Chaos Theory

with Ryan Reynolds

Viewed September 20, 2008

We all thought this was a really cool movie. It dealt with structure (Question 2), freedom (Question 3), control (Question 5), and fear (Question 7), and it challenged us to think about the control we think we're imposing on the world and whether that really is working for us. We talked about the scripts (Question 1) that we carry with us into life and the devastating effects they can have on us by destroying relationships and setting up self-fulfilling prophecies.

One of my favorite questions was #7, because we were able to identify the real reason that we often try to control life: fear. Those fears can be different for each of us, but we try to deal with them by either attempting to impose order onto chaos, or else trying to run away from it.

A couple of people said that they feel afraid more often now than they used to many years ago, and then they went on to figure out that's because the fears they tackled earlier in their lives were just physical fears like sailing in a sailboat, whereas the fears they are tackling now relate to more fundamental inner issues, and they are facing them more often now because they are choosing to face those fears rather than running away from them.

We also talked about the fear of our feelings. Many of us remember being very out of touch with our feelings and relying instead on our thoughts -- head vs. heart. For many of us, feelings have been scary, and it has been helpful, though difficult, to get in touch with them.
(This video was reviewed by Bob McGarey)

Feel free to come and share your own personal insights sometime; the Saturday Night Video and Discussions here in Austin, Texas are a lot of fun and fascinating. (They're free, too.) Here are the questions the group came up with, based on the personal growth themes in the movie:

CHAOS THEORY

  1. How have "scripting" and/or preconceived ideas fucked with me?
  2. How structured is my life?
  3. How much freedom do I allow myself?
  4. How do I react when my beliefs fail?
  5. How much control do I have over my beliefs/life?
  6. When have I felt most lonely, and how did I handle it?
  7. What strategies do I have in place to deal with fear, and how well do they work?
  8. How do I react when people shut me out?
  9. How have my beliefs about romantic relationships affected my life?