“Chaos is our diet.”
— Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free
It’s no secret that we live in chaotic times. The political landscape feels like an unending storm—divisive rhetoric, bad-faith arguments, the constant churn of misinformation. Every day brings a new crisis, another outrage, another call to take sides. Many of us feel exhausted, burnt out, and powerless in the face of it all.
This is where an old story, told by Carl Jung, offers us an unexpected key to navigating the madness. It is the story of the Rainmaker—a tale about balance, chaos, and how real change happens.
The Rainmaker’s Secret
Jung learned this story from Richard Wilhelm, a German scholar who lived in China. He told Jung of a small village suffering from a prolonged drought. The people had tried everything—prayers, sacrifices, rituals—but nothing worked. In desperation, they called for a Rainmaker, an old man with a reputation for summoning rain.
When the Rainmaker arrived, he did not perform any ceremonies or offer any elaborate solutions. Instead, he asked for a small hut outside the village and went into seclusion for three days.
And then—it rained.
When asked how he had caused the rain, the old man replied:
“I did not make the rain. When I arrived in the village, I saw that everything was out of balance. The people were in disharmony, and I too felt disturbed. So I withdrew into solitude until I was back in Tao, in harmony with myself. When I was in balance, the world around me followed.”
Chaos is Contagious—But So Is Balance
Jung saw this as a profound example of synchronicity—the idea that our inner world and the outer world are deeply connected. The Rainmaker did not manipulate the weather. He realigned himself with natural order, and when he did, the balance was restored.
This is an important lesson for us today.
Politics is, by its very nature, a mirror of collective consciousness. The anger, fear, and division we see in the world are not just external—they are also deeply internalized. And as the saying goes: hurt people hurt people. A world out of balance creates individuals out of balance, and individuals out of balance reinforce the chaos of the world.
We see this playing out every day. Social media algorithms thrive on conflict, amplifying outrage and making division profitable. The more emotionally reactive we become, the easier we are to manipulate. Fear and frustration spread like a virus, keeping us perpetually distracted, exhausted, and fighting the wrong battles.
But what if, instead of feeding the chaos, we took a different approach?
Becoming Rainmakers in a World of Fire
If the Rainmaker teaches us anything, it is this: you cannot heal a broken system by mirroring its dysfunction. When everything is in disorder, the answer is not more disorder. The answer is balance.
This does not mean passivity or inaction—far from it. The Rainmaker’s power came from discipline, focus, and intentional withdrawal from the chaos. He knew that reacting impulsively would only deepen the imbalance. Instead, he practiced alignment—a conscious recalibration that allowed him to influence the world around him.
So, what does this mean for us today?
- Step Back Before You Step In
- We are constantly being pulled into reaction mode—another scandal, another outrage cycle. But reaction alone is not action. The Rainmaker reminds us to pause, to ask: What energy am I bringing into this? Am I adding to the chaos or working to restore balance?
- Cultivate Inner Alignment
- This does not mean tuning out the world—it means grounding ourselves before engaging. Whether through meditation, deep reading, long walks, or thoughtful conversations, we must strengthen our own sense of clarity and purpose before taking part in the larger dialogue.
- Embrace Slow, Intentional Influence
- The Rainmaker did not force the rain—he allowed balance to emerge naturally. In a political climate that thrives on urgency and panic, we must resist the pressure to act impulsively. Real change is slow, strategic, and deeply personal. It begins with how we treat our neighbors, how we approach difficult conversations, and how we model the world we want to create.
- Recognize the Power of Contagious Calm
- Just as fear spreads, so does stability. When we embody calmness, we disrupt the cycle of reactionary chaos. When we engage with wisdom instead of outrage, we shift the conversation. This does not mean avoiding difficult truths—it means facing them with a clear mind, not a fractured one.
A Different Kind of Resistance
The world does not need more panic. It does not need more people consumed by rage, fighting battles they don’t even believe in just because they feel they have to choose a side. The world needs more Rainmakers—people willing to withdraw from the madness long enough to remember what balance feels like.
We do not fix chaos by becoming chaotic. We do not restore sanity by embracing collective insanity. We bring rain by remembering that calm is also contagious.
In an era where “chaos is our diet,” this is a radical act. And perhaps, a necessary one.
