Through various cycles of birth and death, there seems to be the focusing in and pulling back of the frame of awareness, almost like an aperture, which is demonstrated at least in the behaviors of beings of a higher intelligence.
Out of chaos, there is a struggle to assemble similar and complimentary elements into a coherent structure that is of use, for example an institution arises with its own bureaucracy to guide a process that is found to be useful regularly and with repetition, so that it achieves a dependable result. A corporation is conceived to carry out economic functions, or a justice system is conceived to keep peace, or a representational democracy is conceived to facilitate mass social coordination, and so on.
The curious thing is that when structures like these arise out of the chaos, our awareness is constricted to cultivate the structures themselves, and their chaotic origins slide subtly into the peripheral, and then eventually out of sight. To some, the structures appear as something to further refine. To others, the structures appear as something to climb and gain power and pleasure from.
Finally, awareness is further constricted to the mere individuals themselves, as demonstrated by the iron law of institutions, and the ensuing power games ensure the collapse of whatever structures were built up, necessitating a return to chaos.
There is a memory within the chaos. Yes, there is fragmentation, but the fragments themselves do not necessarily break down into their original primitive shape. They retain their history. We keep much of our knowledge and technology and rebuild from there. And as structures disintegrate, this aperture of awareness is blown back out to a cosmic awareness, an awareness of the chaos from which the structures arose, as well as the constituent parts of the structures themselves.
