ABSTRACT

What the preceding analysis has revealed is that what we become cannot easily be determined. Indeed it is usually the case that, notwithstanding the fact of order in our lives, life follows a very uncertain and unpredictable course. This is not because events outside our control are only conditional, and thus subject to change, but because the nature of human existence is complex, adaptive and balanced between order and chaos. The order that we observe daily is a variable condition. In some cases order appears to persist over very long periods, whereas in others change seems to be an almost continuous affair. This is because we are not single-layered, with each feature of our existence occurring on the same plane. Instead, as discussed above, our presence and form is the outcome of a meta-complex framework, each layer, from biochemistry to culture, being represented by a dynamical system which has sensitive dependence upon initial conditions. However, at some levels within this framework order tends to predominate, whereas in others change is a more frequent event.