by jgl – 12 July 2022
The Universe is totally orderly. It’s ruled by the laws of physics…many of which we know,
even though many of the details remain a mystery. One of these basic laws is entropy…in nature all systems break down. That is the natural order of things. It’s a plodding, predictable process. The explosion of a supernova may look chaotic, but it isn’t. However, a human sitting quietly on a chair is a seething cauldron of contradictory, living, biochemical activity in contrast to the comparatively sedate, inanimate supernova.
Life is chaos. Life is the only disorderly system in the universe. It actively fights against entropy. Take our immune system, for instance. Life tries to repair itself. Life also actively tries to replicate itself with thousands of genes per species genome. Volcanoes, tectonic plates, solar flares, and galaxies do not try to either repair or replicate themselves. They simply disintegrate without complaint.
Living organisms comprise an infinitesimally tiny percentage of the mass of the Universe and contain perhaps even a smaller percentage of the energy of the universe. If the mass and energy of living organisms on Earth were spread out uniformly even in just our tiny solar system, they would be undetectable…unlike those distant, cold asteroids in the Kuiper Belt. Thus, we have no idea how common life may be in the universe. All we do know is that there doesn’t seem to be any lurking around us anywhere within many light years .
These observations help us understand why our lives, towns, countries, and cultures are so desperately chaotic. The most chaotic substance in our solar system is packed into a space that’s 36 billion times smaller than our solar system and 330,000 times smaller even than our Sun.
Let us not wonder why our lives and cultures are such a living mess. Let’s just all be very glad that they aren’t worse. Better yet, encourage the only three elements in our natures that can turn down the chaos…Empathy, Reason, and Humanism. All other human mental processes add substantially to the chaos. Do not do unto your neighbors that which you would want done unto yourself. Rather, do unto your neighbors that which they would want done unto themselves. This caveat does not apply, of course, if your neighbor is a masochist or psychopath or is otherwise mentally befuddled. Then you must apply Empathy, Reason, and Humanism to determine what is best for that person. If you’re not sure… don’t do anything. As Hippocrates said: “The first principle is to do no harm”.
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BILLY’S NOTES :
I deeply appreciate this “Cup of Wisdom” from my dear friend “jgl”. We basically think alike. While I promote “BE NICE ME. NO HURT EACH OTHER”. (See recent post: “TWO PLUS YEARS OF FRIENDSHIPOLOGY – WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?”), he quotes Hippocrates’ “THE FIRST PRINCIPLE IS TO DO NO HARM.” CHEERS !
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