Physics - A True Organizer's Archenemy

I’m sweeping after a rainstorm. The sky is blue, the clouds puffy and inviting. The debris rabidly strewn about my patio puts me into a frenzy of ceaseless sweeping. What a marvelous metaphor sweeping offers, particularly in this time of change and transition.

Sweeping away dreams and wishes. Sweeping away comfort. Sweeping away the known and familiar. Sweeping away, or wanting to, grief, sadness, death, destruction.

As I sweep, thoughts of “the endless sweep” come to mind. This is not the first, nor will it be the last rainstorm. Similarly, clearing, cleaning, reorganizing is repetitive. 

Thank you, Entropy. 

Entropy defined by Merriam-Webster as:

1.Thermodynamics : a measure of the unavailable energy in a closed thermodynamic system that is also usually considered to be a measure of the system's disorder, that is a property of the system's state, and that varies directly with any reversible change in heat in the system and inversely with the temperature of the system
broadlybroadly : the degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system


2a: the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity Entropy is the general trend of the universe toward death and disorder.— James R. Newman
b: a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder The deterioration of copy editing and proof-reading, incidentally, is a token of the cultural entropy that has overtaken us in the postwar years.— John Simon

My inner organizer both loathes and loves entropy. She loves that she gets to organize something, bringing it to a state of order, nice and tidy, neatly arranged, sadly though to no avail. Like a new car that depreciates the minute you drive it off the lot, the moment that organization occurs, entropy sets in, hence my inner organizer’s loathing.

I suppose the bigger lesson is one of repeating patterns and cycles. This too shall come again, and this too shall pass.

In these times of uncertainty, entropy serves as a balm of certainty, not unlike the adage, “the only thing that is constant is change itself.”

May you find peace in the re-ordering of these disorganized and unsettling times.
Chantel

Photo by Steve Rybka on Unsplash