Psyche Question

[mervap]

This is kinda off the wall...my sis (amature psychologist) loves to pose philosophical questions. The other day she asked this:
Do you think that the natural state of the world is chaos?

-OR-

Do you think that the natural state of the world is calm?

I totally gave her a flip answer...I said, "There is a long way between chaos and creation if you don't say which one of these you're gonna choose." She not a Macca fan and had no idea I'd lifted that. But it did start me thinking...it's a classic glass half full/empty question. Personally, I think the natural state of the world just IS...whatever it is really depends on your perspective. I'd be interested to hear what true Macca fans think.

[mommasturn]

I would say chaos because the world is ever changing and evolving. Even in the most serene places on earth there is chaos on some level. We may feel at ease, but in nature there are constant battles to survive. That I think is chaos.

People's place in the world could be either. Most of times are chaotic but we are always trying to find the calm. And when we do it is wonderful. But this world will never be a state of calm.

[2 of 3]

Not with humans running the store. Funny how we never learn a thing from History. Might as well stop teaching it in school.

[mervap]

Funny you should say that, 2...my favorite subject! However, I was in the distinct minority...one could watch the news all the time and not be able to understand the events of the day without a bit of historic perspective.
It is strange how some folks seem to prefer their lives to be chaotic...and then try to export that by 'stirring the pots' of others. There's a guy at work...he's a nice dude most of the time, but he can't let a day go by without starting some kind of rumor or something just to 'shake the cage' a bit. He says he's just having fun, but I fail to see how that can be so...

[Crisstti]

I'd say chaos... at least tending to chaos...

[chris]

i'm going to go against the grain here and say calm. heres why...

there is a difference between calm and utopia. no world is a perfect world.

we have moral values which tell us right from wrong.

when one goes against a moral value, society is shocked by our behavior.

there are laws keeping us from committing crimes against humanity.

when one commits a crime, the authorites protect society by punishing the criminal.

we have a justice system in place to punish those who deserve punishment, and also to insure the innocent do not get wrongfully punished.

it may not be a perfect system but it is, indeed a system. society will never be able to control human behavior. they tried once (it was called communism) and it failed. if we don't approve of the way things are working, we have elections to voice our opinion and change those who are in office.

but we can set up a basic rule system. and try to follow it as best as we can. is it perfect? no. but we try. and if trying is as good as we can do. then lets celebrate the calm, while we have it.

chaos, on the other hand, would be uncontrollable. people doing what they want, whenever they want to...without consequence. who could live in a world like that?

maybe i am a glass is half full kind of guy. but in spite of all that is wrong with the state of the world, and believe me, there is plenty wrong. i believe there is inherent good in people. and that people (most, anyway) want to make the right decisions, want to do the right thing . when one makes a bad decision, it is us who point and say...ahh ha! you are bad. we are the self correcting society, or at least we try to be. as long as we keep trying...i have a vote for calm.

[Crisstti]

The theme of human nature is so complex... is it good, is it bad, neither...?. Do people really wnat to do what is right?. Because if one looks at certain situations, and sees how people (most people) have in fact behaved, in a situation in which there wasn't a sense of acountability, it's shocking to see that often most people act in ways one would think only a few would. There are plenty of examples in History: slavery, the red army in Germany, the Abu Ghraib prison... who said that society has a sistem of values that is only based on self-convenience?, I think it was Hobbes. And his theory is very interesting.

I don't wanna be a pessimist about human nature, though. After all, even in those situations in History, there was people who, against was everyone was doing, against what was considered acceptable, said it was wrong and tried to do the right thing.

Sometimes it seems to me there is some fragile state of calm... and sometimes it seems to me that that isn't more than some sort of illusion, that covers the chaos...

[Genuine_Indian_Guru]

The world itself is and always has been in a natural state of calm.
The Chaos is and always has been man made.

[mr h atom]

thunderbolts and lightning (very, very frighteneing )

earthquakes...tsunamis....tornadoes.....hurricanes

landslides...mudslides...avalanches...volcanoes

killer bees...red fire ants...pirhana... great white sharks

lions...tigers...bears...(oh, my !)

the plague....malaria....


....man....

with enlightenment...we carve out the calm from the chaos...

without it...we are swallowed whole

[mervap]

earthquakes...tsunamis....tornadoes.....hurricanes

You forgot SMOG, Elmer!

with enlightenment...we carve out the calm from the chaos...

without it...we are swallowed whole

So true!!