Read the above quote from Conversations with God again. It's that important. We all can use this reminder from time to time. I offer it to you once again.

In the previous Letter you were asked, “Why does the very growth you seek sometimes occur withinasthru craziness or even drama? Why are you continually reorganizing yourself at higher and more functional levels? And what does this have to do with evolutionary growth and catharsis?“

For now, let's discuss one possible reason (out of probably infinite ones), found in the work of a Noble Prize winning theoretical chemist, Ilya Pregogine. Prigogine, working in the field of thermodynamics (the branch of physics that deals with the relationship between heat and work), became intensely curious about what seemed to be a major contradiction between one of the basic laws of science and some of equally basic observable facts, including the existence and evolution of life itself.

The second law of thermodynamics states that whenever work is done, some energy is irretrievably lost. When expanding steam causes a piston to move, for instance, some energy is lost from the system in the form of heat radiation due to friction. In addition, the machine itself, over time (unless energy is added to the system in the form of an overhaul, new parts, etc.) will wear out and eventually break down.

All machines, in fact, must eventually break down, and scientists have confirmed that the law describing this energy exchange in a machine applies to all energy systems in the universe. This fact of nature is often spoken of as the law of increasing entropy.

Entropy, simply put, is a measure of the amount of randomness or chaos in a system, and the law of increasing entropy is an expression of the fact that the universe is irreversibly moving toward a state of increased disorder and randomness (as may have been your experience since choosing to live your life on purpose). Left to itself, with no energy input from the outside, any system will tend to break down and become increasingly disordered. A car will turn to rust and fall apart, a mountain will eventually be worn down, and so on. Even the expansion of the universe itself is a movement in the direction of increasing disorder, increasing entropy.

Yet we can plainly see that many things in the universe tend toward increased order - the opposite of what is predicted by the second law of thermodynamics. Life itself has evolved as atoms became molecules, then amino acids, proteins, cells, multi-cellular life, eco-systems, social systems, and so on… definitely a process of increasing order, and obviously against the flow of increasing entropy. Why is this? How can this be?

In short, Prigogine discovered a key. Order arises not in spite of entropy, but because of it!

There is, of course, more “science” to this simple reminder that “…in the moment that it appears that it is all falling apart, it is really falling back together at the next highest level… not just more, or better, or different… a transformation from the inside out that wasn't even possible before this moment……”

And so it is with you. Choose to apply this reminder withinasthru the very experiences of chaos that have come as a result of your entropy (choice) to grow and to live a life on purpose. It's because you're no longer willing to settle or to live by others' ideas of what success means.

This moment is the first moment to the rest of your life. Use it as a sling-shot, no longer getting needlessly trapped in the cycles of drama or the relentless pursuit of needing to be right. Instead, simply get that you're evolving, growing, becoming and any catharsis that occurs withinasthru you is part of the process.

And many of the faces and friends that you've come to love, appreciate and grow with may not choose to join you withinasthru this most critical moment of your growth. They may not celebrate as you would expect. They may even say things that hurt or cause you pain. Feel it, but refuse to wear their limitations any longer. Refuse to engage further the patterns of victim that encircle you back to the dramas of pain and suffering.

Simply remember to be the eye of the storm, the cause of the chaos, entropy itself… breathing and smiling, seeing and knowing this moment as the gift that will take you into your tomorrow. Know this is so. And so it is.

WithInAsThru Celebration & Friendship,

sk