Chaos

Relatively synonymous with ‘anarchy’: "complete disorder and confusion." Google dict 19. In Early Modern English used in the sense of the original Greek word. In the meaning primordial matter from the 16th century. Figurative usage in the sense "confusion, disorder" from the 17th century. The technical sense in mathematics and science dates to the 1960s. [Wikt19]
Although often valorised as a positive thing, what is referred to in that case is not "complete confusion" but spontaneous disorder. This usage of ‘chaos’ as a shorthand for spontaneous order, or "constructive anarchy", has ironically added to the chaos — in the sense of minimizing misunderstandings in the public or mental sphere. For reasons such as that the majority of usage cases seem to refer to chaos as confusion, if not destruction, Collegium will typically accord with that signifying of the word ‘chaos’, or at least be precise about what is meant with its deployment, by adding words like ‘productive’ when referring indeed to productive chaos. Productive chaos is of course the same as a productive anarchy: although preferably minimized, anarchy and chaos can be the unavoidable temporary conditions of radical social changes — such as in the case of toppling a tyrant. Although it is our opinion that one can not properly speak of a necessary evil (but of evils that were not avoided), one can still speak of a necessary chaos, because of the different things which the words signify, although they are to some small degree synonymous or used synonymously at least. 
‘Chaos’ is simply a more neutral term than ‘evil’. Evil has a special form, while chaos is synonymous with the unformed or undifferentiated, such as in Greek and Christian mythology where the word (at least in the latter mythology) is used to refer to the "state" of the universe before its differentiation by God into Light and Dark. Indeed, the word is a synonym to some degree of ‘undifferentiated’ (hence its usage to refer to "primordial matter"). The word is of course somewhat synonymously used with ‘the unknown’, since often when people speak of something coming out of chaos, they are simply referring to something coming out of what is unknown to them. Indeed, it is sometimes used to refer to perceived depths. Such as when speaking of the ocean, which of course isn't pure chaos, but only seems so from a certain human perspective. The ocean in itself operates according to various laws, which make predictions of the conditions of e.g. sailing and fishing possible, since the predictions are based on extrapolations from "laws" extracted from previous data. From someone falling out of a boat into the sea, referring to that as chaos wouldn't be inaccurate—while at the same time if he were a trained diver wearing diving gear in the same conditions, he might find it less chaotic. Nothing has changed but the conditions of the man. The sea is the same. Indeed, a person attending a rally might find it chaotic, while someone next to him might find it to be quite orderly, so chaos is very much in the eye of the beholder, as is anarchy and indeed depth. An explorer of the 16th Century might find himself venturing into the unknown, and then upon meeting a strange tribe in the middle of war he might describe it to himself and believe it, as having ventured into chaos, while for the tribesmen they are obeying the same orderly rules as they have for hundreds of years, where every major type of act in the war is a part of a ritual and mythological reenactment narrative. 
== In mythology ==
In popular mythology, chaos is often refer to as a force or condition quite synonymous with evil, such as in Warhammer — or at least as something that relatively corresponds to evil in a ‘good versus evil’ set up. Needless to say, this is influenced by pre-modern mythology, from around the world. The duality is of chaos versus order, with common referrals being to characters corrupted by chaos — belonging to the "forces" of chaos, often with the condition of said characters being mad, and a pre-personal chaos having caused personal or collective madness, lust, and lack of moderation in comparison with what are defined as the forces of good or order. The mapping of these differences can be quite elaborate, and be described as struggles against and succumbing to relatively permanent state of negative emotion and baneful or degrading consequences, but often with the relative gain of various powers such as insight, and magical capacities. In many cases the heroes of the good wield weapons or other items of power "of chaos" (such as a sword or spell of chaos) but for the good. Sometimes the items are said to taint the user, "to convert him to chaos", while in other cases he is free of any taint, either because the item of chaos was not of the sort that spreads any taint to the user, or because the user is for some reason immune to it — similar to when Frodo Baggins is partially immune to the potential of fully succumbing to the evil taint of the Master-Ring, from being so to speak "pure of heart". 
===== Media =====
* (May 19, 2010) Professor Robert Sapolsky gives what he calls "one of the most difficult lectures of the course" about chaos and reductionism. Titled 21. Chaos and Reductionism 1,284,273 views. Uploaded Feb 1, 2011, on YouTube channel Stanford.YouTube.com, channel has "1.67M subscribers" as of May 05, 2022. 
== Branching ==
Order; Formation; Intersectional; Compendium; Harmony; Disharmony
Category:Concepts