“Every great man exhibits the talent of organization or construction, whether it be in a poem, a philosophical system, a policy, or a strategy” (John Bulwer).
LEFT TO THEMSELVES, THINGS TEND TO DISINTEGRATE. Your garage is a good example. If you don’t exert the effort now and then to organize it, it descends into a random, chaotic mess — and let’s face it: the mess is not really all that pleasant. But “exerting the effort” is the key concept. Left to itself, your garage is not going to keep itself organized. For that to happen, effort has to be expended.
But is it worth it? Does organization, or order, really matter? Some folks crave order so much they spend most of their time organizing — just for the sake of organizing. As neatness freaks, they lead imbalanced lives, organizing when they should be doing other things. At the other end of the spectrum is the person who spends no time at all on organization. His life is totally chaotic, and as a result of his negligent randomness, the contribution he makes to the world is far below what he’s capable of. Somewhere between these extremes, however, is a balanced view of organization: a view that appreciates the value of order and pursues it reasonably and responsibly.
Think about the difference between these two words: chaos and cosmos. They are opposites. A cosmos is what you have when order is introduced into a chaos. Coming from the Greek kosmos (“order”), cosmos is the result of organization. And let me tell you: a cosmos is a much better place to live in than a chaos! A measure of informality is good, and a bit of randomness is nice now and then. But none of us wants to be surrounded by total chaos. Because order is a part of beauty and goodness, we have a built-in need for these things. The good life is impossible without ordering, arranging, and organizing.
Organization multiplies the good we can do. We don’t have to be neatness freaks, but organizing our lives increases our output in doing good works. It’s not the whole journey, but ordering our resources is a step that has to be taken on life’s pathway. Otherwise, the chaos of our ideas never becomes the cosmos of our accomplishments.
“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality” (Napoleon Hill).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com