Daily pages - September 05, 2021

I’m just going to try to think about a pattern. Flourishing Earth is perhaps a tricky one. What are the forces at work. I guess the first is that we think of Earth’s natural resources as something we can use for our own benefit. That they belong to us. We think of ourselves above nature. The Bible says that we have dominion over nature and the others animals, so people take it seriously.

We forget, I guess, that we are part of nature. Dependent on nature.

So much of world is processing materials from nature, making it into stuff, then throwing it away. Our farming discovery, thinking in terms of mono cultures, got extended to all kinds of plants and animals. Diversity was not appreciated for what it was. The power behind natures resiliency.

Of course, there are lots of more specific problems we have regarding Earth, but what is this pattern? If I were to summarize, I’d say “we’re destroying ecosystems much faster than they can recover. We need to change that so we’re restoring ecosystems faster than we’re destroying them. It’s not about conservation so much any more. Sure we need to conserve what is left, but we also need to work at rebuilding what we can of what we destroyed. And we can hope that nature might help us a bit that way. It’s been shown more than once that if an area is left alone, it can recover more quickly than we thought. Let nature do what it can, and assist in any way we can so we can stabilize our planet and it’s diverse richness.

Or… we are destroying ourselves by destroying the spaceship we depend on. It’s time to begin repairs, and they are needed everywhere. We think of nature as something that is outside of cities, for example, but it is not. It’s in all places and all places need repair. Your very own back yard is a good place to start.

On another track, I was thinking about the whole idea that we cycle between order and chaos, and I was wondering where that should go. Is it a pattern on its own? I’m not sure. It seems to me that it could be integrated in the Creative Practice pattern. We’re talking about a cyclical process there, and one in which the reader is likely to experience this kind of bouncing between order and chaos, so it would make sense to consider that phenomenon within the pattern.

I think part of the power of the pattern is the potentially frequent cycling. I’m not encouraging anyone to stay on one project for very long, at least not at first. Contribute, learn and move on.

Or we could talk about different kinds of cycles, like a contribution cycle, a learning cycle, a composting cycle (as my friend Scott Briggs likes to call it), and perhaps more. Depending on where you are in your psychological cycle, you may need to take a break, or focus on learning about something important to your next contribution. In each kind of cycle, I think it’s fair to say you’re creating. In a learning cycle, you’re creating knowledge or understanding in yourself, and in a composting cycle, you’re creating integrations with your existing knowledge.

I was also wondering if these kinds of cycles are the origin of the biorhythms idea. I originally had a pattern about biological rhythms, but it seems like the idea is not well-respected in science. Not sure why. I’m just wondering what kind of scientific thinking backs up this idea that we cycle between order and chaos. Is it just a hunch by the guy that made the Tik Tok, or is there other data to support it. He said it was based on Dalio’s model of economic cycles, so maybe there are connections I can make there.

I think one thing to consider is that a composting cycle is a great place to hide. It might even be the same as feeling overwhelmed. I can’t handle the pressure right now, so I’d better compost, or check out. Again, I think that’s valid, but we need to be careful that we don’t waste too much time in that space. Composing time can be spent creating things that are already known and familiar. Make stuff that is relatively easy, but continue to make stuff.