anthrosub
Posts: 843
Joined: 6/2/2004
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I'm going to reply to both you and Lordandmaster here. The example I will use is a forest to represent the complexity of everything going on, simultaneously, all around us, at any given moment.
When you look at a forest, most people see a bunch of trees of various sizes, maybe some bushes and plants around the edges, a few inside the forest, as well as a few dead tree trunks and limbs scattered about. Most people would say this is chaotic. But if you take the time to study what's going on, you will see a natural order that's always in the making, refining itself, adjusting to the flow of changes, and so on...instead of the "order" people try to impose when they plant everything in neat little rows and patches and call that "order."
Every tree and plant in that forest is competing with each other. Not competition like we think of in sports but the process of one plant getting more resources simply because of where and when it started growing in comparison to all the others. Because of this, some trees will grow faster (and bigger) than those around it and continue to benefit from getting more sunshine, more rain, and more nutrients from the ground.
Over time, the forest will "sort itself out" as it matures. Some trees will die off early while others grow quite tall. Trees that are of the same species will appear to dominate an area while others will take up other areas that are more favorable to their requirements. Storms, forest fires, parasites, and animals will all have a part to play in how this process continues as well.
Eventually the forest will become what dendrologists refer to as a "climax forest." The trees are about as big as they'll ever get. At some point a tree will die, weaken, and fall to the ground (usually due to high winds from a storm) and take a few other trees with it or at least damage them. The moment this happens, an opening is created and the whole process starts anew.
It's been said that the forests we see around us today are nothing compared to what existed when the first European settlers arrived 500 years ago. I think the giant Redwoods in California are the only remaining stand of virgin trees in the continental United States. Anyway, there's an order in the world without intelligence. The forest is my example of how this takes place.
One might argue that there's a difference because we can make choices (like taking the back road instead of the familar highway) where trees cannot. But when you think about it, the choices we make remain within the boundary of our own lives which happens to be a larger sphere than that experienced by a tree growing out of the ground. It's really only a difference of scale. So in effect, we are just like the trees in the forest and it's only a matter of circumstance that one day we will "fall" in our "forest" for some varied reason just like the tree in my example.
anthrosub
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"It is easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled." - Mark Twain
"I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde
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RE: The Concept of Fate? - 
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