nature's zodiac

Lets go around the circle and choose an animal, said the teacher. We were done with the djembe drums and were now moving on to a dance, using our bodies to sway to the lyrics created on the spot.

Animals animals in the land in the land.

Who has one?

Tiger

Tiii-ger tiiig-er roar roar roar roar; tii-ger to-ger roar roar roar roar.

The kids in the class ranged in age from two to seven. It was a moment of proud limelight when a shy two year old suggested kitty cat. And not a single kid was un-enthused to contribute.

And then, the animal choices got wildly specific and unique.

American Lynx!

Peregrine Falcon!

Krill!

They went way beyond the rolodex of animal-choice expectations I had in my mind. The popular pbs show Wild Kratts (Geo is a huge fan) may have some influence. Two zoologist brothers who enthusiastically explore and ‘try on’ the powers of animals around the globe.

But beyond this resource is a deeper truth; kids are hungry for detailed information. When curiosity is stoked (very effectively by the Wild Kratt maxim, ‘what if!’) then a most special hunger takes shape. A hunger for rich and detailed information.

I believe that the universe runs on this hunger, better summarized as curiosity. It is curiosity that allows us to stare with wonder into the abyss of possibilities. Who knows what specific treasures we may find, as searchers, as knowledge-builders.

The word chaos stems from the Greek word  “χαος” (khάos), which means  “gaping void” or “abyss”.

Beyond basic safety and structure, kids lean way into chaos. They take any chance they can get to shake off rigid and imposed order and move back to that fun abyss of possibility. Like a line from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse ‘you’ve landed in a place where anything can happen’. Oh to be free with rich possibilities, like the beginning of a novel before it gets saddled with irreversible plot turns.

The abyss of chaos is the fertile bank from which all things grow. The ‘gaping void’ is the information you are hungry for, like a detective in a rich and personal mystery. Meaningful details exist deep inside the abyss.

In his book, Order out of Chaos; Man’s New Dialogue with Nature, Nobel Prize-winning chemist and philosopher, Ilya Prigogine, writes,

“We grow in direct proportion to the amount of chaos we can sustain and dissipate.”

He says “Order arises from chaos.”

There is a rich shadow side to spirited nature. If spirited nature is the zest I feel emanating from the grass beneath my feet, information-hunger is what keeps these physics moving. In the case of the grass, the flowers, such information is sunlight and water. The ‘hunger’ for these bits of information kicks nature into a whirl of metabolic processes. 

A spirited system, be it an animal or a person is a creature with trajectory; a squirrel who buries nuts, a person who practices dance. What becomes of the creatures who lean into their hunger for pertinent information? The squirrel that explores and remembers places of bounty, the dancer who expands her knowledge with mentors and books? Their system becomes more robust as their knowledge grows.

What happens to the creature who strives to create new order out of chaos? Who actually tries to hear the chaos within himself, no matter how subtle, and create new order? They become more resilient, more aligned with their path.

Kids are still in touch with this resource of chaos and intuitively draw order from it. They have not yet ‘learned’ to see it as an opposing force to order. They instinctively and rightfully recognize it as something needed. They are open to its amazing resources.

It is this openness that underlies nature’s health.

Prigogine writes “The main character of any living system is openness.”

As we returned to the drums, the thunderous sounds mixed with laughter and energy.

Where is your rhythm taking shape? How are you turning wild noise into the pulse of creation?

“There is nothing stable in the world; uproar’s your only music.”
— John Keats. Letter to J.H. Reynolds, 1818