Breaking the Illusion: Why Stability Is Overrated and Chaos Fuels Growth

Dan Minor’s podcast, Bible, Bravery, and Bullshit, explores the themes of spirituality, personal growth, and societal critique. In this episode, he introduces the concept of life’s cyclical nature through the framework of Order, Disorder, and Reorder (or Rebirth), inspired by Richard Rohr's The Wisdom Pattern. The key takeaways include:

Order:

• Represents a stable, predictable phase of life. 
• While comforting, it’s not sustainable long-term and can lead to stagnation.
• Life naturally moves us out of this phase as part of the growth process.

Disorder:

• A time of upheaval, uncertainty, and loss (e.g., breakups, job losses, crises of faith).
• Often seen as negative, but it’s the foundation for real growth.
• Society, and particularly religious institutions, tends to resist this phase, urging a return to “good old days” or past stability, which is unrealistic and counterproductive.

Reorder/Rebirth:

• A transformational phase where one emerges stronger and more resilient.
• It’s not about restoring what was lost but becoming something entirely new.
• Embracing chaos rather than resisting it leads to deeper personal freedom and growth.

Dan challenges listeners to stop fearing disorder and instead embrace it as a necessary step toward transformation. He critiques societal and religious tendencies to idolize past stability, arguing that growth lies in moving forward through life’s natural cycles.

Bourbon Review:

To close the episode, Dan reviews Green River Full Proof bourbon, noting its bold flavor with caramel and peppermint notes, long finish, and unique revival story. He encourages listeners who enjoy bourbon to try it.

Final Note:

Dan emphasizes the importance of courageously embracing life’s “beautiful chaos” and invites listeners to continue exploring these themes in future episodes.

#progressivechristian #richardrohr #deconstruction #bourbonreview 

Transcript

Harvest Sarasota (00:00.162)
Hey there, welcome to Bible Bravery and BS, where we're going to be covering mistranslations regarding the Bible, some things that maybe have never made sense, brave stories. I'm going to bring some friends on the podcast here in the next couple of episodes. And of course, we're going to be covering the BS, the bullshit in the world that we are seeing that's being done in the name of God or evangelical leaders.

Let's get, let's get right into this. I want to talk about something that I recently spoke on that you can get a full version of this in the description of the podcast here. I click on the link of, of it down below and you'll be able to get right to it. But I want to talk about order disorder and reorder or what I'm going to call rebirth. If you've ever felt like your life is kind of like falling apart or on the edge of falling apart, I'm guessing this is going to be for you. All of us have been there.

Some of us are there now. Some of us have been there a long time. But this is actually inspired by Richard Rohr's book, The Wisdom Pattern, which I'll link below too. And we're going to challenge together the conventional ideas of keeping it all together. Keeping it all together is overrated. And we're going to look at how embracing the chaos is actually what really helps us grow. So let's get into that together if we can. Hold tight. I hope this is going to help you. We're going to try to do it in about eight to 10 minutes. So we'll see.

First up, order. Let's be honest. It is actually overrated. It feels great, but it's that time in your life when things are comfortable, safe, predictable. It feels good for a while, but you you've probably had that moment when everything seemed perfect, a stable job or a relationship that felt secure, life on autopilot, but here's the thing. That's just the beginning and it's really not meant to last. We all crave safety, but let's face it.

Safety safe is boring. Life doesn't allow us to stay safe all the time. And order is not the destination. It's a starting point. It's like that early phase of a romantic relationship, that puppy love, where everything is sweet. But the reality is staying in that comfort zone for too long is stagnation. And trust me, life will blow it up. Life has a way of taking those moments

Harvest Sarasota (02:22.702)
of order and bring us into something we'll call disorder together, the second part of the cycle of most things in our life. It's the gritty part. It's the breakup, the job loss, the existential crisis where you're questioning everything that you once believed. You might be there now with your faith. You might be there now with a job thing, a relationship thing. It's that raw moment when you realize that the way you thought life should go just isn't happening. And you know what? It's okay.

because disorder is actually the beginning of where real growth happens. It feels like a loss, but it actually is setting us up for growth in our life. We've been told our whole lives to avoid chaos. this is chaos. To hold on to the past, to try to return back to that order phase, to fix things that are broken. But what if we leaned into it instead? I just want to go there for a moment. What if we actually

embraced as a part of our journey, the part in the curve that seems a little bit jagged, that seems like it's going nowhere good. What if we embraced that as a part of our actual journey towards growth, towards learning, towards... And I'll tell you what, this is the truth. There are so many Christians out there who absolutely are trying to run away from disorder and running towards order, who actually

see people that are experiencing disorder and make a decision about their faith or about their journey of things like salvation or are they really saved? Look what their life looks like. Meanwhile, every single one of us go through that and society and especially society and culture in the church tells us we need to get back into that good old order. But here's the truth, you can't. You cannot relive the past.

As much as we fondly look back on those core memories of the beginning of things, our life, relationships, a job, whatever it is, we'll never return back to that we're not supposed to. It wasn't really that great anyway because it was a false reality. But there's something better beyond disorder, and we'll get to that in a moment. Disorder is messy, but it's also liberating. It's the moment you realize that life doesn't follow your plans.

Harvest Sarasota (04:47.457)
And maybe it's better that way. The more we resist disorder, the more we stay stuck in it. Here's the two types of people out there when they get in disorder, and maybe you're one of them, and I can hopefully help you through it. Some people love to stay in disorder. They will stay there, and it's the folks who are angry and cynical, and they blame everything. Oftentimes they're conspiracy theorists, and they never take responsibility. They're blaming everything around them for the condition they're in.

or their life is in and disorder becomes their identity and they thrive on it short term, but it ultimately robs them of the opportunity to grow. And they really are the grumpy ones, the people that you're just like, man, would you just relax? Everything is always so negative with you, but it doesn't have to be that way. The other type of person tries to run back from disorder to order, hoping that they can.

have what they used to have. It's the people are like, well, in the good old days, we used to have this or the good old days we used to have this. I recently saw a meme on Facebook that said something about, you know, returning back to when America was great. And, and it was that time period, there was a sign up that was, you know, separating people of color from white people. You know, was, was businesses that wouldn't allow somebody of color into their business. It was

It was hardcore, huge moments of segregation that people of privilege, specifically as white folks, it's easy for us to say, let's go back to the good old days, but it wasn't good for everybody. And it actually was never supposed to be that we actually, even though things that have devolved at times into chaos, it's actually, we're closer to growth and closer to where we need to go.

than we were in the quote unquote good old days. And so let's talk about where we go from, from disorder. We have order, we have disorder. And eventually when everything seems to be falling apart, if we will remind ourselves in the middle of it that it's going to be okay and that this cycle happens to everyone, we get to the exciting part, which is reorder or what I'll call rebirth, reincarnation, resurrection. Those are some of the

Harvest Sarasota (07:12.125)
the Christian terms that kind of represent this. And we see it in the life of many characters within the Bible. But we see it outside of the church, of course, in life period. That's that moment where somebody rises from the ashes. And it isn't about going back to the way things were or fixing what's broken. Rebirth is about becoming something entirely new, something you've never imagined.

When you stop fighting the chaos and let it reshape you, you come out on the other side, ultimately transformed. Rebirth is about acceptance. It's when you stop longing for the past and stop feeling defeated by the present. You realize that life's cycles are natural. And instead of fearing those dark moments of our lives, those moments of chaos, you see them as the fuel for your next level or your next growth opportunity.

Rebirth isn't pretty. If you've ever watched a birth, probably get it. It's raw. It's real. It's messy, but it's also powerful. And it's where a new life comes. This is where you become the version of yourself that's been waiting to be unleashed. It's not about getting through the tough times. It's about becoming something new through those tough times. And guess what? You're going to go through this cycle again and again.

It's not a one-time thing, but each time you get stronger, more resilient, more real, the light and the dark, we learn to coexist with both of them. And that is where true freedom lives. When you're okay with a mess and you still keep moving forward. Does that make sense? I hope it does. So here's the takeaway. Stop resisting the disorder. Stop trying to go back to some version of life that you've outgrown.

Let yourself break down, let yourself fall apart and let yourself be reborn. The cycle of order, disorder and rebirth or reorder is where you're going to find your real power. And for some of you, that power has been taken away. It's been taken away by institutions, sometimes people, sometimes churches, church leaders. But I'm telling you, you can reclaim your power if you allow yourself to go through this process.

Harvest Sarasota (09:35.457)
and to not try to turn back and not allow yourself to get stuck. That's the only way to truly grow. Hey, thanks for listening today. Wherever you are in the cycle of order, disorder, reorder, own it. Don't just survive, transform. So before I sign off, I enjoy and I hope that I'm able to introduce myself to this audience. We have a Harvest Church podcast, but this is kind of my own personal podcast.

And one of the things I enjoy in life is a good bourbon. So I figured for some of the episodes, we'll grab some bourbon. I'll give you a quick review of it and tell you what it's about. so I actually have an allocated bottle of bourbon with me. Let me tell you what it is and we're going to take a sip of it. I got it today.

This is Green River right here. And it's their full proof. They just were bought by Bardstown in 2022, 118 proof. That's why there's only a little bit in my glass. And we're going to take a taste of it. Just got it today. It's an allocated bottle. They just came out with their full proof. And I think it's great. Although I think you can find it locally in a couple of spots. It's not super rare, but let's try it. See what we got. Put it up here.

Boo.

Harvest Sarasota (11:04.813)
almost took my breath away that one 18 proof long finish. It's a little out of balance, but it's good. It's a, yeah, I think it's, I think it's great. It's got some caramel almost tastes like a mint peppermint to me at least. Yeah, it's, it's pretty good. I like it. It's got an amber color. It's, it's a, think it's like five, six, seven year old bourbon. It's a little light on the color lighter than I would assume, but man, it's

Pretty good, take another sip.

Harvest Sarasota (11:44.588)
Yeah, this was a company that got revived years and years and years after prohibition and trying to make it again. And then Bartstown bottom, but good stuff. Grab yourself a bottle if you'd like. If you're allergic to alcohol, don't. But if you enjoy a good bourbon and you're not allergic, then grab it. Hey, we're going to sign off. Until next time, keep pushing the boundaries. Stay bold.

and embrace the beautiful chaos of life. See you next time on Bible, Bravery, and Bullshit.