Lately I have been struggling with, less, contemplating, why order is necessary, or why we deem it to be necessary.

This morning, at breakfast, my mother told me to clean up my room. I had previously acknowledged this shortly after I had awoken. After eating I emptied the dishwasher. The great thing about dishwashers is that you put dirty items in, and you get clean ones out. Its fantastic. The first thing I normally do is put the silverware back. Every utensil has its “proper” location. If any piece of silverware were not in its “correct” place we would feel a pervasive, incessant urge to “fix” it. As if, it can not exist anywhere other than where it is “supposed” to be.

The one reason I could think of to explain why we need order is that of its evolutionary relevance; the more we can depend on, assume, predict, and anticipate, the better served we are. These skills – in my opinion – have been developed through language, knowledge, and understanding nature. We are only sophisticated animals bound by natural law. We, as much as we would like to think, are not separate from, above, or greater than any other organism or process. We exist one in the same. By understanding the world in which we exist (understanding how it moves and operates) is a distinct advantage for our survival as individuals and a species. It is what separates “us” and “they”.

This is nothing revolutionary. Don’t panic or worry when things do not fit or don’t yet quite have their place. Life is a process. Life changes. Order is an ephemeral. Nothing lasts forever. Understand why order exists, why it can be beneficial, and most of all understand its limitations and appropriate uses. Don’t get caught up putting things in boxes.

“The Liberty of man consists solely in this: that he obeys natural laws because he has himself recognized them as such, and not because they have been externally imposed upon him by any extrinsic will whatsoever, divine or human, collective or individual.” – Mikhail Bakunin