What are Chaos and Void ?
29
WISDOM & SELF-GROWTH
When I wrote my newest book Once Upon A Place : Forests , Caverns , and Other Places of Transformation in Myths , Fairy Tales and Film , I realized how the ideas of Chaos and Void can actually support us as we grow and change .
What are Chaos and Void ?
These metaphors describe how we feel when we ’ re experiencing something that throws us for a loop . Such as , when your partner loses their job and on the same day your child gets sick , you lose your cell phone , and you get bad news about a friend . Your world is swirling with confusion and there is no way to make sense of things , much less make decisions . Life feels insurmountable , and you want to collapse and let someone else deal with it all .
Chaos , especially in stories and tales , is where everything is a jumble . Chaos implies loud noises , craziness , and feeling bewildered . Chaotic spaces are without borders , without rules , and full of discord and turmoil — lots of movement with no direction . In Chaos , there are no patterns and things feel disorganized . We feel lost , unguided , pathless . There are no rituals or ceremonies ; life seems minute to minute , busy , and without a plan .
We see it in movies in crowded city scenes or jungle scenes — think Jurassic Park . In Steven Spielberg ’ s adventure , the characters face everything frightening , all at once . Jurassic Park is isolated , formless , lawless , frightening , thick with a jumble of trees and branches and vines , loud with animal sounds , and virtually pathless . The sky , land , and water teem with creatures and there are no roads to take to leave .
And then , there is Void . Nothingness . In many ways , it is like Chaos because there are no roads , no paths , no signposts pointing the way . There are no colors , no rules , no laws .
29