My neighbor reminded me that there was a difference between hope and expectancy. I've been writing about chaos — that it is not the absence of order, but the canvas of creativity in life's evolutionary flow. I can hope to create a masterpiece through my efforts, or I can expect that a masterpiece will be revealed, leaving me with little or no responsibility.
That hope is like an emptiness in me. It is a space that I make for something created to fill. An expectancy is a space already filled, possibly with good things, often with assumptions. Hope is a space in my heart I make for others to grow within, or an emptiness that I allow inside my being that recognizes the emergence of something that is bigger than me.
Like Michelangelo's "La Pieta," whose form emerged from the solid block of marble he was sculpting, creativity that emanates from the heart will unveil the order and flow of the universe. Others will find harmony or peace from the order, or inspiration and excitement from the flow of energy. In my life, my hope is to be able to create things, events, relations that others can join in — for a moment, a month or a lifetime.
Expectation comes from the head, from thoughts and mullings that are based not only on empirical data, but also on our subjective desires and imaginings. This may leave out the possibility of creating within an enlightened whole. Our brain doesn't say to our stomach, "I expect you to pull your weight, to digest food and move along the energy gained to the other organs of the body, so that I won't have to do any more or less than I am doing right now."
Our brain hopes that the stomach will continue to do its job, but when there is a problem, the brain is the first to let us know, and to find other ways to cope and help. Each system works in harmony with the whole, as does each organ, each cell, each molecule and each atom, continually creating order from chaos. Each, in effect, lives and reflects a pattern that includes itself and others.
Since the beginning of this year I've noticed that chaos has been a constant companion of mine — emptiness and chaos. Considering the Big Bang, it's the perfect combination for creativity to happen!
(Originally published at www.religionandspirituality.com on March 15, 2007)
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