It is very important to remember that the metaphysical inquiries of Chaotic Heroism are built upon a foundation of Agency and Skepticism. It is difficult to deny that there are many things for which we do not know, perhaps can not know, and maybe even should not know. We clearly have some semblance of free will and while it is debated amongst physicists and philosophers whether that is true or an illusion, for the sake of our story in this life free will, or agency, is the most unshakeable tenet of the faith. But free will does not mean we have complete control of our choices. To better understand who we are, the circumstances we find ourselves in, and what we do while we are here, a comparative theology analysis was composed to give a rough but intriguingly coherent possibility of a holistic cosmology which gives us a purpose for existence and way to examine the unknown that other faiths find themselves so confidently declaring as divine truths.

Imagine if you will, the human capacity for imagination itself. The seat of unbound potential within our minds in which conversations with projections of other people are had, time is traveled to fantasize the future or reevaluate the experiences of the past, and space is bent to give way to a temporary world for our thoughts to reside. Nothing is strictly controlled as one can shift from thought to thought and image to image only constrained by the capacity of the human body and its ability to express consciousness. Now imagine that capacity within our dreams, unfurled from the demands of the waking world where we can open up our mind into a virtual experience sometimes so lucid we can quite literally stop to smell the roses and feel the breeze of a cool summer field.

Lucid dreams are the simplest way to explain Chaos, or at least our experience of it. In more common terms this would be the ethereal realm of the soul, or of pure consciousness. This is the void of nothing from which the universe we have come to understand was born. Or so says the ancient texts of pretty much every religion in history. Even the big bang theory has some difficulty explaining the premise of a primordial origin, with a new theory evolving around the universe as a massive black hole itself. It is difficult to say what exactly is true, but if we are to believe that there is an existence outside of our universe full of unbreakable laws, it would be one of lawlessness. And nothing is more lawless than a world held together only by a dream.

As most religions seem to revolve around the identity of a foreign god responsible for our existence, Chaotic Heroism proposes that the god is something within us all. For what is more omnipotent than our capacity to create and destroy realities in an instant within our very minds. The trick lies not in godliness, but in mortality. As we find ourselves in a struggle within this life having to relearn how to exist without absolute control and the ability to instantly gratify any and all desire, we tend to hold to the ideal of omnipotence as a child holds their mother’s hand as they cross the road. Sometimes this despair for control and certainty and purpose is so great that people have turned their faith into weapons to oppress and annihilate those that exist with somewhat different views or expressions.

But there is a reason this world of Order, bounded by physical laws exists and why we find ourselves here for a time whether it be short or long. In Chaos, where you can be and do everything, there eventually comes the question of why do anything at all? It can be hard enough for some of us to choose what to eat with a menu of a dozen options, but when there is no menu and the options are literally infinite, an inevitable depression of paralysis would culminate in a void of nihilism, of meaninglessness. You may think that as a god you would enjoy an existence without suffering, creating fun worlds with weird creatures but over time even omnipotence is a prison of isolation. Any attempt of connection with another consciousness unbound by your power would be increasingly met with a discordance of agreement of what arbitrary rules to share in creation. To truly facilitate an existence that continues day after day that allows us to share in building and changing, to love and hate, for joy and sadness, to be confused and inspired, we need a world where none of us have complete control over reality.

Now here, on Earth we are born into a mortal vessel to share in experiencing this world of cooperative creation. Here we learn how different other souls truly are as we choose to live extremely different lives. It is too easy however to forget what parts we choose and what parts are conditioned to facilitate this world’s rules. When we are born we have to contend with the survival needs of a biological body with hunger and tiredness and a severe dampening of conscious expression as we grow into form. We cry for we do not know why we hurt or why things are happening outside of ourselves and why we don’t get something the moment we want it. It takes time to even understand that things can now continue to exist when we stop thinking about them and even more to accept that those entities that appear as we do are in fact other souls with minds of their own expressing their agency in the world. We also laugh and find joy in the surprises of quirky elements, surprises that cannot happen when we had planned them all ourselves. We find love with those who help us live to find more of this world, and grow weary or even hateful of those we perceive as threatening it. We continue to grow and change, help others or protect our own space in a world we can somewhat predict as the sun rises day after day to bring us something a little different, a little more challenging, a little more reliable, until things are drastically different and we find ourselves applying our understandings to create homes in this changing world.

In the end it can be hard, if not impossible to rely on something so unknowable as if it is true. But in a world so confounded by suffering and purpose, or concern over the apparent lack thereof, perhaps it isn’t the worst place to settle where we can all value the mortal lives we share as Chaotic souls in an Ordered world. Spending some of our time together enriching ourselves and our community and sharing the unique expressions of our minds until one day we return to Chaos, relive the memories, detach from our mortal coils, play as gods in an Elysian field before returning once more to the wild wild world of a shared changing predictability.

Between Chaos and Order

What is a Hero?

Heroes and Heroines here may be best defined by Joseph Campbell. In his book, Hero of a Thousand Faces, he outlined the monomyth we know of as the Hero’s Journey which can be seen in mythological stories as well as creative fiction. In it, the protagonist lives an ordinary life that is suddenly changed and they are forced to heed the call to adventure. They face trials with the aid of a mentor and allies and perhaps a pinch of magic and ultimately defeat the monstrous source of discomfort finding themselves forever changed in the process.

While this evaluation of mythology as a pattern of human expression is a tool for writing great stories, it can also be applied to your own life. Many books have been written outlining the ways the authors believe you can use the Hero’s Journey as a guide to make yourself the center of your life’s story. Learning to step outside of your comfort zone (call to adventure), find community (aid of the mentor and allies), and practice rituals (pinch of magic), you can find yourself facing the obstacles along the path of a passionate life where by the end, if successful, you may just make your dreams a reality.