Chaos Theory
Dr. Sattler, Dr. Grant, you’ve heard of the chaos theory? No? Non-linear equations? Strange attractions? — Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park
Entering Barnes and Noble, beyond the familiar fragrance of Veranda Blend and 10′ tall NOOK display, you’ll notice a table of books aimed at helping their readers improve. Regardless of the scope of improvement, personal or professional, most of these books have one thing in common–they involve a plan.
Building a home requires a blueprint. Running a project involves a work plan. As students, we were coached on the Five Ps–prior planning prevents poor performance.
Having a plan gives us a roadmap for the eventual completion of complex or challenging activity with the unspoken assumption that events will go as planned. The irony is no matter how carefully we plan, the longer the distance to completion, the less certain the intended outcome is. Enter Malcolm’s chaos theory.
Chaos theory tells us we cannot predict the future no matter how well we plan for it.
Robert Burns knew this. And John Steinbeck after him. The plans of men (and mice), no matter how well laid, are always subject to the unexpected.
This unpredictable element comes in many shapes and sizes. It comes with varied frequency. It is–by its very nature–random. In the movie, Malcolm also says “Life finds a way.” Objectively, as living beings, we are as much actors in chaos theory as we are subject to it.
Our challenge then, as always, is not a question of planning but of character. It is our character, manifest in our choices, that determines how we will weather the unexpected twists and turns with which we are presented.
When we approach the future with confidence of character, the magnificent unpredictability of life shifts from something we must attempt to control to something that we can be witness to…maybe even revere.
