To most people, the opposite of order is disorder or chaos. However, what if the two were not the same and what is normally called chaos may actually be a non-traditional form of order? First, if this assertion is true then the idea that chaos and disorder are synonyms must be divorced from each other. For this to be true, there is a need to have a clear definition of order. Let order be defined as 'the logical arrangement of some group of objects' and let disorder be defined as the absence of order. Thus, chaos could be defined as 'a non-random, non-traditional, arrangement of objects which is meaningful to at least one individual.'

If the only requirement for something to be called orderly, whether it has a chaotic order or not, is for the arrangement to have meaning, then at first it seems that anything could be called orderly and that there is no disorder. A very simple example of how chaos may be a type of orderly structure is the ordering of objects. Take the numbers 'one', 'two', and 'three.' Most people when told to order this would say 'one, two, three' or perhaps 'three, two, one.' But what if they were ordered as follows: 'three, one, two?' Just looking at it, the ordering seems wrong. But this brings up the point of what the numbers represent. What if the numbers corresponded to kegs of a liquid and that the ordering 'three, one, two' referred the keg's level of the liquid from highest to lowest? In this case, the 'three, one, two' sequence has a logical order and thus is not disorderly as first thought.

What if the numbers had some other value to them? Perhaps keg one is allheale, two is frost, and three is water. It is apparent that 'three, one, two' could be an order, and having them in that sequence in either direction is an order. But what about 'two, three, one?' This order may not be obvious, but this arrangement could be in an order of importance to a given person. This shows that disorder and chaos may not be the same thing after all and that order can take many forms based on one's definition of structure.

Based on the above statements, it may appear that there is no disorder in this system. As there is a relatively low number of possible arrangements in this case, there may not be not be disorder. However, if one expands the scope out to a few hundred numbers then the disorder becomes more apparent. The probability of every possible sequence of numbers having meaning to at least one person is low. Thus, there is disorder in those cases.

Now, this example is rather tame and perhaps the initial premise is not though to be prone to disorder due to the limited number of arrangements. Moving up to larger example, the weather seems as though it would be a disorderly system with no order of any kind. While one can make guesses about the general weather in a given month based on the time of year it is, one cannot tell what the weather is going to be like in a month with precision. However, just because one does not have the answers does not mean there is disorder. Say there is a storm during the summer months. The storm has wind and it has rain. Starting at the creation of the storm, there is a rather high number of variables that are taken into an account such as location, how much air is rising, and the time of year amongst other factors in the formation of a storm cell.

The number of variables that go into the creation of a storm cell is decently large. Some of the aspects are based on other variables which can change at any moment. However, because there is a complex relation between the parts of the cell, there is order. For example, being in some location X causes there to be storm clouds of some size Y. With so many variables, it could be said that creating the same storm more than once is not easily done. While it may not be easy to recreate all of the variables that went into a specific storm, things can be learned about this natural system of the world and how order may take shape, even if the object in question is destructive.

However, this does pose an interesting point. If there is such a vast number of variables, it seems that there is no default state. If there was such a state, how would one decide it? Would one use calm windless weather or a raging storm that can destroy anything in its path? Because the definition of such a state would be more of an opinion, one would not exist. However, the lack of a default state doesn't mean a lack of order. It just means everything could fall under this concept of chaotic order.

If this natural system has a seemingly chaotic orderly aspect to it with initial variables being able to give vastly different systems even if the starting position is the same, then it could be said that all natural systems are orderly. This notion implies that all of nature is orderly and thus, given the right knowledge and instruments, the state of which could be determined at any point in time and thus what is considered unpredictable and chaotic is actually an orderly system on a large scale.

From small scale examples of the ordering of numbers to natural weather systems, there is order all around and in many things. The concept that is normally called 'chaos' could be seen not as disorder, but a type of order. With there being complex systems within the world, order is going to take on many forms. Each of these forms is going to have significance to different people. This meaning that is given by at least one individual is the key to what is called order and how it fits into the grand design of the world.