Last Saturday was the first day in the history of ever that I did not want to go to Evermore Park. Since I started the site EvermoreFans.com, we’ve been attending the park every day and I absolutely love it... but Saturday, something was off.
I was drowning in the chaos.
I was frustrated.
The entire week had not gone as planned. It was, to put it mildly, a train wreck. It was just a mess. There were too many disappointments and too many emotions to process. I hadn’t accomplished anything I set out to do that week. I had a million things to do and no time to do them. The last thing I wanted to do was go have “fun.”
As a total Type A personality, I require order and control in my personal life. In order to maintain our homeschool and the online businesses I run, I need that structure. I crave it like air…
…and when things don’t go according to plan, I end up feeling like I’m suffocating. There’s no air left in my universe and I can’t breathe.
So there I was, not breathing and not coping and not remotely wanting to go.
But we went anyway.
A chance encounter at Evermore Park completely changed my world view.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Evermore Park, it is an immersive fantasy experience in Pleasant Grove, Utah. It’s a theme park without rides. Instead, you pass through a portal into a new world with characters to meet, mysteries to solve and quests to complete. It’s delightful and amazing and you can read all about it at EvermoreFans.com.
Anyway, after we’d been in the park for a little while we spotted our good friends chatting with Sykes. It looked like an interesting conversation and Sykes kept pointing at something in his notebook, so we decided to wander over and see what was happening.
It was the best decision we have made in a very long time.
A simple sketch and a 20 minute explanation changed everything.
Sykes was explaining the relationship between order and chaos, life and death, light and darkness… and he explained it so profoundly.
As you can see, Sykes drew a collapsing infinity sign. With each loop, it draws closer and closer to the center.
Life is a loop of order and chaos.
Sykes explained that we are constantly in a cycle of doing and being. This journey takes us through alternating periods of chaos and order in our lives.
As we progress up into doing, we are increasing in order. Eventually, this order will become too restrictive and we will collapse into chaos. Chaos leads to being
Being is messy and chaotic. Eventually, this chaos will become too overwhelming and we will seek more order in our lives. Order leads to doing… and we restart the cycle.
“So, with order and chaos, you have times where order is too much, it’s too strict, it’s in the extreme.
It’s like if someone says, “No, I’ve got this schedule to follow.” But someone else says, “No, you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to go across the world and accomplish your dream.. and I’m gonna give it to you for free right now but that means you have to break one rule that you set, that you have to go grocery shopping tomorrow.” Because Tuesday is grocery day, right? That’s too much order.
But when you make the choice go, that’s when life happens… even though you’re evolving a bit toward chaos.”
-Sykes (edited for clarity)
These cycles aren’t bad. They’re the purpose of life.
As we cross into each season of our lives, we pass through the finite middle circle where we are in a balance of doing and being simultaneously. This inner circle is where our best life happens.
As we make each pass from doing to being and back, we become closer and closer to that center circle. With each pass, we learn more and we experience more and we’re more capable of living that best life. We recognize faster when order is too restrictive and chaos is too overwhelming, so we are faster to course-correct.
Each pass through these messy and difficult seasons of our lives brings us closer to that perfect union and balance between order and chaos, doing and being, light and darkness… and it’s beautiful.
“We go through life and we encounter new challenges. Even though we are in truth, in the eternal scheme of things, making progress, it still feels like we’re all the way back at the beginning. It’s because your instruments are detection are getting more sensitive… You’re getting more fine-tuned. Before, you were judging things by miles. Now, you’re to the point where you get closer and you’re measuring in yards.”
Sykes (edited for clarity)
As I explained before, I really struggle with chaos. It’s not my favorite thing, to say the least… and when I’m in seasons where I’m evolving toward chaos I feel like everything in my life is out of control.
When I explained this, Sykes offered a beautiful visual explanation. He encouraged us to get out our fae box (that’s Evermorian for “smartphone”) and find a video about sand vibrations. I’ve included it below for a reference.
As we watched, Sykes explained:
Sound has different wavelengths. You have short and you have long. You see right here when it’s moving up to the next wavelength? You have organization. You have order. Order begets chaos, chaos begets order. It’s going in this cycle back and forth, as it keeps going.
Sykes (edited for clarity)
Did you notice in the beginning, the shapes? Did you notice how many shapes there are? As this gets higher, there are more and more compartments in the shapes.
Sykes observed that this continual progression between doing and being was designed to help us become the best version of ourselves. Along the way, we experience joy and pain… and we become steadily closer to who we were meant to be.
“It’s an eternal progression as you keep going.”
Sykes
Pain is an important part of the process.
I do not like pain, disorder or chaos… but as Sykes’ model demonstrates, these things aren’t bad. They aren’t wrong. They are a necessary stepping stone in our progression.
Your joy can only be as profound as your pain… That’s why when you develop your relationships with one another, with other people, things seem more painful.
Sykes
He further explained:
“There’s another thing that happens in life, with order and chaos… We know that fire is great for forests. When they grow back, they grow back stronger. Chaos begets order, order begets chaos, chaos begets order… and when you use both, you get life.
Plants are the representation of life in all mythology because they are in that cycle constantly. They are constantly being and doing.
We all go through moments of order and we go through moments of chaos.
Sykes (edited)
The goal is to reach that inner circle and keep perfecting ourselves.
In true Evermore fashion, we were encouraged to visit with Zhodi to learn more about first, second and third circle.
He taught us that people in first circle reject the energy of others. People in third circle force their energy on others. Only those in second circle are capable of giving and receiving energy in a healthy way.
The journey of life is to learn how to live in second circle, which is represented by that central circle in the middle of Sykes’ sketch. That is the circle where life happens, where love grows and we become the best versions of ourselves.
Within that circle, you’re in the stasis in between. You’re still going back and forth because you’re not perfect. You’re going to zoom in and get better at it. You’ll fine-tune. The journey is about getting as close to that dot as you can.
Sykes
This applies to love, faith, the Universe and everything.
This theory applies to everything. It applies to life, love, marriage, parenting, religion, nature and probably even questing at Evermore. My husband is fairly convinced that this cycle is going to play into the resolution of Lore somehow.
One unique application that we identified is based on the star shape that emerges in the second circle zone – the tiny circle in the middle of the graph.
I just had another realization about this as I drew this. There’s a symbol that’s being created… but, uh, does that look familiar at all? Perhaps, a being you know might be represented by this on the day of his birth?
These are a synonym for that being. Light, love, knowledge, truth, choice, light. They are the same. And at the center, this being is this fixed point. That’s the dot here in the middle.
Sykes
I’m sure there are infinite applications for this information. I’d love to see your thoughts in the comments!
I am no longer so concerned about chaos.
There’s no denying it. I’m still in a season of chaos. There is still a sense of loss of control. It’s still overwhelming and I’m still trying to make sense of it.
However, I have a greater understanding now. I realize it’s just one step on my path… and it’s a necessary step toward my next season of order.
And that’s okay.
It’s okay if I am stuck in the chaos today.
Because I will figure it out.
I will reach my next season of order.
And someday, if I keep trying, I will find my way to stay within that second circle.