the unknown, which could be anything.

Chaos is more useful in imagination and thinking than in practical activity.

originally posted by: Semicollegiate
Chaos is more useful in imagination and thinking than in practical activity.

Chaotic thinking is a sign of schizophrenia and mental illness.

a reply to: FlyersFan

A mentally ill person is thinking normally with some defect in his physiology.

Is chaotic thinking possible?

Chaotic thinking would mean no cause and effect or no identity.

Human thinking is based on comparison. Are things the same or not.

Chaos is a concept in thinking and metaphysics, like entropy.

There is no chaos,
there is only that which is indeterminate by our limited sample diversity, frequency, and ability to interpret.
There is also the indeterminable, and unknown unknowns.
Laplase's deamon springs to minds as an interesting take on this.

originally posted by: rom12345
There is no chaos,
there is only that which is indeterminate by our limited sample diversity, frequency, and ability to interpret.
There is also the indeterminable, and unknown unknowns.
Laplase's deamon springs to minds as an interesting take on this.

It is possible that there is no chaos anywhere in the true metaphysics of actual reality.

But we don't know the true metaphysics.

Is the ultimate reality analog or digital? or something else?

Does time continue into the past infinitely?

Does time begin?

@flyersfan: Funny how the religion of ancient Greece is often referred to as paganism even though not just the word but the concept behind it didn't exist back then. Check out the first paragraph and you'll see what I mean. en.wikipedia.org...

But I am glad you brought mythology up on this topic. I like that polytheistic religious persuasions do not see positive and negative forces as good or evil, but rather simply aspects, albeit personified.

@flyersfan and semicollegiate regarding 'chaotic thinking': To my knowledge, no such symptom exists in any psychiatric, psychological, or neurological disorder. I would welcome to be corrected here as they are interests of mine. Schizophrenia is a thought disorder; thought in the disorder is termed 'confused thinking', which can be summed up as making associations which simply aren't there. Though I would consider the act of making choices to be chaotic, that is chaotic thinking, though that is not only debatable but currently under debate.

@semicollegiate's last post: In regards to your reply to rom12345, actually when you say we don't know the true metaphysics, that is more or less what rom12345 is saying, albeit he's saying we don't know the true physics. Though your stance on it rom12345 sounds deterministic. I'd posture that some indeterminable events aren't simply due to human and technological limitations, but because they are not deterministic, that is, chaotic in nature. Obviously there is no nor will there ever be a way to prove this. Were there, then they would actually be deterministic because they could be measured in some form or fashion. I know, circular argument, sue me. As far as what semicollegiate was asking of time, time is a dimension. Simple as that. We can experience only the present, because we are only aware of the present, that is to say we are not aware of the dimension of time. Were we, past, present and future would be as easily perceived as the here and now. Like all dimensions, take your keyboard for example, it seems to start at one end and end in another. Seems being the keyword here. In actuality, the keyboard's atoms are in interaction with the gravity and mass of other objects, even in air or the surface you set it on. So, where does the keyboard truly end or begin? The same thing can be said of people. The air we breath becomes a part of us when we breath it in, and we contribute to the air what we breath out. So, the very air around us can be said to be part of us, as are the trees and algae that produce oxygen, as the earth that maintains the gravity we need to not float into the void of space, as is the gravity of the sun for the earth and its light for all life... see where I'm going with this? So yes, time "starts" and "ends", but not truly. Nothing is truly isolated, according to string theory alone. The only way for it all to end is if the universe contracts to a single point. And guess what? It already did. Its called the big bang. That contraction exploded and created the universe we are in. That end was just another start. Well to be fair, there's also the expanding universe theory (what I just mentioned was contracting universe theory). This is the theory that the objects of the universe will move farther and farther apart until there is no gravitational interaction between them. But that would mean the end of life, not the universe, because there would still be particles of some kind, and from string theory, still interacting in some way, and thus, a possibility of not a true end. It all comes down to of all things a f***ing Smashing Pumkins song title, "The end is the beginning is the end". *shrugs*

a reply to: hk00107

Interesting reading

Your Chaotic Mind - Psychology Today

The Psychological Significance of Chaos and Disorder

Normally, we tend to flee from disorder and chaos; identifying chaos with evil anddestruction. We do our best to tidy it up and repress it. We tend to see disorder assomething left over from our efforts at making order, a passing phase on the way tofurther order, or just evidence of the general ‘cussedness’ of the world. However itmight be suggested that life is that which resists order and predictability, and so themore we are alive, the more unpredictable, and perhaps disordered, we may appear. Itmight even be worth wondering if spiritual, social and psychological growth maynecessarily involve living with chaos? If so, then taking disorder and chaos seriously,may allow us to transform our views of psychology and the world.

Chaos and disorder is a fundamental part of Jung’s theory, especially after he studiedalchemy, but it is often bypassed in our rush to psychological order. We cansummarise his position by saying that the experience of chaos, the
materia confusa,leads to transformation and is essential to transformation. What we will find at somestage in our lives is that the order that we wish to impose upon the world, or on theunconscious, no longer works – it may even produce further disruption – and that thisfailure portends the possibility of new life – or further distress; there is no sunnyunrealism in Jung. The whole ‘spirit’ is hidden in what we see as chaos and, as aresult, disorder is not to be feared, but to be investigated and listened to. The detritusand disruptions we tend to ignore may be significant and may inform us aboutourselves or about the world. This attempt to integrate, and listen to, chaos rather than to control it, or hide it, is a defining characteristic of Jungian thought

a reply to: hk00107

If there is any true chaos at all, it is bounded or contained or restricted.

Every action a person takes is based on an expectation of the near future. Sitting in a chair or grabbing a hamburger is like all human actions in that some time passes while doing it. Every human action is a prediction of the future. The only way to predict the future is if the important stuff follows the rules our brains are programed to process. Therefore, order is the majority of reality.

But why does everything exist in the first place?

At some point there is no cause, either because there was nothing to cause it, or because it always was.