Great piece, Deborah. I enjoy chaos in art—for example, the chaotic beauty of Danica Lundy's paintings, where every square centimeter has something etched into it. Or the chaos of free-form experimental jazz like Sun Ra Arkestra. Both are examples of creative minds exploring deep into their questioning of what they wish to say and express. They are taking creative risks and laying it out there for all of us to see that there are no bad ideas in art; it is the execution of the expressive release of that idea that every artist strives to perfect.
But when it comes to chaos that causes real-world harm and damage, that is the chaos that I wish humans were more willing to stand up and stop. Silence is complicit, and that includes the voting booth. What is done is done. It is now out of our control. That said, I hope people do not remain silent when the chaos does start to trickle and eventually rain down on us all.
I agree, Michael. I enjoy that kind of chaos too, and in creative play, and nature too. I love a good storm with lightening and thunder. But not the damage it can cause. And when it is wielded by tyrants or those who want to harm others we cannot remain silent. Thank you for reading and responding, as always.
It would not be straining the bounds of credibility to suggest that the 'Vikings' did more to change the identity of Northern Europe than the Roman Conquest. When news began emerge of a Viking raid on the monastic community on Lindisfarne, in 793 AD, the chief reaction was astonishment. No body believed that such a raid could have been mounted from the sea and nobody believed that anyone would dare to desecrate a Christian community. With the Vikings, all bets were off. The rules had changed. Forever.
The danger in the present case is to see statehood as a recognisable geographical polity or the domain of a dictator. In other words, Trump is not America and America is not Trump. Trump is an idea. The Vikings were not a geographical polity either, they were an idea - one that permeated Northern Europe and beyond. In a world that is virtually without boundaries, sovereignty is no longer a local issue. It's gone global. Sovereignty currently rests with a global elite who have decided, against the common will of their people, to ignore genuine concerns about immigration, morality and security.
Trump is no more of a fixed individual entity than the Vikings. Trump is an idea, encased, for the moment, in an individual. But he is a metonym for a particular movement; like Boudicca, like Rosa Parks, like Admiral Nelson, like Churchill, like George Washington; one that is sweeping the globe. Trump is born out of denial. A denial to recognise the failure of governments to deal with the threat of mass uncontrolled or illegal immigration and its impact on society. There is also the issue of societal decadence and the hegemony of a nihilist, self-serving elite.
Vikings, as some have said, are not so much a recognisable race as a job description. 'Job Description' has also been used to describe the Constitution of the US - 'a job description by the American people that lays out the goals and responsibilities of the newly formed government' (bridgew.edu) The tectonic plates are indeed on the move. There is a job to be done. Chaos will ensue. Trump has a shelf life, but the profound global changes that are now recognisable by almost everybody will be felt for centuries.
Thank you Titus for reading this and responding so eloquently. I think you are right on target about the parallels between the Viking invasion so long ago and how it transformed Europe and the Trump invasion, so to speak, going on today, how it is likely to transform the US and elsewhere. I fear we are entering a new dark age. You may too be right about the West's failure to deal with rampant immigration as the catalyst for creating tyrants such as Trump to rise. Certainly something was bungled badly.
You probably had plenty of company in your journey into dark reads, Deborah. Many others turned to Orwell’s 1984. I didn’t go that route myself. But I wonder if there’s a parallel to football, wrestling, and boxing. Maybe the vicarious release of anger, aggression, and violence is a useful way to embrace our dark sides, the mostly disowned shadow.
Lots to think about in this thoughtful essay. I suppose many of us are still processing what’s happened and trying to come to terms with it. Glad you put this out there for our consideration.
I definitely think there's a parallel to watching sports. I rarely do watch. But during the last Soccer World Cup I was following the teams, and found myself getting caught up in the drama and reacting in ways that surprised myself. It is helpful to try to understand these darker tendencies, the shadow selves, as you say. It's not just the political drama going on here we have to come to terms with, but with what is happening in Gaza and Ukraine--the same atrocities have been going on forever. What feeds it, what keeps it going? We can't change what's happening there, but we can change what's happening in ourselves and our own sphere of influence, and understanding why it happens is the first step, perhaps. Thanks so much for coming here and sharing your thoughts, Andrew.
Great read. Why? Because—for me—it is something I’ve been thinking about for decades when I first learned about Chaos Theory and its impact on the physical world.
Over time, I expanded into various mythologies like Yahweh starting out as a minor storm god in a group of gods that mutated into the only god; Tiamat, the Sumerian Goddess of Chaos—it seems humanity often mythologizes chaos as feminine if the chaos give birth to creation—and to my current interest of Shiva the destroyer along with his consort Shakti the creator.
The problem here is that, unlike Shiva who destroys the old, the bad and unproductive so that Shakti can create new, healthy growth, our current politics is an amplifying of the old, bad parts of our country inviting the metaphoric destruction by Shiva. Ironically, this growth in hate—the bad—is fertilized by those who are worshippers from the mythologies of Yahweh even though they profess to worship the Son god.
So my take is different than yours but parallels yours. Good stuff, thanks for writing it, as I’m in the middle of rewatching The Last Kingdom.
I'm glad you enjoyed this, Jim. I was fascinated by the whole Chaos Theory too--did you read Gleick's book? What you write about the gods and mythology is really interesting too. Enjoy rewatching The Last Kingdom. I was sorry when it ended. One of these days I'll be rewatching too I imagine. The books were just as good, if not better.
Strange how Substack so loves a comment it says it twice. It has done that for me a few times. 😂
To answer your question about Chaos Theory and Gleick’s book, yes, I read it. I was watching PBS science series decades ago when they did an episode on Chaos. It hit me right in the gut as it aligned at a deeper level with an annoying feeling I was having as I was completing my undergrad degree in Chemistry. I was in grad school at the time in Decision Science—mostly statistical analyses—and I went out and purchased more mathematically rigorous books and studied them.
I have believed for a long time that linear analyses of almost anything is a myth as the universe is non-linear, and what appears to be linear is only because of a limited, bounded vision. For example, the earth may appear flat in a limited vision.
I have a mixture of Irish, English, German, French, Danish and other blood types. After learning more about the Saxons, I wonder if my internal battles are genetic. OK, tongue-in-cheek, but maybe not considering all the increasing evidence in epigenetic science.
Thank you for responding to me even though some view me as a Berserker, like most of my fellow grad students who hated the concept of chaos theory and metaphorically held up a cross to protect them from my brain sucking Dracula ideas.
I agree that the universe is non-linear and that things only seem to be linear because we experience the whole as an unravelling rather than all at once. Have you read any of David Bohm's Wholeness and the Implicate Order? As for your genetic sense of connection with the Saxons, I've wondered the same thing--not only why I seem to be drawn toward these Viking stories, but also a strong connection to middle eastern food and music and art and philosophy, which gets my imagination wondering about such things as past lives. Not that I believe in it, but I don't disbelieve either. The miracle of having been born at all, or born at this time and in this place seems no more miraculous to me than having been born many times in different places. Our connection to nature too feels like it resides at a deeper level than just appreciation of the natural world. It's in our bones. Our genes, I suppose. And even deeper than that, I feel.
I haven’t read Bohm’s books but I have read numerous articles where his theories are discussed including his De Broglie-Bohm theory. As silly as this sounds, I took an interest in him being a Sagittarian as I am—today is my birthday along with that of Ida Lovelace and Emily Dickinson—and coming from a math and science education, I do not believe in astrology but keep my mind somewhat open.
Not sure I get your “experience the whole as an unraveling….” And my beliefs may diverge from yours, which is OK. I come from more of a quantum field theory and space-time as an emergent property point of view.
I'm glad you enjoyed this, Jim. I was fascinated by the whole Chaos Theory too--did you read Gleick's book? What you write about the gods and mythology is really interesting too. Enjoy rewatching The Last Kingdom. I was sorry when it ended. One of these days I'll be rewatching too I imagine. The books were just as good, if not better.
Great piece, Deborah. I enjoy chaos in art—for example, the chaotic beauty of Danica Lundy's paintings, where every square centimeter has something etched into it. Or the chaos of free-form experimental jazz like Sun Ra Arkestra. Both are examples of creative minds exploring deep into their questioning of what they wish to say and express. They are taking creative risks and laying it out there for all of us to see that there are no bad ideas in art; it is the execution of the expressive release of that idea that every artist strives to perfect.
But when it comes to chaos that causes real-world harm and damage, that is the chaos that I wish humans were more willing to stand up and stop. Silence is complicit, and that includes the voting booth. What is done is done. It is now out of our control. That said, I hope people do not remain silent when the chaos does start to trickle and eventually rain down on us all.
I agree, Michael. I enjoy that kind of chaos too, and in creative play, and nature too. I love a good storm with lightening and thunder. But not the damage it can cause. And when it is wielded by tyrants or those who want to harm others we cannot remain silent. Thank you for reading and responding, as always.
It would not be straining the bounds of credibility to suggest that the 'Vikings' did more to change the identity of Northern Europe than the Roman Conquest. When news began emerge of a Viking raid on the monastic community on Lindisfarne, in 793 AD, the chief reaction was astonishment. No body believed that such a raid could have been mounted from the sea and nobody believed that anyone would dare to desecrate a Christian community. With the Vikings, all bets were off. The rules had changed. Forever.
The danger in the present case is to see statehood as a recognisable geographical polity or the domain of a dictator. In other words, Trump is not America and America is not Trump. Trump is an idea. The Vikings were not a geographical polity either, they were an idea - one that permeated Northern Europe and beyond. In a world that is virtually without boundaries, sovereignty is no longer a local issue. It's gone global. Sovereignty currently rests with a global elite who have decided, against the common will of their people, to ignore genuine concerns about immigration, morality and security.
Trump is no more of a fixed individual entity than the Vikings. Trump is an idea, encased, for the moment, in an individual. But he is a metonym for a particular movement; like Boudicca, like Rosa Parks, like Admiral Nelson, like Churchill, like George Washington; one that is sweeping the globe. Trump is born out of denial. A denial to recognise the failure of governments to deal with the threat of mass uncontrolled or illegal immigration and its impact on society. There is also the issue of societal decadence and the hegemony of a nihilist, self-serving elite.
Vikings, as some have said, are not so much a recognisable race as a job description. 'Job Description' has also been used to describe the Constitution of the US - 'a job description by the American people that lays out the goals and responsibilities of the newly formed government' (bridgew.edu) The tectonic plates are indeed on the move. There is a job to be done. Chaos will ensue. Trump has a shelf life, but the profound global changes that are now recognisable by almost everybody will be felt for centuries.
Thank you Titus for reading this and responding so eloquently. I think you are right on target about the parallels between the Viking invasion so long ago and how it transformed Europe and the Trump invasion, so to speak, going on today, how it is likely to transform the US and elsewhere. I fear we are entering a new dark age. You may too be right about the West's failure to deal with rampant immigration as the catalyst for creating tyrants such as Trump to rise. Certainly something was bungled badly.
You probably had plenty of company in your journey into dark reads, Deborah. Many others turned to Orwell’s 1984. I didn’t go that route myself. But I wonder if there’s a parallel to football, wrestling, and boxing. Maybe the vicarious release of anger, aggression, and violence is a useful way to embrace our dark sides, the mostly disowned shadow.
Lots to think about in this thoughtful essay. I suppose many of us are still processing what’s happened and trying to come to terms with it. Glad you put this out there for our consideration.
I definitely think there's a parallel to watching sports. I rarely do watch. But during the last Soccer World Cup I was following the teams, and found myself getting caught up in the drama and reacting in ways that surprised myself. It is helpful to try to understand these darker tendencies, the shadow selves, as you say. It's not just the political drama going on here we have to come to terms with, but with what is happening in Gaza and Ukraine--the same atrocities have been going on forever. What feeds it, what keeps it going? We can't change what's happening there, but we can change what's happening in ourselves and our own sphere of influence, and understanding why it happens is the first step, perhaps. Thanks so much for coming here and sharing your thoughts, Andrew.
Great read. Why? Because—for me—it is something I’ve been thinking about for decades when I first learned about Chaos Theory and its impact on the physical world.
Over time, I expanded into various mythologies like Yahweh starting out as a minor storm god in a group of gods that mutated into the only god; Tiamat, the Sumerian Goddess of Chaos—it seems humanity often mythologizes chaos as feminine if the chaos give birth to creation—and to my current interest of Shiva the destroyer along with his consort Shakti the creator.
The problem here is that, unlike Shiva who destroys the old, the bad and unproductive so that Shakti can create new, healthy growth, our current politics is an amplifying of the old, bad parts of our country inviting the metaphoric destruction by Shiva. Ironically, this growth in hate—the bad—is fertilized by those who are worshippers from the mythologies of Yahweh even though they profess to worship the Son god.
So my take is different than yours but parallels yours. Good stuff, thanks for writing it, as I’m in the middle of rewatching The Last Kingdom.
Mutations of the gods over time and geography
From fatherly god and husband, El
To YHWH god of war and vengeance
With no wife but one child?
Different space/times in of universe
Of black hole curvatures, pockets
Of great violence but also peace and creation
As I travel through each.
I am often the Viking Berserker.
Nice! I like this.
I'm glad you enjoyed this, Jim. I was fascinated by the whole Chaos Theory too--did you read Gleick's book? What you write about the gods and mythology is really interesting too. Enjoy rewatching The Last Kingdom. I was sorry when it ended. One of these days I'll be rewatching too I imagine. The books were just as good, if not better.
Strange how Substack so loves a comment it says it twice. It has done that for me a few times. 😂
To answer your question about Chaos Theory and Gleick’s book, yes, I read it. I was watching PBS science series decades ago when they did an episode on Chaos. It hit me right in the gut as it aligned at a deeper level with an annoying feeling I was having as I was completing my undergrad degree in Chemistry. I was in grad school at the time in Decision Science—mostly statistical analyses—and I went out and purchased more mathematically rigorous books and studied them.
I have believed for a long time that linear analyses of almost anything is a myth as the universe is non-linear, and what appears to be linear is only because of a limited, bounded vision. For example, the earth may appear flat in a limited vision.
I have a mixture of Irish, English, German, French, Danish and other blood types. After learning more about the Saxons, I wonder if my internal battles are genetic. OK, tongue-in-cheek, but maybe not considering all the increasing evidence in epigenetic science.
Thank you for responding to me even though some view me as a Berserker, like most of my fellow grad students who hated the concept of chaos theory and metaphorically held up a cross to protect them from my brain sucking Dracula ideas.
I agree that the universe is non-linear and that things only seem to be linear because we experience the whole as an unravelling rather than all at once. Have you read any of David Bohm's Wholeness and the Implicate Order? As for your genetic sense of connection with the Saxons, I've wondered the same thing--not only why I seem to be drawn toward these Viking stories, but also a strong connection to middle eastern food and music and art and philosophy, which gets my imagination wondering about such things as past lives. Not that I believe in it, but I don't disbelieve either. The miracle of having been born at all, or born at this time and in this place seems no more miraculous to me than having been born many times in different places. Our connection to nature too feels like it resides at a deeper level than just appreciation of the natural world. It's in our bones. Our genes, I suppose. And even deeper than that, I feel.
I haven’t read Bohm’s books but I have read numerous articles where his theories are discussed including his De Broglie-Bohm theory. As silly as this sounds, I took an interest in him being a Sagittarian as I am—today is my birthday along with that of Ida Lovelace and Emily Dickinson—and coming from a math and science education, I do not believe in astrology but keep my mind somewhat open.
Not sure I get your “experience the whole as an unraveling….” And my beliefs may diverge from yours, which is OK. I come from more of a quantum field theory and space-time as an emergent property point of view.
I'm glad you enjoyed this, Jim. I was fascinated by the whole Chaos Theory too--did you read Gleick's book? What you write about the gods and mythology is really interesting too. Enjoy rewatching The Last Kingdom. I was sorry when it ended. One of these days I'll be rewatching too I imagine. The books were just as good, if not better.