Order
We have such peculiar ideas about order. We look at a street, and say it must be clean. Although to be clean of what, is up to many opinions. It could be clean of dirt, which always seem to gather. Or to be clean of people, or a particular kind of people, and from there arises hatred and fences. Or to be clean of traffic, but we don't seem to mind that at all. We also want the house to be orderly, to be clean, to wash the clothes. We put on perfumes to smell nice, because somehow smells of the body is totally unnatural and detested. Then, in our own minds, we dictate order. We say we must have certain knowledge, beliefs, prejudices. We must see the world a certain way. We must have certainty in the mind, so we predict and control. We are afraid of the unknown, the uncontrollable, so we make life into a repetition. Do this everyday. Have good habits. Or escape into the same pleasure, anger, work when a crisis comes. We have been through all this, haven't we? And do we have order?
What is order? We talk about order enormously. The politicians talk of law and order, and to them, order is to have a strong police, strong punishments, strong court, so people wouldn't dare infringe upon the law. Not only the politicians, the school teachers are the same. Their authority is absolute, and any attempt to dethrone them is an attack, and must be punished. We see children scolded, beaten, and is it all for the vanity of the teacher? The parents also, are always so authoritarian. The parents think they must be right. So many times, one goes to the parks, natural reserves, and listens to the father lecturing the child, about why this history matters, why this park is special, or about some historical figure and how they were brilliant and brave and so on. Why do we lecture? Why do we feel like what we know, others should know as well? Are we really so egotistic? Do we really think we are so important?
When we say one thing is important, and at its expense disregard others, disorder begins. Then we are in the field of conflict, fights, struggle. Then our life is the game of who is more important, whose opinion is more pleasing, whose army is bigger and whose name is more popular. Then we compare endlessly, trying to figure out the right way to life. Yet can the right way to life be found through comparison? When we so compare, between politicians, lovers, students, teachers, parents, workers, we do not love, right? There is no time to care, to observe, slowly, hesitantly, without judgement, because in comparison we are occupied with judgement. Aren't we judging all the time? Aren't we always comparing? This shoe against another. This person to another. For what? Why are we judging? Why must we always put a name, a label, some sort of description to every thing that exists?
When we so compare, we are really saying, that there is the more important and the less. The more important we are attached to, the less important we throw into the trash. So the poor man without food we don't look for a second, and actively avoid him, because he is utterly unimportant to us. So nature, with its grand and timeless beauty is only a passing sight, we snap a picture and go on with our daily struggle and conflict. Conflict, contradiction is disorder. We are in disorder. Through our constant comparison, we establish the hierarchy, the discrimination, the names, either pleasurable or vicious, so we sow the seed of resistance and violence. When we push another down, we cannot expect the other to not push back. Oppression is the beginning of resistance. No amount of force and power can establish a permanent empire, because the very nature of force means that rebellion is inevitable. When we dictate life, say it must be this way or that, then we invite disorder. Then we are caught in conflict, forever struggling, and never understanding how to end the struggle.
There must be the understanding, that no matter what one wishes or plans, it will only lead to disorder. To wish is to dictate life, to control life's direction. Our wishes are in the air, pervade the entire world. Our life, our society, is simply the competition between different wishes. One wish might come on top, have power over the rest for a while, until another take over. One group dominates another, until a rebellion topples it, and another group sits comfortably in power again. To have power over, to control, is to invite resistance. Will we let go of control? Of course, the necessary things for physical survival, like food and shelter, must be attained through control. But other than these things, which is really simple to do in our age, do we really need to control?
This means, do we need to control the future? Our career, family, friendship, fame, power. When we control its direction, we must be in the field of conflict. We must compete with others, fight for power and position. We must try to control another, either a family member or your spouse. We all know how it feels to be controlled, to be told what to do, don't we? Yet we spare no time, without consideration, go full tilt into control when there is something we want. This craving for the more, the better, is what brings about oppression and injustice, is the very beginning of disorder. To control another, either through money, blackmail, psychological influence, the slightest suggestion is the beginning of conflict, isn't it? How many times do we tell each other, you should wear makeup, you should dress this way, you should have more sex or less sex, you should read more, you should exercise, you should become like your father or mother and so on. Why are we so inclined to tell another what they should do? And we also listen to all the others who tell us what we should do. So in life, we end up telling each other what everyone should do. This is most of our life. It might be astonishing but this is a fact. Our life is organized by this factor, of the should and should not. We also tell ourselves all the time, when we cry that we should not cry, when we are angry that we should behave differently, when we disappoint another that we should change and so on. We seem to be forever discontented with ourselves and each other, right? So much discontent that it is incredible we are still functioning.
One carries the frustration at work to the home. When there is oppression from somewhere, unleash that oppressed energy to somewhere else, through violence, protests, slogans and so on. Disorder moves. It moves from one to another, from one country to another, and so our world is filled with it. To our children, we are teaching disorder. We are teaching them how to obey, control, dominate. We are teaching them the ways of conflict, contradiction, of being on top, competition. We are telling them, compare yourself, you are never enough, be better, stronger, more powerful, more erudite, and so on. How tiresome such a life is, and how routine, repetitive, boring it is. Endless conflict, in private and public, in the house or in the company, at the border or inside the city, and somehow we are justifying all this, we are letting this by, without some thoughtfulness, that maybe what we have been doing is utterly irrational, insane, and there can never be love, peace, or joy in the way we live, which is conflict, which is disorder.
What happens when there is no control? Why not find out? Without control then things happen anew, don't they? Then you deviate from the path you have always taken, and find out new things, things that you might never know existed. Life is short, so very short, and we waste it on competition, on our drive and goals, so the beautiful scenery, the lovely people and nature pass us by. Only without control, can love be. In control, there is only the self-imposed cruelty, the satisfaction of self-projected desire. Love is without the self. Selfishness destroys any sense of care and gentle attention. When one stop being the dictator of life, then life reveals itself to you. You can never order life, because life has its own law. We might study it, imitate it, but its constant newness and surprise is beyond any framework or theory, any utopia or hope. Life has its own order. Therefore, without control, one listens to it, to the subtle sounds, the beautiful movement either big or small. It is full of vitality, and its vitality needs no ego to be, no self to exist. One must see that the ego, or the self, is so small, petty, and therefore insignificant in life. Life and its immense movement can only be watched, without judgement and opinions. The secret is the obvious. There is no secret to life, because life is the secret, and we simply have no time or patience to listen to its story.
Cover photo by Aman Upadhyay on Unsplash
