So, after all that, has chaos any positive attributes – or is it helpful in any way to humanity?
In a previous post I explored how darkness – which we all dislike and want to avoid, can have beauty and attractiveness. Our abhorrence of chaos reminds me of our attitude to darkness.
And, like trauma (as I described in the Chapter on Trauma and Related Topics), chaos in respect of designing initiatives to assist families in the Focus Group probably deserves a book in itself.
Here I will attempt to describe practices that may be developed to continually refine the response to the chaos that will inevitably occur, and how they can be used in a positive way to enhance our work. An awareness of this and development of skills to do it is far preferable than using vast amounts of energy and time trying to eliminate it. (Again, think of the enormous amounts of energy used all over the world trying to eliminate darkness)!
Rolling out initiatives that encourage agencies to accept the reality of chaos and work with it may be very challenging. Once again, it’s a question of balance.
As a general rule, I would like to propose that if chaos rules, nothing is ever achieved, but if rigidity rules, people who matter most are often left out.
One of the reasons why accepting (or indeed embracing) chaos and unpredictability may be very challenging is that uncertainty holds such fear for us.
For example one of the techniques of torture is to not tell people what is going to happen to them. While this is an extreme example of the terror that can be brought about by uncertainty, it can also be used by unscrupulous people in authority in our day-to-day lives to keep employees on their toes so to speak.
In encouraging organisations to accept the realities of chaos, I’d like if people get what I mean – I do not in any circumstance promote the use of uncertainty as some sort of control tool.