"True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed"
About this Quote
Stability, in Tom Robbins' hands, is less a fortress than a trampoline: you don't get resilient by stiffening against impact, you get resilient by building for bounce. The sly move in this line is the double use of "presumed". Order and disorder aren't natural facts; they're stories we tell ourselves to feel oriented. Robbins punctures the managerial fantasy that life can be arranged into a clean, permanent grid, then offers a counterintuitive replacement: the system that lasts is the one that anticipates being knocked off its axis.
The subtext is classic Robbins: suspicion of authority masquerading as common sense. "Presumed order" is the bureaucrat's lullaby, the comfort of policies, routines, and five-year plans. "Presumed disorder" is the panic narrative that justifies control. By balancing the two, he refuses both the rigid technocrat and the romantic chaos worshipper. He argues for a third posture: alert, playful, adaptive.
"Expects the unexpected" could read like motivational poster fluff, but Robbins sharpens it with verbs that are almost spiritual disciplines: prepared, waits, transformed. Waiting to be transformed isn't passive; it's anti-fragility before the term became a TED-talk fetish. Contextually, Robbins writes out of late-20th-century American disillusionment with straight-laced institutions and a countercultural appetite for flux. He's translating that ethos into systems language: don't chase permanence, cultivate readiness. The punch line is that real stability looks suspiciously like a willingness to change.
The subtext is classic Robbins: suspicion of authority masquerading as common sense. "Presumed order" is the bureaucrat's lullaby, the comfort of policies, routines, and five-year plans. "Presumed disorder" is the panic narrative that justifies control. By balancing the two, he refuses both the rigid technocrat and the romantic chaos worshipper. He argues for a third posture: alert, playful, adaptive.
"Expects the unexpected" could read like motivational poster fluff, but Robbins sharpens it with verbs that are almost spiritual disciplines: prepared, waits, transformed. Waiting to be transformed isn't passive; it's anti-fragility before the term became a TED-talk fetish. Contextually, Robbins writes out of late-20th-century American disillusionment with straight-laced institutions and a countercultural appetite for flux. He's translating that ethos into systems language: don't chase permanence, cultivate readiness. The punch line is that real stability looks suspiciously like a willingness to change.
Quote Details
| Topic | Embrace Change |
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