Haiku — 0045: Echoes

About Causes and Effects.

Do you believe in the Butterfly Effect?

The idea of an action transcending the here and now, and culminating in a chain of consequences far beyond what you anticipated?

An endless ripple,

Action and consequences,

Reverberating.

There are fewer things in life as fascinating as the action-consequence pair. To me at least, it is an observation that would be as much entertaining as it is enthralling. Sometimes it even feels spiritual, as if everything is dictated by this unseen divine justice. Other times, it is cold, chaotic, the most Brownian of movements brought about by probabilities.

Of course, I will stop talking about determinism for now. That one’s for another day.

Going back to the echoes of action and consequences, have you ever wondered if things are correlated, and almost given into the temptation of ascribing causation? I have, more times than I could care to count. It was a very bad habit, one I took decades to break out of.

But that being said, there is some method to this madness. We often initiate an action, inviting a range of reactions, which in turn spurns us into acting in more ways, the cycle goes on. Just as an example, think of your life. A small habit, an idiosyncrasy, can turn into a factor influencing our health and even lifestyle. Reminds me of this video I saw on YouTube about how a volcanic eruption was linked to weather patterns, linking it further to a whole change of civilization around the 6th century.

Or maybe I don’t have to think that huge. I can simply live with the idea that any action will only have a first-order effect and that the compounded aftermaths are nothing to anticipate. But I find such a unidimensional mindset to be, well, stagnant.

It is the study of actions and consequences that allows me to pluck the right string, causing just the reverberation I need as it ripples through lives. Just like playing an instrument.

Wouldn’t you agree?

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