Daily pages - September 13, 2021

If Greater Livingness is the top pattern, it seems to me that there are both additional aspects or patterns that add clarification to the goal of creating a better world, and then there are other patterns that are sub-vectors of greater livingness in that they highlight an aspect of livingness.

In the first category, I’m thinking of the quote by Tessa Schlesinger: “The greatest good for the greatest number for the longest period of time is the prime directive in our world.” And those three things make me think of Quality of Life (greatest good), Success For All (the greatest number of people), and Infinite Path (the longest period of time).

With the possible exception of Quality of Life, it seems like these are clarifications on the Greater Livingness pattern. And I say they’re clarifications because could be considered inherent to Greater Livingness. In yesterday’s pages, I said that Success For All was inherent, that you couldn’t have greater livingness if you were only helping some life at the expense of other life. It may be true that this idea is inherent, it is not likely obvious to everyone. In the pattern terminology, these other patterns help complete Greater Livingness.

And I think Quality of Life is important. It’s a reminder that we aren’t talking about making it possible for everyone to live a life of excess like many of us do now. But we can all live a high quality life with everything we really need and desire.

As for the ones that seem like sub-vectors, I’m seeing a relationship between them and the 15 geometric properties that Alexander identified for livingness.

Global Civilization is about Not-separateness (connectedness)
Integrated Individual is in-part about Roughness (individuality)

One thing I’m questioning is the whole Decentralized Control pattern. It seems too much like a design solution that should probably live in the World That Works language. What I’m reminded of is that living systems tend to self-organize. It’s also more about building from the bottom up. Or there’s an aspect of collaboration and cooperation as an antidote to the decrees handed down from on high.

That leaves a lot of the 15 properties unrepresented in the first section of the book. I’m not sure if that’s a problem, really, but it could be an opportunity.

Levels of Scale
- open artifacts, local solutions all around the world
Strong Center
- infinite path
Boundaries
- global civilization (letting the boundaries fade)
Alternating Repetition
- ritual, complex cycles
Positive Space (complementarity)
- world and nature, integrated individuals (concave and convex)
Good Form (adaptation)
- world that works, flourishing earth, pattern languages as open artifacts
Local Symmetry
- symmetry of power
Deep Interlock (ambiguity)
- world and nature
Contrast (difference)
- diversity
Gradients
- change vectors
Roughness (individuality)
- integrated individuals
Echos (similarity)
- locally adapted open artifacts
The Void (open space)
- uncertainty, potential
Simplicity and Inner Calm
- mindfulness, meditation
Not Separateness (connectedness)
- global civilization (emphasizing the connections)

I feel pretty certain that all these properties are represented in the patterns that are in the book, but maybe not all of them in the first section. It’s probably better not to go overboard trying to fit all of these into an up-front pattern.

Back to the top four right now. If I think of Fuller’s statement around the World Game, he was looking for similar things. In the shortest possible time, find ways create a world that works for 100% of humanity with no one gaining advantage at the expense of another and without offense to the natural systems.

Of course, there are many other sub-vectors that lead to greater livingness: gentleness, generosity, honesty, reason, calm, open-mindedness, trust, supportiveness, empathy, humility, courage, cooperativeness, curiosity, kindness, gratitude, self-discipline, love, caring, forgiving, truth-seeking, manners, and more.

A lot of these are already patterns in other sections of the book.

It feels like I’m still on the right track, and I really want to get to a place where I feel like the big rocks are in place, so I can start really finishing the book. The big rocks have been the tough ones, trying to tie these ideas together in a way that makes sense and is easy to understand and follow. It has not been easy, but that kind of the point, right? I’m trying to do the hard work of integrating these ideas as best I can, then present them in a way where that integration is transferrable to some degree. That’s why it’s a pattern language because a pattern language is the best format I’m found to represent a body of knowledge as a whole. It is literally all packaged up for the reader.