Order and Chaos and Origins

In our last post, we ended with the idea that logic might have evolved alongside humanity. The theory goes something like this: over time, humans developed logic as a tool to navigate the world. But here’s the question we left hanging: Can something as unchanging as logic really come from a process defined by change? Let’s explore that together in the next few blog entries.

We’ve all encountered a moment where something just doesn’t make sense. Maybe it’s a riddle that seems unsolvable or a rule that doesn’t fit the situation. In those moments, we rely on something: the understanding that certain things should always behave in a consistent way. We expect the sun to rise each morning, the laws of gravity to hold steady, and the concept of 2 + 2 to always equal 4. This consistency of logic and rules is fundamental to how we navigate life.

Think about driving your car. Every time you press the brake pedal, you expect the car to slow down. And it does. Every single time. But imagine a world where every time you press the brake pedal, sometimes the car slows down, and other times it just keeps speeding up. Chaos, right? It’s the expectation that pressing the brake will always do the same thing that makes driving possible. This is the foundation of logic: our consistent experience that certain actions will always have the same outcome.

But here’s the catch: Why should we expect things to behave consistently? Why does logic seem to work every time we use it, regardless of the situation? After all, we can’t even see logic itself. We don’t hear it, touch it, or measure it with any instruments. So where does it come from? Why is it so dependable?

Order isn’t produced by disorder. C. S. Lewis once asked us to imagine a person spilling a carton of milk on the floor only to discover that the milk had formed a perfect map of London. That sort of thing doesn’t happen. Order that we observe always has some kind of ordered process or thought standing behind it.

The consistency we see in logic points to a source of order that ensures the world functions as it does. If logic and consistency are just random accidents or products of chance, we’re left with a problem: How do we account for the unchanging reliability of logic?

When we start asking these deeper questions, we begin to uncover hints of an answer. Something—maybe someone—must be behind the consistency we observe.

Could the very consistency of logic point us toward a mind that is consistent, purposeful, and reliable in ways that we are not? Could it suggest a deeper source of truth and order—something that doesn’t depend on time, space, or human reasoning to remain true?

Wait a minute. Aren’t we jumping to conclusions now? Why are we even talking about a “mind” behind it all? That’s a good question! Another question is, “What else could stand as the source of order and logic?” One thing seems certain: the source is not the material universe – matter in motion can’t produce the immaterial order of logic!

We might just find that the answer lies in something (or someone) truly consistent, and truly reliable. In the next two blogs, we'll continue to ask the question, "Could the natural world produce logic?", and we'll look deeper at our minds' interaction with logic, and what that might mean about... well... everything.  (Next Entry ->)