Project Goal

(i)

The universe is the result of a highly creative and efficient process, capable of performing the greatest complexity with minimum effort. Behind this process is an inherently self-organizing, self-regulating, self-healing, self-beautifying, and self-creating pattern. So as a byproduct of this process…

Why is it that the human brain does not consistently perform at a similar level of creativity and efficiency as the process that created it? 

This project explores how we became out of sync with the universal process, and where the paradigm shift starts in order for us to realign with it again.

For better understanding, we suggest you start here with the preface, then watch the animated video, and then explore more as you feel called to.

Throughout this site, you are invited to flow with your curiosity via the hyperlinks to explore in detail the concepts and theories that together create the Nonlinear View.

Preface: Systemic Solutions for the Metacrisis

As you know, we are facing a metacrisis. This isn’t just a singular issue—it’s a systemic crisis, which means it requires a systemic solution to address the chaos we’re experiencing.

But amidst this chaos, is there a way for us to see it as an opportunity for emergent solutions?

We are living at a point in history where our scientific knowledge and observational tools have advanced enough to guide us through this moment. When we look at the universe, we see billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars. These stars have gone through countless supernovae, and out of this cosmic dance emerged our solar system, with the sun at its center.

The sun itself is composed of 97% hydrogen and helium—the simplest known elements—and yet, from these basic building blocks, it sustains our green planet. This planet supports life in forms ranging from unicellular organisms to human beings—beings who can now pause to have this very conversation about the marvel of it all.

It’s clear that this is an incredibly creative and efficient process. And when we shift our focus to the human body, we see this same process in action. Right now, as I speak, over 4 million neurons and cells are synchronizing between my mind and yours to transfer a single word. At the same time, my body is effortlessly regulating enzymes, oxygen levels, and countless other metabolic processes—all without a central command.

This pattern of self-organization is observable everywhere in Earth’s ecosystems. Bees communicate and organize through intricate dances, fungal networks distribute resources among plants and soil, and massive weather systems create cycles of life on a planetary scale.

Consider the storms in Africa’s Sahara Desert. They carry minerals across the ocean to the Amazon Rainforest. As these particles travel, they create static charges in the clouds above the rainforest, triggering lightning. This lightning acts as a catalyst for chemical reactions involving nitrogen, oxygen, and other minerals, providing essential nutrients for the plants below. Those plants then convert photons from the sun into sugars, which eventually become protein and oxygen that sustains the life of inhabitants around the Earth.

So what drives this creative and efficient process?

Why aren’t we, as part of this system, operating with the same level of creativity that brought us into existence?

And how can we, as products of this process, realign ourselves with it?

Systems theory suggests that behind this profound creativity lies a self-organizing quality. Network theory helps us see that this self-organization emerges through nonlinear networks. These networks thrive in the chaotic zone by becoming fractal—where individual members synchronize their assets to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

But somewhere along humanity’s journey of self-awareness, we constructed a linear model of understanding. This linear thinking separated us—illusively—from the universe. In trying to protect this separated identity, we built systems of dominance, short-term gain, self-assertiveness, and liability management. These strategies helped us survive for a time, but in today’s nonlinear world, their dominance now threatens our survival.

However, one of the linear model's greatest achievements is that we can now use linear logic to explain nonlinear systems. This gives us a roadmap to realign ourselves with the larger system we are a part of. By studying the networks within our own bodies—especially the brain—we can see how this linear dominance has caused us to fall out of sync with the greater process.

Because of the universality of nonlinear networks, discovering how to realign our brain and body networks can offer templates and strategies applicable to networks at any scale. In this way, the human body becomes a guide—and mirrors the message Earth is trying to communicate. After all, we are not separate from it; we are each interconnected and part of this greater, self-organizing process.

Watch: The Nonlinear View Animated Short

There is a deep simplicity that exists throughout our universe... and nonlinear networks are the key: 

Discover how embracing a holistic, systemic worldview can not only enhance creativity and efficiency but also help humanity navigate existential challenges. Using insights from systems theory, network theory, and quantum mechanics, we explore the universal patterns that connect our bodies to the cosmos. 

Learn how to shift from linear to nonlinear thinking to synchronize with the universe’s self-organizing processes, fostering cooperation, heightened intuition, and unconditional love. 

Join us in rethinking relationships, values, and cognitive processes to achieve a more interconnected and peaceful existence via systems philosophy. Embrace the change within and align with the universe’s inherent wisdom—watch now to transform your perspective and elevate your experience of life.

Overview

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This concept is unique in the following ways:

1. Its observation of the self-organizing process at different scales.

2. Investigating the nonlinear network as the pattern of organization for self-organizing systems: as nonlinear networks are mathematical patterns, they do not deal with substance, allowing them to encapsulate the essential behaviors of the self-organizing process that composes our universe. 

3. From our self-awareness process, we developed a linear model of the world. This approximated model once aided in our survival, but its domination in our current nonlinear world is not only inhibiting the full potential of the human brain, but is clearly becoming a threat to our survival. 

4. By conducting our activities via nonlinear technologies such as the internet, we’ve entered an emergent nonlinear era of interconnectedness, interdependence, unpredictability, and chaos, where our linear model of perception, thought, and behaviors is no longer compatible. This emergent era demands an urgent paradigm shift to permeate from our personal to social to planetary levels so we can navigate this era successfully. Fortunately, we possess enough scientific knowledge to guide this transition.

5. Using the body as a metaphor, we will explore how the domination of this linear model is both the root of a) the disconnect between brain and body and b) humans from the universe, as well as the key to our resynchronization and cooperation with it.

6. The development of new technologies such as the FMRI have shown us how the two hemispheres of the brain process information differently: on the left-side primarily dealing with analytical and linear thinking, and the right-side more intuitive and nonlinear thinking. 

7. Due to the universality of nonlinear networks, the method of reconnection found in our body network can apply to any network at any scale. This can be our social networks, governments, economies, or planetary networks, bringing a powerful universal application and deep simplicity to this perspective. In this way, the paradigm shift starts within our bodies and will permeate to every network we are a part of. 

8. We have consumed the resources of the Earth and converted it into information. If we observe this process with the nonjudgmental quality of systems thinking, this information is telling us how this whole process and the domination of the linear model wasn’t a waste. 

9. While linear perception assumes that our self-awareness process was accidental and separate from our planet, nonlinear perception sees our self-awareness as part of the larger self-awareness process of Earth. As a self-organizing cognitive system, Earth is in the process of becoming self-aware. With this nonlinear perception, humankind’s self-awareness process can be seen as part of a greater process of Earth becoming increasingly self-aware. Now that this can be perceived, it has been achieved.

10. As a self-organizing cognitive system, Earth is in the process of becoming self-aware. The emergence of extreme weather patterns and the overall metacrisis are a message asking human beings to recognize ourselves as interconnected with this greater cognitive process.

11. Earth is trying to wake us up to this message via the unsustainability of our linear activities and chaotic weather patterns so we will acknowledge every part of our self-awareness process as progress towards fully holistic integration of all its parts, moving beyond blaming any part of this journey, including the domination of the linear model and our technologies and social systems based in it. 

12. While the linear view tries to find the justification to blame one of the major participants of the event, by embracing the nonjudgmental, observational approach of the nonlinear view, we can consider any event, challenge, or crisis as part of a cognitive process that is trying to teach us something in order to find a systemic solution to the event. This nonjudgmental approach allows us to focus on the achievements of the process, rather than blaming a part of the process, so that all parts of the process (even the linear model and its byproducts) are seen as necessary steps leading us to realign with the greater self-organizing process of the universe. 

13. While linear perception separates us illusively from the universe the same way it separates creator from creation, nonlinear perception offers a major philosophical and spiritual shift as it bridges the linear division between creator and creation. Nonlinear perception acknowledges that our universe is not only self-organizing, self-healing, self-regulating, and self-beautifying, but also self-creating without any central command. By synchronizing all its elements, the universe continuously generates a higher consciousness that guides the entire system, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. 

14. As a self-organizing, living system, Earth provides its inhabitants with a smooth journey around the solar system 365 days a year, offering beautiful scenery, nourishing food, and everything we need to survive and thrive without any expectations. This behavior is entrained by the sensation of unconditional love, as if this is the gravity that holds us all together, remaining a part of the greater system of Earth. With this view, it becomes a message that can be heard throughout the universe.

15. We are discovering the true dimension of the universe to be the fractal dimension—the geometry of chaos. This fractal structure reveals how self-organizing processes unfold, demonstrating that the universe generates intricate and complex patterns using simple formulas. This is an indication of the deep simplicity that can be found throughout the self-organizing universe. 

16. By shifting from liability management to asset management throughout any network we are a part of, we can maximize our creative efficacy and cooperation of all of the parts of our systems. This will enable us to realign ourselves with the greater self-organizing process and synchronize the left and right hemispheres of the brain so that we may perform at a level of creativity that is equivalent to the process that created us, elevating our physical, mental, and spiritual experience of life, bringing hope, love, prosperity, and peace to our world.

Introduction

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Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.

– Ted Perry, inspired by Chief Seattle (1)

The latest images we’re receiving from humankind’s most advanced cosmic observer, the James Webb Telescope, indicate that we’re part of an awe-inspiring universe. Focusing on just our own solar system, it’s remarkable that 97% of our Sun consists of the two simplest elements in the periodic table: hydrogen and helium. This elementary composition has generated a gravitational field, positioning our planet in such a way that it can foster immense, lush beauty—from unicellular organisms to human beings, who are now capable of observing the magnificence of our planet and the universe in such extraordinary detail.

And so, it prompts the question:

What is the source of this creativity?

This capacity to create complex phenomena with minimal effort stems from a deep simplicity, provided by the self-organizing, self-regulating, and self-healing processes that pervade every level of the universe. 

For instance, our bodies regulate various aspects like blood pressure, temperature, enzyme levels, blood sugar, pH levels, etc., without any central command. This self-organizing process is nonlinear, contrasting with the linear model developed through our self-awareness process—a model now becoming too rigid to handle our nonlinear world.

What is meant by a nonlinear world?

As the last decade of the previous century concluded, we stepped into a nonlinear digital era that has brought the recent emergence of AI technology. we are now entering a new age of intelligence where we are experiencing a rate of change that accelerates exponentially as the world grows increasingly interrelated, interdependent, interconnected, unpredictable, and chaotic. This project aims to facilitate our successful navigation through the challenges of this emergent and transformative period by guiding us to recognize a nonlinear, systemic view of life and acknowledging the limitations of the linear model in this nonlinear epoch.

Can you elaborate on these challenges?

There are two key points here: one is a challenge, the other, an opportunity.

The challenge lies with the linear model—an approximation of our nonlinear world. In our self-awareness process, we separated the object from the subject, allowing us to develop abstract thinking that also falsely separated us from the universe. To uphold this illusory sense of separation, we devised a linear model. Our economy, politics, and environmental relationships were subsequently shaped according to this model. However, the dominance of the linear model that once ensured our survival is now threatening it in our nonlinear, digital world.

Simultaneously, this linear model has allowed us to achieve a certain level of awareness and knowledge through technology and nonlinear science. We now understand the intricacies of how the nonlinear, self-organizing system operates. Moreover, we can recognize the limitations of the linear model, as the nonlinear perspective offers guidance on how to navigate the challenges of this emergent, transformative era.

Could you tell us more about this nonlinear view or holistic model?

The nonlinear, self-organizing model is inherent in the universe. We observe this self-organizing process not only in our bodies, but also at every level and scale of the universe: from other species and Earth’s inhabitants to Earth itself, the solar system, and beyond—all are self-organizing.

According to systems theory, since nonlinear networks are the organizational pattern of the self-organizing system, they can provide the essential universal behavioral patterns observed in all living systems. Self-organizing systems are emergent processes operating in the chaotic zone, and nonlinear networks are  structural patterns flexible enough to function at the edge of chaos. Theoretical physicist and systems theorist Fritjof Capra explains the essence of the self-organization of living networks as follows:

The essence of the self-organization of living networks is continual regeneration (technically called autopoiesis). The continual regeneration of life in nature (e.g. during the turn of the seasons) is ancient knowledge. What is new in the systems view of life is the understanding that regeneration operates at all levels of complexity, down to the molecular networks of cells. This continual regeneration requires a continual flow of energy and matter (metabolism). So, the regenerative nature of life (autopoiesis) is connected with the fact that living systems always exist in a state far from equilibrium (dissipative structures). (2)

Nonlinear networks consist of both order and randomness. Order ensures structural cohesiveness and clustering, while randomness reduces the degree of separation, making a highly interconnected system that brings unpredictability and flexibility, allowing for operation in the chaotic zone. During this process, these networks embody fractal patterns, enabling network members to synchronize their resources, information, talent, and assets through cooperation and partnership. As such, the entire network accrues a higher content of information, functionality, and intelligence, becoming greater than the sum of its parts. This nonlinear process allows the complex task of communicating a single word from one mind to another to occur with minimal effort. This is the primary source of creativity in the universe.

One of the qualities of nonlinear networks is their self-similarity, meaning they behave the same way at any scale—this is the universality of behavior among them. Hence, if you study one nonlinear network and comprehend its behavior, you can apply that understanding to any other network, regardless of scale. By knowing one, you gain insight into all of them. This is the deep simplicity permeating throughout the entirety of the self-organizing universe.

Another unique characteristic of nonlinear networks is the uneven distribution known as power law distribution, which creates hubs within the network—that is, members with higher connectivity and influence over the broader system. When a hub participates nonlinearly within the network, it provides robustness and sustainability for the whole network, including the hub itself. However, when a hub behaves linearly, it makes the whole network unsustainable. We see this in our bodies, social systems, and the Earth network as a whole.

Could you elaborate on your earlier mention that the linear model developed through our self-awareness process?

In brief, we began by mimicking the animals around us, and by distinguishing object from subject, we eventually developed abstract thinking. Now, I don’t need to physically show you something for you to understand it. For example, if I say “Car,” you know what I’m referring to. 

This abstract thinking marked the start of our self-awareness process, which, albeit illusorily, separated us from the universe. To protect this illusory separate identity, we embraced a linear relationship characterized by self-assertiveness, short-term gain, domination, and liability management with the web of life. From there, we created a linear perception that we are alone in the world to master and conquer it. And we don’t see our own self-awareness process as a part of the greater self-awareness process of our planet. 

Could you elaborate on how the linear model is an approximate model of the natural world?

There are five approximations or assumptions that led us to the linear view of the world:

1. The first approximation was illusorily separating ourselves from the universe, perceiving our self-awareness process as distinct from the broader self-awareness process of our planet and the universe.

2. Then, based on the partial stability and order of our immediate surroundings, we approximated a linear model by eliminating the randomness that provides the flexibility of a nonlinear system, explaining it based solely on order and equilibrium. This makes the linear model more rigid and static.

3. Observing orderly and stable events provided the linear assumption of the proportionality of cause and effect. However, in a self-organizing world operating in chaos, there is no such proportionality. For instance, in the current nonlinear world, a small virus like COVID-19 can drastically impact countless aspects of life worldwide.

4. With the linear model, we dismiss seemingly insignificant events or causes and assume outcomes result solely from the most significant events (the hubs of the events network) leading up to them. Yet, any event is the outcome of a collective web of interrelated phenomena.

5. We also linearly assumed that the universe’s geometry can be explained by Euclidean three-dimensions, whereas the real world exists in the fractal dimension: the dimension of chaos and the self-organizing process. 

The combination of these five assumptions resulted in a deterministic, judgmental belief system rooted in the certainty of linear logic (analytical thinking), with the ability to predict, plan, and create expectations. To protect this illusively separated identity, the nature of this linear logic became defensive, leading to a bias towards negativity and fear of change, and to linear relationships based in self-assertiveness, short-term gain, domination, and liability management. The dominance of this linear thinking, which was once essential to our survival, now ironically threatens our existence in the rapidly changing, nonlinear, digital world. Thus, continuing to defend the dominance of this defensive model is detrimental to humanity. Through the domination of this linear approximate model, we have become out of sync with the inherent self-organizing process of the universe.

Furthermore, the linear model and thinking led to reductionist science that uses approximated models based on equilibrium or a constant steady-state condition where the whole equals the sum of its parts. Instead of viewing the whole as potentially greater than the sum of its parts, this approach dissects it into different segments or modules, investigates each separately, and then combines them to explain the whole. This linear model gradually developed through our self-awareness process and has been the dominant worldview since the Renaissance.

Could you elaborate on how this nonlinear view has historically developed?

The nonlinear view and behavior have always been inherent in human beings as a natural pattern of the universe of which we are part. We possess a natural tendency for empathy towards other humans, the other inhabitants of Earth, and the planet itself.

Through nonlinear science, we are rediscovering what wisdom traditions worldwide have long understood: that we are part of the whole system and not separate from it; thus, we need to synchronize with the entire system rather than cling to an illusory separation that suggests we are disconnected and alone in this world.

Historically, we communicated this nonlinear view of the world through nonlinear mediums such as mythology, mysticism, and art because linear logic and language were incapable of fully explaining it. However, the advent of the digital world and the development of nonlinear theories such as systems theory, network theory, and cognitive theory have advanced the ability of linear logic to explain the nonlinear world in more detail than ever before.

How did this nonlinear view continue to evolve in the modern world, which has been dominated by the linear view?

While it’s impossible to credit all who contributed to the emergence of the nonlinear view, some major contributors stand out. In the modern world, this view evolved within the Romanticism movement, notably in the works of poets like Goethe (with his “Morphology”) and William Blake, as evidenced in Blake’s observation:

May God us keep

From single vision and Newton’s sleep.

– William Blake (3)

This perspective permeated from poetry and art to philosophy through Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy, and was eventually popularized by Alan Watts in most of his writings and talks, including The Web of Life:

Human consciousness is, at the same time as being a form of awareness and sensitivity and understanding, it’s also a form of ignorance.

– Alan Watts (4)

In the quest for a unified theory of the universe, Fritjof Capra shifted our focus from physics to life science and from reductionism to systemic or holistic science. He popularized this in his books, The Web of Life and The Systems View of Life. UK journalist Mark Ward also popularized the current concept of chaos in his book Beyond Chaos: The Underlying Theory Behind Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Furthermore, network theorists such as Steven Strogatz (Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order), Mark Buchanan (Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks), and Albert-László Barabási (Linked: The New Science Of Networks) have played crucial roles in popularizing nonlinear network theory, which offers a mathematical foundation for better understanding the nonlinear view of the world. 

How does this nonlinear view shift our linear understanding of the world?

The nonlinear view perceives the world as a self-organizing, nonlinear network. Acknowledging this notion provides a radical paradigm shift towards a unified theory of everything. As this theory delves into the fundamental fabric or pattern of the universe, a deep simplicity becomes discernible throughout this universe. This simplicity is perceivable through the acknowledgment of the universality of this shift, beginning from our body network, extending to societal networks, the entire Earth network, and beyond. Therefore it serves as a guide to navigate the challenges of the current nonlinear digital world.

What could the nonlinear view reveal about the essential fabric or pattern of the universe?

The development of nonlinear theories in the last century has significantly altered our understanding of the universe’s composition. One of these theories, quantum mechanics, suggests that the universe is not composed of building blocks (see Fritjof Capra, page 330, The Tao of Physics for details) but consists of dancing energy that fundamentally behaves as a wave. However, when this energy achieves a certain stability or locality, it performs as a particle. This dancing energy carries a pattern of information that is omnipresent. Every creature on Earth is composed of information; information lies at the core of our cells and rattles around in our brains. Every particle in the universe, every electron, every atom, every star, and each of the innumerable galaxies in the heavens, is teeming with information. Consequently, energy and information constitute the essential fabric of the universe.

Quantum mechanics has also redefined our observed-observer relationship by demonstrating that particles alter their behavior when we observe them with certain expectations. This revelation added a cognitive dimension to energy. Systems theory and cognitive theory subsequently introduced the concept that the self-organizing process is a cognitive process capable of creating a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Therefore, when considered in conjunction, these nonlinear theories lead us to conclude that the universe is composed of cognitive energy. According to Max Planck, who was awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize for Physics, “We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This is the matrix of all matter.” Not only is this “force of existence” conscious and intelligent, but Fritjof Capra also contributes a network-perspective to this cognition-centric universe view: “Life organizes itself in networks, and these networks are regenerative, creative, and intelligent.”

Regardless of whether this energy behaves as a wave or a particle, it carries this inherent pattern of information, allowing particles to participate in nonlinear network patterns and form self-organizing systems. As we start perceiving all aspects of our universe on a large scale as carrying this similar pattern, we can see how everything in the universe synchronously fits together, leaving no gaps. Therefore, we can envision a world that operates automatically, without any central command, much like our bodies that constantly perform simultaneous complex tasks with minimum effort.

Does the nonlinear view provide any explanation that might describe this inherent pattern of information?

The nonlinear view potentially elucidates this pattern through one of the characteristics of nonlinear networks: self-similarity or universality. The spiral pattern of the golden ratio can be observed in a wide array of natural phenomena: from pineapples, our bodies, sunflowers, and elephant tusks to weather patterns, galaxies, and beyond. Through its spiral pattern, the golden ratio describes this self-similarity in terms of shape in Euclidean geometry. And since the fractal dimension is the dimension of the self-organizing process, the golden ratio could potentially also express the inherent, universal pattern of the overall self-organizing process.

It is plausible that the fractal dimension of the golden ratio can not only offer a blueprint of this spiral pattern that cognitive energy universally contains, but also act as the model conduit orchestrating the self-similar behaviors of self-organizing networks without any central command. Identifying such an elegant description of this inherent pattern could bring significant applications to various scientific and technological sectors.

It seems that describing the universe as cognitive energy capable of self-organization may relate to the “deep simplicity” mentioned earlier. Can this deep simplicity be explained further?

All mystical experiences—including those documented and described in Sufism, Taoism, Zen Buddhism, and many indigenous wisdom traditions and practices—suggest that once we shed the illusory separation and ego birthed from our self-awareness process, we experience a feeling of oneness with the universe. In this shift of consciousness, we enter a state of flow where we can accomplish the most complex tasks with minimal effort. This occurs for athletes and musicians when they are “in the zone,” and for our bodies as they self-regulate with minimum effort. Alan Watts speaks on this state of flow and the Tao Te Ching:

Fundamentally, you see, you can’t get away from it. It’s like a situation in which we are all floating in a tremendous river, and the river carries you along anyhow. Now some of the people in the river are swimming against it; but they’re still being carried along. Others have learned that the art of the thing is to swim with it. And they’re carried along, too. (5)

The dominance of the linear model and illusory separation often leads us to swim against this flow, overlooking the deep simplicity that comes with aligning ourselves in the direction of the flow. Nonlinear science is also shedding light on this deep simplicity. For instance, the fractal dimension—which is the actual dimension of the world—is capable of creating and explaining complex patterns with a simple equation, whereas linear mathematics requires a complex equation to explain a complex system.

Moreover, the nonlinear view perceives nonlinear networks as a pattern of organization within a self-organizing universe. Given that all nonlinear networks exhibit self-similarity or universal behaviors, what is known about one applies to all. Thus, they provide guidelines that can be applied to any network at any scale.

How does this impact spirituality and philosophy?

Given that the universe is composed of cognitive energy, there is an inherent universal potential within the elements of the universe to organize themselves into nonlinear network patterns. This organization creates a whole with higher functionality, an abundance of information, and intelligence exceeding the sum of its parts, capable of guiding the entire network. For instance, a collection of molecules can assemble through nonlinear network patterns to form enzymes, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. These elements combine in a nonlinear network pattern to construct individual cells that form organs. These organs collectively participate in interconnected networks (respiratory, digestive, lymphatic, etc. systems) and eventually form the human body—a network of heightened consciousness able to guide the entire system towards a higher cognitive goal or purpose. This model can be scaled to Earth, synchronizing the intelligence of its inhabitants to create a network of superior functionality, information content, and intelligence. The cognitive pattern can further be applied to the solar system and beyond.

The nonlinear view allows us to acknowledge the higher intelligence of Earth and, ultimately, the universe, which guides the system and possesses higher consciousness and purpose. Wisdom traditions involve eliminating the illusory separation of self and uniting with the universe or Earth, thereby connecting directly with that higher consciousness and intuitively accessing the superior intelligence of the larger network, as do other Earth species.

While linear thinking attributes this higher intelligence to a separate divine creator acting from outside the universe, the nonlinear view doesn’t distinguish the creator from the creation. It perceives the universe as a self-creating system capable of generating higher intelligence to guide itself without central command or an external creator, unifying spirituality, science, and philosophy. While linear perception isolates humans in the universe devoid of guiding intelligence, the nonlinear view sees human self-awareness as a component of the planet’s greater self-awareness process. Acknowledging this higher, guiding intelligence could bring hope to humanity.

How else is this project unique in its contribution to our growing acknowledgment of the nonlinear world?

This project is unique in several aspects. First, it focuses on the nonlinear network as the pattern of organization for self-organizing systems. As nonlinear networks are mathematical patterns, they do not deal with substance, allowing them to encapsulate the essential behaviors of the self-organizing process. Second, the project uses our body as a metaphor to identify human disconnection from the ongoing self-organizing process and how to reconnect. Lastly, due to the universality of nonlinear networks, the method of reconnection found in our bodies can apply to any network at any scale. This could be our planet network or our social networks, bringing a powerful universal application and deep simplicity to this perspective.

Can you tell us how applying this view to our body as a metaphor can help us understand how the self-organizing system works? And can it shed light on the root of our disconnection from the self-organizing universe?

When observing our body network, we can see how the brain, a major hub within the body network, works in synchrony with the whole body network via nonlinear relationships of cooperation, partnership, and asset management. This cooperation allows the system to accomplish the most complex tasks with minimum effort. However, when the linear model dominates the brain, it creates an illusory separation between ourselves and the universe, and between the brain and the rest of the body. Consequently, it applies a linear relationship (self-assertiveness, short-term gain, domination, liability management) to the entire body network to satisfy its short-term addiction to information or any other substance. Our disconnection with nonlinear relationships starts within our body network and extends to any network we participate in—human networks, interactions with other inhabitants of Earth, and even the whole Earth network. This disconnect is the root of unsustainability in our social, economic, political, and environmental activities. This powerful application is explored in more detail in this section of the full manuscript. Since all nonlinear networks share universal behaviors, what we learn from one system can be applied to any other.

How does the domination of the linear model manifest and how can we train our brains to think in a nonlinear, or systemic, manner?

Our brain, a self-organizing system, can be trained to operate in a nonlinear fashion by observing our thoughts and behaviors with nonlinear values (6). By viewing challenges as opportunities and cognitive processes with the potential to teach us something greater, our observation acts as a positive feedback system to reorganize our brain. This process can enable the synchronization of the left and right hemispheres of the brain, overcoming the dominance of the left-side (which is more analytical, materialistic, and masculine). This allows activation of the right-side (more intuitive, spiritual, and feminine) and fosters cooperation between the two hemispheres. This can unlock the optimum potential of our brain, freeing us from the domination of the linear model and its restricting influence in our bodily as well our social and environmental activities. After all, the brain, the most complex matter in the universe, has received a significant investment from Earth’s resources for its development. However, the linear model’s dominance hinders its performance and limits its potential. In the full manuscript, we discuss the universality of transitioning from a dominant linear focused on liability management to a nonlinear approach focused on asset management for addressing political, economic, and ecological challenges.

What impact does the nonlinear view have on our cognitive network?

Recent discoveries challenge the previous linear assumption that the brain is the sole cognitive center of our body. It’s now understood that the entire body is a cognitive network, with the heart not merely functioning as a pump but also as a major hub that intuitively connects us to the universe. Psychophysiologists John and Beatrice Lacey, along with neurocardiologist Dr. J. Andrew Armour of the University of Montreal, refer to this relationship as “the heart-brain.” Alan Watts suggests the Tao Te Ching refers to the heart as a “psychic center.”

Scientist and author Gregg Braden summarizes many of these findings:

We’ve been conditioned to believe that the heart is merely a pump that circulates blood throughout our bodies. While this is true, pumping blood might be the least significant of the heart’s functions. It also communicates information to the brain that instructs the rest of the body in how to function. These instructions originate in the heart, through its neurons. The heart produces hormones in our bodies in ways we didn’t fully understand until the early 1990s. In 1991, researchers discovered 40,000 specialized cells in the heart—a neural network that we regulate through our feelings about our relationship to ourselves and the world. (7)

The body network consists of several subnetworks, including the respiratory, circulatory, immune, central nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems. All these systems are cognitive, according to Santiago Theory. As the brain illusorily separates itself from the body network, it also detaches from the cognitive network. The dominance of linear thinking has led us to believe that the brain is the only component of this multi-system cognitive network. However, overlooking the heart’s potential beyond its mechanical functionality inhibits our intuitive connection to the higher network of Earth. This deprives our cognitive network of its full potential and hinders our ability to connect with others through empathy, feeling, and heart-to-heart interactions. The domination of linear thinking blocks this connection with past experiences and judgments. Transitioning from a linear to a nonlinear model can help us synchronize our entire cognitive body network, thereby unleashing its tremendous potential. After all, Earth and the universe have invested heavily in creating this cognitive network; it would be wasteful not to allow it to fully emerge. 

But it seems like this linear model that we created in our self-awareness process was a waste. How could the universe, with its remarkable ability to accomplish the most complex tasks with minimal effort, create such a wasteful process? 

This question is intriguing, as labeling our linear model’s current unsustainability as a “waste” arises from the negativity inherent in the linear view itself. Linear thinking regrets the past and worries about the future, leading at best to partial solutions for the challenges of this nonlinear era, instead of focusing on the present and its own potential achievements to develop holistic solutions that align with the whole. The linear view assumes our self-awareness process is not part of a larger process, fostering the belief that we are alone in this endeavor to master and conquer. Therefore, linear perception sees this self-awareness process as a failure or a waste.

However, the nonlinear perspective of the world perceives our self-awareness process as part of the greater self-awareness process of the cognitive, self-organizing Earth. It’s true that we have used most of Earth’s resources, and it’s easy to judge this as wasteful from a linear perspective. Yet, the nonlinear view acknowledges that we have converted these resources into information and technology that facilitate a more detailed understanding of this universal, self-organizing process, demonstrating that even within our bodies, this system is a continuous process. By recognizing how we’ve deviated or disconnected from the larger process, we can now reconnect with this extraordinary, inherent, self-organizing process of the world.

The linear model is not only becoming aware of its limitations but has also advanced to a level where it can describe in great detail how this nonlinear world works. Through this understanding, Earth itself is becoming self-aware. By adopting a nonlinear view, we see that our self-awareness process and the development of the linear model were not wastes, but rather integral parts of Earth’s self-awareness process.

We now possess sufficient knowledge to realign with the greater self-organizing system by acknowledging our achievements and sharing our resources in cooperation and partnership with each other, other inhabitants of the Earth, and Earth itself.

What is the nonlinear perspective on the current state of the digital world?

The linear model excels in equilibrium. However, when a system operates far from equilibrium, it becomes unproductive and unsustainable.

Since the last decade of the twentieth century, we've utilized the nonlinear network of the internet to conduct many of our activities, ushering us into a new, nonlinear, digital era. With everything becoming nonlinear by nature, we are witnessing an accelerating rate of change, causing unpredictability and chaos, alongside increasing interconnectivity, interdependence, and inseparability.

These developments pose challenges to our current linear model, indicating that we are in a transformative process of emergence. For instance, the coronavirus pandemic has shown there is no proportionality between cause and effect in our human network (as something so small can have such a vast impact throughout the network). This is a sign of the human network being in a chaotic zone. And as the linear judgmental system is based on the proportionality of cause and effect, it is becoming less productive to rely on the linear model.

Furthermore, we are observing the degree of separation in the human network lessen; it used to be a maximum of 6 degrees and is now less than 3 degrees and decreasing daily. All these signs indicate that we are in the chaotic zone: the fractal dimension that is the zone of emergence. Thus, we can conclude that humanity has entered an era of emergence.

From the nonlinear perspective, we see chaos as an emergent process of cognitive transformation, embracing it as a creative opportunity to ascend to a higher level of consciousness and understanding, enabling us to synchronize with the inherent self-organizing process of Earth. The nonlinear view focuses on achievements rather than liabilities, fostering positivity, creativity, peace, and hope. 

This chaotic era necessitates a significant paradigm shift that begins within our personal body network and extends to all activities and networks we are involved in, at all scales. Fortunately, this nonlinear worldview provides all the characteristics of change necessary for us to navigate this chaotic and unpredictable process successfully and emerge with humanity’s highest cognitive, spiritual, and rational potential. 

To achieve this, a change in perception is required for us to see our self-awareness process as part of Earth's larger self-awareness process. To align with this new paradigm, we must transition from linear rigidity to nonlinear flexibility, complexity to simplicity, substance to pattern, and separation to interconnectivity. Our relationships must evolve from self-assertiveness to integration, domination to partnership, competition to cooperation, and from hate to love. Our values will shift from consumption to conservation, quantity to quality, and liability management to asset management. And our thinking will transition from judgment to observation, analytical to intuitive, negativity to positivity, blame to acceptance, anger to tolerance, vengefulness to forgiveness, violence to peace, and hopelessness to hope. 

Can this nonlinear perspective predict how the paradigm shift will emerge?

While it may not be possible to predict this shift precisely, it’s important to remember that it will begin in the brain, the hub of our cognitive and whole body networks. Thus, the first beneficiary of the paradigm shift will be our brain itself. As the left (linear) and right (nonlinear) sides of the brain cooperate and consciously participate in systemic behaviors, we enhance the quality of information processing within our cognitive network. 

The second beneficiary is the individual’s body network, experiencing holistic elevation, physically, mentally, and spiritually. With the universality of nonlinear network behavior, we can metaphorically apply this shift process within our bodies to other networks at different scales. Considering Earth as a network, humans, though a small portion of the entire planet network, are the hub that utilizes the most resources and exerts the most domination over the rest of the network’s inhabitants. As with any hub, when acting with linear perception and relationships, it precipitates the whole network’s unsustainability. By shifting to a systemic relationship, we can bring stability to Earth’s entire network.

Within the human network, only a small fraction lives within circumstances that allow them to think beyond their daily survival needs. Among this segment, we can view intellectuals as a hub. Nested within this network is another hub, composed of system thinkers who acknowledge and assert that we are in an era of emergence requiring a paradigm shift, along with spiritual thinkers who intuitively sense this shift but might not fully recognize the system thinkers’ accomplishments in defining the paradigm shift’s characteristics.

Among these system thinkers, another hub exists: those who are highly connected with broader networks and possess a profound understanding of this emergent process. They are the thinkers who have already communicated the understanding that our planet is a living, self-organizing system and have identified a living system’s essential behaviors.

These thinkers could potentially apply nonlinear relationships among themselves to create a community of harmonized system thinkers, greater than the sum of its parts, by collaboratively enriching, distilling, and delivering this knowledge to the global system thinker’s network. By bridging the conversation with hubs within the larger spiritual network, we can synchronize networks to create a whole greater than the sum of its otherwise separate parts. Eventually, this knowledge will become a crucial part of the collective consciousness of the human network and our planet.

This paradigm shift offers a hopeful, creative, peaceful, ecologically harmonious framework to navigate a nonlinear, chaotic, digitally integrated world. Eventually, this concept will inspire the younger generation and women-led networks, providing them clear, positive, and practical guidance to successfully traverse this era of emergence.

What’s the final message of this project?

Earth is a cognitive, self-organizing, self-regulating, self-healing living system. The current changes in the intensity and frequency of Earth’s weather patterns are part of Earth’s self-healing process. Through the nonlinear view, we can align ourselves to support and nurture this self-healing process rather than contribute to its destruction. Through these new patterns, Earth is simply instructing us to treat it as it treats us, saying, “I provide you with a smooth journey around the solar system for 365 days a year, offering you beautiful scenery, nourishing food, and everything you need to survive and thrive without any expectations. All I ask is for you to treat me the same way.”

This behavior is rooted in unconditional love, a message inherent throughout the universe. It’s shared in The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, throughout mystical experiences in human history worldwide, and reflected in the poetry of Rumi:

عقل گوید شش جهت حدست و بیرون راه نیست

Reason says the six directions are our limits

And there is no way beyond these

عشق گوید راه هست و رفته ام من بارها

Love says there is a way;

I have taken it many times. (8)

Footnotes:

1. https://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Reading%20the%20Region/Texts%20by%20and%20about%20Natives/Texts/8.html

2. Email in conversation with Frijof Capra, 24 Oct. 2022.

3. William Blake, Letter to Thomas Butt, 22 November 1802. Quoted in Geoffrey Keynes (ed.), The Letters of William Blake (1956).

4. “The Web Of Life Alan Watts.” YouTube, https://youtu.be/_q6U4dgK8TY.

5. https://www.organism.earth/library/document/swimming-headless

6. Cooperation, partnership, non-judgment, focusing on positivity, and asset management

7. Gregg Braden, From Surviving to Thriving, humanitysteam.org, accessed 28 Nov. 2022.

8. Here “the six directions” refer to up, down, north, south, east, and west. https://rumi-poetry.blogspot.com/2013/02/ 

Observing the Universal Self-organizing Process at Scale

(Chapter 1)

The human body as a self-organizing, living system

Let’s start by observing our body’s network to see how the self-organizing process is capable of performing the most complex tasks with minimum effort.

As soon as one thinks of a word to be spoken, four million neurons and cells synchronize in order to deliver that single word to the listener. And while the human body is performing this complex task, it is also regulating its oxygen levels, sugar levels, enzymes, temperature, heartbeat, and more. Acknowledging the simultaneous performance of multiple systems within the human body network without conscious effort allows us to observe the deep simplicity of nonlinear systems as they are self-organizing, living systems and their capability of performing complex tasks with minimum effort. This deep simplicity is inherent throughout the whole universe and so we can observe it not only in our body but in other inhabitants of our green planet and throughout our solar system.

Observing the vast, creative universe

We can observe this deep simplicity within animal networks as well. When bees are needing to move their hive to a new location, they go through this nonlinear self-organizing process. First they send 50 or so expert navigator bees to scout for a new location. These investigator bees then return to the original hive and dance to communicate where each is suggesting the hive might move. The direction of the dance points to the new potential location, the duration of the dance correlates to its distance, and the rate of wing movement describes its quality. The investigators then examine that information more closely and this process happens repeatedly until eventually they all synchronize with the suitable location, and a decision is made. 

In plant and fungal networks, we can find this deep simplicity in their cooperation. Plant networks share food and nutrients with each other through their root systems and shared fungal networks through a nonlinear, self-organizing, cooperative process, which creates oxygen for fungi and animals. In the 2019 documentary Fantastic Fungi, we see that fungal systems are a major part of how plants communicate with one another. The vast, nonlinear mycelial networks help the living systems they are a part of by communicating needs and warnings of danger or scarce resources to seemingly separate parts of the interconnected systems. For example, if one area is lacking a nutrient that the trees in that area need, this need is communicated via the networks of mycelium often over great distances so that the plants and fungi that are in areas where this nutrient is more available are able to transport that nutrient via their root and mycelial networks to the area in need. In this way these systems of separate biological kingdoms are self-organizing via nonlinear communication and the cooperative synchronization of the network’s members’ assets (expertise, intelligence, and resources) in order to perform with higher efficiency and deep simplicity, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

At the planetary scale, we can observe this deep simplicity in how Earth uses its different capabilities to make a habitable planet. For instance, storms in Africa’s Sahara Desert can bring minerals to the Amazon Rainforest. The wind that carries minerals across the ocean creates a static charge in the clouds above the Amazon that forms lightning, and this acts as a catalyst for chemical reactions between nitrogen, oxygen, and other minerals that provide nutritional rain for the plants below. Those plants then convert photons received from the sun into sugars, which ultimately provide protein and oxygen that serves as nutrients to the other inhabitants of Earth. 

At the solar level, according to current knowledge, there are 100 billion galaxies, each with 200 billion stars; and one of those stars is our Sun. Our Sun is made of around 98 percent helium and hydrogen, the two simplest elements on the Periodic Table. From these simple elements comes a capability of creating a unique gravitational field that gathers the celestial bodies that we know as our solar system. This gravitational field arranged our solar system in such a way that placed our Earth in a position where it is capable of creating and sustaining life as we know it. 

* * *

Now that we have observed the deep simplicity of this amazing process happening at multiple levels of our universe, we will investigate the nonlinear networks that are the organizational pattern of the self-organizing systems. Next we will explore how by studying nonlinear networks, we can obtain the essential behaviors of the self-organizing process.

Nonlinear Networks

(Chapter 2)

A nonlinear network is a mathematical pattern of self-organizing systems. Because nonlinear networks are mathematical, our observation of them will not deal with substance, rather their shared qualities between nonlinear networks, which will bring us to a deeper understanding of the self-organizing process.

First we will look at how nonlinear networks are made of order and randomness simultaneously. Then we will explore how there is an uneven power law distribution that applies to all networks universally. And the observation of this universal quality will bring us to the universality of behavior of all nonlinear networks, allowing for the familiarity of one nonlinear network to grant access to knowledge of all others at scale. 

Order and randomness

Nonlinear networks are made of a combination of order and randomness. A natural example of the combination of order and randomness can be observed in the human heart. If the rhythm of our heart was strictly orderly and invariable, the heart muscle would get tired after so many beats (around two trillion beats in an average lifetime). A little bit of randomness makes our heart’s rhythm erratic, having slight variations between each beat it keeps. These slight variations allow for part of the heart to rest while the whole is still performing as a system. Without this inconsistency, our heart would tire out, and our heartbeat would become unsustainable. 

Order brings clustering and structural cohesiveness; and randomness makes a highly connected network with the lowest degree of separation. Randomness also makes the nonlinear network flexible enough to experience instability, giving its components the ability to function far from equilibrium: in the chaotic zone. Upon reaching a critical point, networks become fractal and a new order of greater complexity emerges simultaneously. All the components of the network synchronize their assets to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This creative and cognitive process is constantly occurring throughout our world and universe. 

Nonlinear networks are highly connected and therefore able to transfer and process information at a high rate of efficiency. All nonlinear networks have emerging and flexible structures that permit the transference of information over a multitude of interconnected routes. 

From Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks (2002) by Mark Buchanan

An example of this can be seen when water is heated and the water molecules at the bottom of the container (if the heat source is at the base, as it is on a stovetop or hotplate) start moving upward randomly in different directions. The more heat they receive, the more chaotic their upward movement becomes. Upon reaching a critical point, a new order suddenly emerges in which each water molecule joins one of the many three-dimensional hexagons as shown in the diagram below: 

Water molecules, when heated, create a new order from randomness.

Molecules at the bottom travel vertically to the top and then move down the sides of the hexagons. They move in such an orderly fashion that it seems as if they could all be aware of each other. 

In the context of order, chaos, and synchronization within nonlinear networks, new order emerges when all the elements within a given system synchronize. Their cooperation creates a synergetic relationship among them, elevating the quality and functionality of the network as a whole which is capable of performing at a higher level than the sum of its individual parts. We have all experienced this holistic, cooperative effect among large gatherings of people at concerts, games, political demonstrations, or religious events. Steven Strogatz explains this concept further in his book Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order (2003): 

At the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat: the sound of cycles in sync. It pervades nature at every scale from the nucleus to the cosmos. Every night along the tidal rivers of Malaysia, thousands of fireflies congregate in the mangroves and flash in unison, without any leader or cue from the environment. Trillions of electrons march in lockstep in a superconductor, enabling electricity to flow through it with zero resistance. In the solar system, gravitational synchrony can eject huge boulders out of the asteroid belt and toward Earth; the cataclysmic impact of one such meteor is thought to have killed the dinosaurs. Even our bodies are symphonies of rhythm, kept alive by the relentless, coordinated firing of thousands of pacemaker cells in our hearts. And that raises a profound mystery: scientists have long been baffled by the existence of spontaneous order in the universe. The law of thermodynamics seems to dictate the opposite, that nature should inexorably degenerate toward a state of greater disorder, greater entropy. Yet all around us we see magnificent structure-galaxies, cells, ecosystems, human beings, that have somehow managed to assemble themselves. This enigma bedevils all of science today. The tendency to synchronize is one of the most pervasive drives in the universe, extending from atoms to animals, from people to planets. All the examples are variations on the same mathematical theme: self-organization, the spontaneous emergence of order out of chaos.

One of the best modern examples of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts is the function of light in the form of a laser. The intense, coherent, needle-thin beam of light is a result of trillions of atoms emitting light waves in sync with one another. The atoms themselves are no different from those in an ordinary light bulb; the trick is the way they cooperate as a group. Instead of a cacophonous light of different colors and phases, laser light is one color and one phase—a choir singing the same note. The resulting laser is composed of the atoms which collectively create a beam that is more than what the atoms are capable of individually. 

The integrative, synchronized, and emergent behavior of the components results in the holistic, cooperative, and qualitative characteristic of nonlinear networks. The synergistic character of nonlinear systems is also what makes them such rich subjects worthy of focused exploration. Every major unsolved problem in science, from consciousness to cancer to the unpredictability of the economy, can be better understood with a nonlinear approach. As is evident in a laser, the synchronized whole has a quality and functionality which none of the individual components had on their own. 

Nonlinear networks have an uneven power law distribution

The distribution of components in nonlinear networks follows an uneven power law distribution. For instance, the Sun is composed of 71 percent hydrogen and 27 percent helium. The remaining two percent is composed of a variety of elements that are not equally distributed. Oxygen is the most abundant of that two percent (at 42.9 percent), followed by carbon (17.7 percent), and iron (9.7 percent). Various metals make up the tiny remainder of that two percent. This uneven and scale-free type of distribution is called a power law distribution. It is one of the most universal characteristics of nonlinear networks. 

Within a nonlinear network such as the internet, those sites with the most connections have the lowest degree of participation, and the sites that exhibit the highest degree of participation have the fewest links or connections. Take for example Google, Amazon, or other large websites: there are only a few of them participating at that level, so they have the most connection with other websites. Because those few large sites have so many connections, they have more power within the network and their effectiveness to reach other websites within the network is that much stronger. These are the hubs of the network, and they are crucial in supporting the stability and robustness of the whole network. But those sites that have the highest degree of participation, such as the millions of small personal websites, have the fewest connections. In nonlinear networks, the members with higher connectivity in the network have more power and more control over the whole network. 

Power Law Distribution of participation and connections among websites

The power law distribution principle applies to all nonlinear networks, including networks within the body that regulate our blood circulation and nervous system, and the networks throughout the rest of our natural world.

Nonlinear networks display self-similarity and universality

Fractals are created by the repetition of basic operational rules, and this signifies a deep simplicity at the core of the creation of this complex universe. Self-similarity is a powerful property of nonlinear systems. Duncan J. Watts connects this self-similarity to the principle of universality in his Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (2003) as follows:

The observation that very different systems can exhibit fundamental similarities is generally referred to as universality, and its apparent validity presents one of the deepest and most powerful mysteries in modern physics. It is mysterious because there is no obvious reason why systems as different as superconductors, ferromagnets, freezing liquids, and underground oil reservoirs should have anything in common at all. And it is powerful precisely because they do have something in common, which tells us that at least some of the properties of extremely complicated systems can be understood without knowing anything about their detailed structure or governing rules. 

There is no proportionality between cause and effect

Pulling further from Strogatz’s Sync:

Linear equations describe simple, idealized situations where causes are proportional to effects, and forces are proportional to responses. Linear equations are tractable because they are modular: they can be broken into pieces. Each piece can be analyzed separately and solved, and finally all the separate answers can be recombined—literally added back together—to give the right answer to the problem. 

In a linear system, the whole is exactly equal to the sum of the parts. But linearity is often an approximation of a more complicated reality. Most systems behave linearly only when they are close to equilibrium, and only when we don’t push them too hard.

Since nonlinear systems perform far from equilibrium, cause and effect are not proportional. In a nonlinear system, small changes may have dramatic effects because they may be amplified by self-regulating feedback loops. In highly connected nonlinear networks, sometimes small changes can have major implications, while at other times even major changes can be absorbed with remarkably little disruption. 

When we observe the real world from a nonlinear perspective, we see examples all around us in which cause and effect are not proportional. The behavior of water illustrates this principle of network theory. Water has one exceptional property when compared to any other liquid: when it freezes, its volume increases and its density decreases. This ability to gain volume while transitioning between liquid and solid makes ice lighter than water. This is why ice floats on top of liquid water. Scientists believe that because of this property, during the early ice ages, ice on the top of the oceans protected the water underneath from volatile, unlivable conditions on the surface while being thin enough to allow some sunlight through, thus enabling the early phases of microbiological development to survive. Without this exceptional property of water, we would not exist to know about it; human life was made possible by one seemingly insignificant property of water.

In his book The Web of Life (1997), Fritjof Capra contextualizes the power law distribution within fractal mathematics: 

In nonlinear systems, small changes may have dramatic effects because they may be amplified repeatedly by self-reinforcing feedback. Such nonlinear feedback processes are the basis of the instabilities and the sudden emergence of new forms of order that are so characteristic of self-organization. Mathematically, a feedback loop corresponds to a special kind of nonlinear process known as iteration, in which a function operates repeatedly on itself. 

If we take a nonlinear function and assume initial values for constants and variables for the first round, then start applying the iteration process by repeatedly taking the resulting value and feeding it back into the system, we may see that the patterns are diverging, converging, or constant. But eventually we reach a zone where the results provide chaotic values without any traceable pattern. With the help of a computer, we can divide that chaotic zone into thousands of points and plot the obtained values. The resulting plotted values reveal self-similar fractal patterns in which any magnified part resembles the larger section from which it was taken. As we observe this process, we will notice that even though we see chaos on the surface, at deeper levels of observation the elements are creating an emerging order of self-similar patterns. If examined at different scales, they all display the same degree of order. In other words, they look the same at all scales.

* * *

We’ve discussed how nonlinear networks are made of order and randomness, and because they perform at the chaotic zone where there is no proportionality of cause and effect, they follow a power law distribution and they display self-similarity and universality. Next we will explore the historical development of the linear approximate model, and how this became the currently dominant model in our thinking and activities.

The Duality of the Brain in Perceiving and Processing Information

(Chapter 3)

We can begin to understand the human body as a nonlinear network by looking more closely at how we have developed a linear model of the universe through our self-awareness process, and how that model has led humanity to perceive itself as disconnected from the guidance of the self-organizing process of the universe. What we will find is that this perception both granted us the capabilities of incredible technologies, and that this linear perception based subjective observation ultimately is an approximation of the real performance of the universe. 

Early in our development, human beings began using their hands and vocal systems to increase their ability to cooperate with each other. They used sign language for short-range communication and vocal projections for long-range communication. They mimicked the sounds of other animals to attract certain animals and distract dangerous ones. Combining sign language and vocal projections eventually created a subjective virtual world of information. The expression of abstract concepts enabled an agreed upon perception of physical objects when the communicator and communicatee were physically distant from the objects being described. 

This separation of subject from the object was a major achievement in communicative technology and the development of human consciousness; and it also allowed us to illusively separate ourselves from the greater environment. This illusive separation created a linear perception that assumes that we are all alone in this universe, struggling to survive, independent and separate from the greater network. And we therefore created a linear, approximate model that aims to protect our separated self from the rest of the universe. 

The stability and order that exists in our immediate surroundings including the orderly cycles of our sun, moon, seasons, and so on led us to believe that this approximate linear model is an accurate model, because there is a perceived proportionality and predictability of cause and effect in our observations. The approximate model is a simplified model that eliminates randomness by reducing the web of events to only one or so seemingly most significant causes, and the result is that we overlook the randomness that is a part of the real world and reduce it all to a narrative of orderly and linear events. And so from our linear observations, we began relying on linear thinking—a reduced logic. This perceived order of linear thinking is a very powerful tool to work with when working with systems that are performing at equilibrium. These orderly and stable systems are modular and can be broken into pieces. Each piece can be analyzed separately and solved, and finally all the separate answers can be recombined, literally added back together, to provide the same answer to the problem. These linear systems are what our current reductionist science is based on, and with linear perception the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. But linearity approximates a nonlinear reality, and therefore overlooks a reality that is performing at the edge of chaos: where cause and effect are not proportional, and the whole which is greater than the sum of the parts.

Any event is the result of a collective web of events

According to the universality of the power law distribution of nonlinear networks, there is a dominant participant in any network of events. Eliminating the supposedly insignificant participants of the event and focusing on only the dominant participant provides a predictability that provides determinism, certainty, and expectation as tools for judgment and control over outside events. When we focus on the dominant element and get the expected result, it further reinforces our belief in the linear model. Therefore, our linear thinking becomes a judgmental logic based on approximate models. Then by modeling the world in our mind this way, we notice that there is proportionality between the distance from the source and the clarity of what we see or hear. This reinforcement leads us to believe that cause and effect are proportional, as focusing on the dominant element provides higher predictability and reinforces our judgmental logic and linear thinking. 

Let’s observe the lack of proportionality between cause and effect in an event such as a car crash. In this scenario consider a car crash at an intersection with a stoplight. If one driver received a phone call just as they were heading out the door and it was a wrong number, this would have delayed them by just a few seconds. This delay would have the driver reaching the intersection at a slightly different time than they would have otherwise. The second driver runs a red light and hits them. This event, like any other we experience, has an indeterminable network of interconnected events and experiences that precede the moment of the accident. Using linear logic, we freeze the event at the moment of the accident and judge the dominant cause based on information most immediate to the moment of the crash: the other driver might have been drunk, sleepy, or otherwise distracted leading them to run a light. But in reality, there are many factors that led to the crash in that intersection. If the first driver had not answered that wrong number, they would have passed through that intersection a few seconds earlier, avoiding the accident. The phone call was such an insignificant cause, but it potentially had a major effect. 

Since our linear logic is based on the proportionality of cause and effect, the chaos and uncertainty in the nonlinear world highlights the non-proportionality of cause and effect and inconsistency of our linear judgment system, and our values and beliefs rooted in our linear model. So why do we continue to perceive, think, behave, relate, and create value systems based in linearity? 

Linear thinking as a defense mechanism

Linear thinking has been implemented as a defense mechanism to protect this illusively separated identity. It is possible that the areas of the brain that create procedural memories and define our orientations when we are thinking linearly are the same areas of the brain that activate our survival instincts. The defensive nature of linear thinking leads to a negative attitude towards change as it codes that which is being perceived by the body network based upon difference or judgment. And this judgment of what is “different” or “separate” has led to a perception of the world that is dominantly biased towards fear, guilt, blame, anger, violence, and hopelessness. This general fear of change also results in a lower quality of information processing, particularly of chaotic events and challenges that we are witnessing in our increasingly nonlinear digital world. By focusing on the liabilities of our actions rather than the achievements, we are unable to benefit from our achievements because we are not appreciating them as assets of a greater whole that could then be combined with other appreciated assets to create a sum that is greater than its individual parts. Guided by our perceived illusive separation, we created linear relationships based in this linear judgment for the purposes of self-assertion, short-term gain, domination, competition, control, and liability management. And this has led to our development of linear values based on rigidity, quantity, and consumption. 

Some neuropsychologists are calling linear thinking the “default state of mind.” According to psychologist Kelly McGoinigal in her work The Neuroscience of Change, in the default state of mind, we hold a critical opinion about the present. By time traveling in our minds, we create an alternate reality, regretting the past and projecting it as a negative liability onto the future. Worrying about the past or future prevents us from giving full attention to the present, and it hinders our ability to focus our creative brains to manage current challenges. The default state of mind also creates a self-referential identity, or ego, separate from others, which linearly leads us to be compelled to defend it. According to psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher and literary scholar Iain McGilchrist in his The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning and neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor’s My Stroke of Insight, the human brain consciously perceives and processes information in the left-side hemisphere and unconsciously in the right-side. Although dividing the brain strictly into two regions is an oversimplification and is not a holistic approach, when we think linearly (in “default” or “survival mode”) most activity takes place in the left-side hemisphere; when we are thinking nonlinearly by implementing systems thinking, the majority of activity takes place in the right-side. While the left-side brain is analytical, deterministic, judgmental, reductionist, archetypally masculine, and materialistic, the right brain is observant, nonjudgmental, holistic, archetypally feminine, and spiritual. The left-side primarily perceives and processes information in a more orderly, liability management-focused, linear way, creating a model or perception that separates us from the self-organizing universe. The right-side, however, primarily perceives and processes information in a nonlinear manner creating a model or perception of the world that is holistic and focused on asset management, as it is connected and synced with the inherent self-organizing process of the universe. 

Currently, linear thinking and left-side brain activity is dominant not only in our minds, but throughout our societal structures. The social design favoring linear thinking propagates linear values and those who are able to learn to embrace and operate by these values are rewarded by social advancement as they navigate our various social systems. This linear bias can also be seen in the design of so many of our tools that favor the left-side brain, which controls the right-side of the body. By designing this way we are perpetuating linear values and their domination over the whole human network. And by aligning with this pattern of a dominating perception of the world, we are furthering an imbalance within the physical body while we externally design our environment and education systems encourage linear, archetypally masculine, dominant thinking. In exchange for our linear biases, we have lost touch with a natural intuitiveness, spirituality, and creativity that will only re-emerge once we bring back into balance our left- and right-side brains. 

On the other hand, systems thinking is nonlinear thinking that is rooted in the greater self-organizing process of the universe, and so it is a perception that observes the universe as a highly interconnected, dynamic network of relationships and recognizes how the components of a network interact to give rise to emergent processes. It is a holistic logic based on behaviors of nonlinear living networks in which all members implement their assets in a manner of cooperation and partnership to achieve the long-term goals of the whole network, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of the network’s parts that is beneficial to all members of the network. The non-proportionality of cause and effect that creates an inconsistency in our linear judgment also provides an observant and nonjudgmental quality to nonlinear thinking. Nonlinear logic is a thinking that welcomes change and challenges as it recognizes chaos as a prerequisite to evolve to a higher level of cognitive order through self-organization.

Because systems thinking is consistent with the inherent self-organizing process of the universe, we can use systems thinking to guide us to reconnect with the greater creative process. It’s a paradigm shift in our model of the universe toward simplicity, flexibility, quality, patterns, relationships, cognitive process, interconnectivity, and interdependency, shifting our perception from separation to connectedness of the whole. This shift in perception encourages our thinking based in negativity, blame, anger, revenge, violence, and hopelessness to shift to logic that is observant, positive, forgiving, tolerant, peaceful, and hopeful. As we shift our thinking, we too will shift our behaviors as this new highly interconnected model, and subsequently we will see a shift in our relationships from self-assertive to integrative, from rational to intuitive, and from reductionist to holistic, as we begin to observe the value of practicing unconditional love. It will also shift our values of consumption to conservation, competition to cooperation, quantity to quality, domination to partnership, rigidity to flexibility, and liability management to asset management, as we become more interested in supporting all the parts and their relationships because it is acknowledging each as contributing assets serving the greater system. As we shift from linear to nonlinear thinking, we gain a greater ability to intuit as well as to process information analytically, further benefiting all highly connected members and their connections with highest efficiency. In this way nonlinear thinking provides a hopeful, creative, peaceful, ecologically harmonic framework to navigate a nonlinear, chaotic, digitally integrated world. 

Nonlinear thinking provides an arena for a state of mind commonly being referred to as “mindfulness.” When we are mindful, we experience events with our senses rather than our judgments. We are fully aware of the present moment as a creative mode where we are selfless, totally connected to the flow of the inherent self-organizing process of the universe, with the knowledge and power of the whole system. Many athletes and musicians describe this flow state as being “in the zone” where the linear, logical mind is no longer the dominating force and the person’s performance seems to be nearly effortlessly guided by higher intuitive instruction. It is highly possible that this state of mind activates the areas of our brain where all metaphysical experiences of our ancestors have been stored, and this is likely why many nonlinear scientists have a certain degree of spiritual awareness.

It is very important to recognize that linear modeling, reductionist science, and its corresponding technologies are incredibly useful tools that enabled us to achieve our current understanding of nonlinear science, the concept of the living universe, nonlinear logic, and even our realizations of the limitations and liabilities of the linear model itself. In this way, the linear model is a major achievement in our expanding understanding of our universe and of the continued development of human consciousness. Linear thinking is an asset in providing communicable order to our routine activities, including communicating the ideas inspiring this writing with you, the reader. And so, the main purpose of this writing is to encourage the unification of linear and nonlinear perception in order to achieve the ultimate potential of our creative minds. And though the process of developing linear thinking may seem off course from the greater self-organizing process we are a part of, it has served more as a detour that is leading us back to join with the self-organizing process with more measurable understanding of how to perform in synchronization with it. We are at a point in human history where we have consumed the resources of the Earth and converted them into information that we’ve used to reinforce our linear model, perception, thinking, behavior, relationship, and values. And now we have arrived at a moment where this information is allowing us to recognize that we are part of a greater self-organizing process, to examine how that process works, and to discover how we can align ourselves with it. 

In the current digital age, a combination of nonlinear theories, cognitive science, neuropsychology, and spiritual teachings allow us to acknowledge the power of the linear and nonlinear perceptions and how to holistically integrate the two to achieve the ultimate potentials that exist within us. By investigating how the domination of linear logic functions in the human body, we will gain deeper insight into how to realign ourselves with the ongoing self-organizing process of our body.

* * *

With what we have learned about self-organizing living networks, next we’ll investigate our body network as a metaphor for any self-organizing network. In the process we will find out how the domination of linear thinking and relationships created a disconnection from the universal, ongoing, self-organizing process. And because of the universality of behavior of all nonlinear networks, these observations can then be applied as a metaphor to any network at any scale.

Investigating the Human Body as a Metaphor for Self-organizing Networks

(Chapter 4)

When we investigate how the domination of linear logic functions in the human body, we gain deeper insight into the linearity of human behavior. As a nonlinear network, our body has a power law distribution in terms of energy distribution, control, and consumption. This can be seen in how although the brain accounts for only 2.5 percent of the whole body’s weight, it has dominant control over the whole body and it consumes more energy per gram per second than any other organ in our body, making it the main hub of our body network. The function of the hub is crucial for stability, sustainability, and robustness of the whole network when it participates in nonlinear relationship with the rest of the network. Subconsciously the brain syncs with the whole body, allowing us to perform with deep simplicity. 

Consciously, however, as the domination of linear thinking illusively separates ourselves from the universe, it illusively separates the brain from the body network as well. Driven by self-assertiveness and short-term gain, the linearly-minded brain then implements linear relationship between it and other members of the body network instead of holistic and integrated behavior. And as a result, the brain often maintains and entertains itself at the expense of the rest of the body, prioritizing entertainment, habits, liability management, and control. Our brain can be so shortsighted that it does not realize that its own long-term sustainability is connected to the wellbeing of the whole body network, not just its own. To satisfy our brains’ short-term desires, we consume more than we need, and we suffer the consequences later. In this way, we see how linear thinking also leads us to exhibit a similar tendency toward other members of the web of life, including plants, animals, the Earth itself, and even other humans. We divide each other into genders, races, nations, and separate beliefs; and instead of cooperating and utilizing asset management with the whole network to achieve optimum synergy, we focus mostly on differences and liability management, rather than recognizing shared values. 

The body network is a whole organism made up of many subnetworks (respiratory, circulatory, immune, central nervous, muscle, skeletal system, etc.), which are all cognitive systems according to Santiago theory. Though it is another part embedded within the overall network, the domination of linear thinking has led us to believe that the brain is the only member of this multi-system cognitive network. For instance, we tend to view the heart only as a pump; but the heart is another center that perceives information through gut feeling and intuition. We tend to ignore the heart’s potential beyond its mechanical functionality, along with the potential of other participants within the body network, though they are collectively creating our perception of the universe. This perception of members of our body network performing in limited ways leads us to ignore perceivable relationships amongst the various nonlinear systems that are part of a greater cognitive network. 

Once we start observing our actions, thinking, and habits with systemic thinking, relationship, and values, those observations act as a self-organizing feedback system. Consciously participating in this feedback system will allow us to overcome the dominance of linear perception to synchronize our left- and right-sides of the brain. By shifting the domination of the left-side to a cooperation of left- and right-sides, we will eventually sync the whole brain with the whole body network and fully optimize the potential of our brains in a way that is in sync and harmony with the greater networks we are a part of. After our brain goes through this process of observation and the self-organizing process that results, the brain will reconnect with this inherent, universal, self-organizing process that orchestrates our universe. And the result will be a more efficient brain and a more healthy body, and we will become mentally and physically more sustainable. The paradigm shift will start within our individual body networks, and will expand to any network that we are participating in at any scale. 

The development of an app that monitors our linear behaviors could provide feedback that guides us to shift toward systems relationships and values would be instrumental in personal development, and its findings could be applied to any other network at scale.

Impact: Unifying Science, Spirituality, and Philosophy

(Chapter 5)

When we observe the historical pattern of the progression of western science, there is an emergent pattern of foundational assumptions and theories shifting from a static, rigid, and linear view of the universe to a more dynamic, flexible, and nonlinear view. We are shifting from a mathematical perception initially based in Euclidean geometry, which deals with static shapes or the flat concept of Earth, to one of fractal geometry, which collectively explain the dynamic, flexible, and nonlinear world, such as the self-organizing process of living systems. The following shifts are the result of a series of nonlinear discoveries that have changed our understanding of fundamental scientific paradigms, many of which are being explored by renowned scientists including Fritjof Capra, Steven Strogatz, Mark Buchanan, Albert-László Barabási, and their colleagues.

The first shift is understanding that the universe is not made of fundamental building blocks but in its purest form is constantly moving energy that contains a cognitive pattern of information. The dancing energy has a pattern of information that can be found everywhere. Each creature on Earth is composed of information; information sits at the center of our cells and rattles around in our brains. Every particle in the universe, every electron, every atom, every star, and each one of the countless galaxies throughout our universe is packed full of information. That information is always flowing, moving from place to place, spreading throughout the cosmos. 

Therefore, energy and information are the most essential components of the universe, and so we can observe the universe as being made of cognitive energy. And as cosmic history has progressed, our energetic universe has evolved to contain a diverse array of complex life forms that are capable of processing this complex, energetic information, including human beings. Now that we have processed the information of our universe structurally and quantitatively, we are shifting to processing this information through qualitative evaluation. In the old paradigm, it was the structure that determined the processes; in the new paradigm, the process is primary, and every structure we observe is a manifestation of an underlying process. And focusing on patterns, relationship, and networks allows us to more deeply understand this process. 

The second shift is due to the discovery of entanglement phenomena which created a new era of understanding that we are dealing with an interdependent, interconnected, correlated, and nonlinear universe. And in order to understand this universe we must remodel our approach to be similarly holistic, systemic, and nonlinear.

The third shift is a shift in the relationship between the observer and the observed, as we are recognizing that there is also entanglement among the consciousness of a human observer and the observed universe—for when we try to observe the dualistic behavior of a photon it responds to our observation. 

The fourth shift is one of our perception of chaos. This shift is being facilitated by our recognition of the nonlinear network as the structural organization of all living systems. This recognition is allowing us to develop a deeper understanding of randomness and its significant role in a nonlinear world, and to acknowledge that there is an amazing order beyond our perceived chaos as we observe how nonlinear networks manifest themselves into fractal patterns. As fractal patterns, they become self-organizing systems when the behavioral patterns of the elements and the whole system are in sync, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Considering chaos as an emergent zone leading us to a higher order through synchronization will allow us to shift our negative perception of chaos as purely destructive and adopt positive, hopeful, and comfortable perception of it as an essential part of a greater creative process of our self-organizing universe.

The fifth shift is a recognition that there is a deep simplicity that governs the universe, and the search for the unified theory that describes this deep simplicity is shifting from physics to living science, and eventually self-organizing networks. In his book Decoding the Universe (2007), Charles Seife describes this shift as our metaphors for our defined order of the universe continues to evolve:

There is a long tradition of using pinnacles of science and its corresponding technology as a metaphor for the universe. In ancient Greece, geometry, surveying equipment and musical instruments were the science and technological wonders of the age, and Greeks regarded the cosmos as a manifestation of geometric relationships ... and Newton described a deterministic clockwork universe, with time as an infinitely precise parameter that gauged all cosmic change. In the nineteenth century, with advancements in thermodynamics and entropy, and development of the steam engine, Clausius, Von Helmholtz, Boltzmann, and Maxwell described the universe as a gigantic entropy-generating heat engine, sliding inexorably to a cosmic heat death.

The last few decades have been dominated by the development of computer science and information technology, resulting in the proposition of the metaphor of the universe as a gigantic computer by Seth Lloyd, Gregg Braden, and other scientists. Now, our continuously advancing observational technology allows us to witness the self-organizing process and fractal dimension of the universe at different scales in ways we were previously unable. Our expanding perception combined with advancements in biomimicry have provided a new metaphor of the universe as a self-organizing living system. Although Gaia theory has been accepted among many scientists since the 1970s, until recently achievements had not been applied to our understanding of the Earth as a living system. Similarly, many spiritual thinkers had not paid attention to Gaia theory and the emerging living universe metaphor and how Gaia theory is consistent with most spiritual traditions. And now we are seeing the living universe metaphor having the potential of providing a theory capable of unifying the previously siloed conversations of science and spirituality.

The Universe is made of cognitive energy

The universe is made of cognitive energy and cognitive energy performs in its most efficient form as a wave; but when it experiences local stability, it performs as particles. The particles carry an inherent spiral pattern of information (which could be demonstrated by the fractal dimension of the golden ratio) that makes them capable of organizing themselves in nonlinear network patterns, to perform at the chaotic zone, become fractal, and create the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. And so energy experiencing local stability as molecules is able to organize itself in this inherent nonlinear network to create enzymes with a higher level of functionality, content of information, and intelligence with a higher cognitive purpose. With a similar organizational pattern, these enzymes create proteins that contain a higher level of such qualities. If we follow this expanding perspective from enzyme to protein, protein to cell, cell to organ, and organ to our body, there is always a higher intelligence or cognitive purpose at each level. 

By applying this observation of the body network to the collective consciousness of humanity, we then come to the consciousness and cognitive purpose of the entire Earth (which includes collective intelligence of humans, plants, animals, and the planet itself) we can observe it all as an interconnected system of cognitive information that is collectively greater than the sum of Earth’s individual parts. From there, we can zoom out even further to other planets, to our solar system, and to galaxies and acknowledge each having higher intelligence and higher purpose, as the whole at any scale is always capable of operating with greater creativity and efficiency than the sum of its parts. With this perspective, we are able to observe a universal process that is capable of continuously producing something of qualitatively higher functionality, content of information, and intelligence, as it is creating its own guidance for and of itself. This is the greatest creativity of the universe: a self-creating, self-organizing living system that is able to grow beyond and continuously manage itself.

With linear perception and linear thinking, the way we illusively separated ourselves from the universe and the brain from the body, we separated the divine (creator) from creation. However, now we know that this is a self-creating system that is capable of creating itself without the need for an outside creator, without any central command. From this perspective we are able to integrate the creator and creation. Acknowledging this unified higher intelligence is in line with various wisdom traditions around the world, as they discovered intuitively that there is a higher intelligence that is governing the system, and that higher intelligence is not found exclusively  outside of the body experiencing consciousness, but within ourselves as well. 

This brings us back to the seemingly inefficiency and unsustainability of human behavior based on linear modeling that has emerged as part of our self-awareness process. A systems approach focuses on the cognitive process and on connectivity. When it is established that everything is connected and not separated from each other, we can then see the self-awareness of human beings as part of the greater process of a system of higher intelligence. From this perspective, our self-awareness process was not a waste but a detour. As we converted cognitive energy into information, now this information is allowing the greater human network to observe ourselves as part of a greater cognitive process: the process of the whole Earth network becoming aware of all of its parts, and the value of the details of each asset in its own self-organizing process. And so with our awareness of this, our previous role in the greater process has already been achieved, and our self-awareness process was not a waste as it has played its role in this greater process. 

Human beings are a byproduct of an amazing creative process. So why are we not consistently performing at the level of creativity of the greater process? Consciously we are not synchronizing with this inherent self-organizing potential. If our will is to perform with our ultimate potential mentally, physically, and spiritually, as a cognitive system, the goal of the Earth is similar to our own: to manifest its greatest potential through the self-organizing process. As the greater guiding system, our planet network defines our destiny. So when we shift our brain from domination of the left-side to cooperation of left-and-right, our brain and body synchronize with the universal, inherent process, and our destiny and will become one. 

Mystical, metaphysical, and spiritual experiences are some of the most elegant experiences that we can perceive as humans. But until now, these experiences have not been acknowledged as part of the cognitive process because these experiences could not be explained through reductionist, linear sciences. Now, we are not only able to acknowledge these experiences as a part of our planet’s greater self-awareness process, but we are also able to explain these experiences via this new paradigm of the self-organizing, living universe, by integrating science and spirituality. In traditional philosophy we try to explain the world through linear logic and perception, which does not acknowledge the metaphysical power of the universe. But systemic perception has the potential to enable linear logic to explain mysticism, and the metaphysical power of the universe.

The emerging self-awareness of our green planet enables us to experience a cognitive process which is not limited to mental capacities and intellectual experiences; it is a process that has manifested the amazing potentials of this universe, through the scents of flowers and their beauty, the sounds of birds and animals, the aesthetics and flavors of food, the beauty of the human body, and more. The human experiences of mysticism, art, and eventually science and technology have enabled us to become consciously aware of how this universe works, identify its essential behaviors, and recognize how it is able to manifest itself through this creative process of coming into self-awareness. This may seem like a detour from our natural alignment with the greater cognitive process of our planet as from it emerged our illusive separation of ourselves from the greater system. But this process has been a part of Earth’s overall cognitive, self-awareness process, as Earth wanted to consciously come into awareness of its potential, what it is and how it works; and now, this has been achieved through the shared discoveries of science and spirituality.

We are residing in a living universe, which is made of self-creating, self-healing, self-regulating, self-organizing networks.

Digital Age of Emergence: An Era of Transformation & Hope

(Chapter 6)

Throughout the history of the universe the rate of change, or the time from one stage of complexity to the next, shortens after each progression on an astronomical, planetary, and biological scale. At the human scale, the integration of two fundamental components of the universe (information and energy) has created the digital era. This is exponentially accelerating the rate of change, and as a result, scientific understandings and technological advancements are progressing at an astounding rate. While it once took centuries for a paradigm shift to occur, in the digital era it can happen in just a few years; and it will continue to happen much faster than we have ever witnessed before. According to previous Google CEO Eric Schmidt, we now create as much information as we created between the dawn of civilization and 2003 every two days. With the recent emergence of AI technology, we are now entering a new age of intelligence where we are seeing this process exponentially accelerating and creating a world that is increasingly interconnected, interdependent, interrelated, inseparable, as well as increasingly unpredictable, uncertain, and chaotic. All of this in combination is revealing the unsustainability of our linear model and the political, economic, and ecological systems that stem from it, indicating the emergence of a new paradigm. 

Another sign of the digital era being a transformational era of emergence is the degree of separation decreasing within the human network. In the 1970s, the maximum degree of separation between humans was six degrees. Now it is only ~2.7 degrees, and this continues to lessen as the internet and social media are further connecting us via their increasingly interconnected networks. Through this process, the human network is emerging as an increasingly connected, nonlinear network.

In the emergent chaotic zone where there is no proportionality of cause and effect, the self-organizing process emerges as one small thing can cause a major effect because of the correlation of events becoming increasingly nonlinear and highly unpredictable. We can observe this within the global human network with coronavirus, how a thing we cannot even see with the naked eye can connect the whole world and cause major changes in our individual and societal behaviors, in our economics and politics, and so on. Another example is how the price of wheat has been dramatically increasing since the Ukrainian invasion, which could lead to major problems in Africa such as civil unrest and political issues, as much of Africa’s grain imports come from Ukraine and Russia. In previous years, war could take place in one region and seemingly have little or no effect on other parts of the world. Now a conflict in one region can easily cause another in a region we have otherwise categorized as “separate” from the region of direct conflict. With this we can see how our linear approximate model that we created is becoming unsustainable. And so now is the time to shift our linear habits and behaviors to strategies based in systemic and nonlinear modeling that will sync us more closely with the greater self-organizing process, in order for us to more creatively and successfully navigate this emergent process.

As the rate of change is exponentially accelerating in this emergent era, we will continue to observe chaos, unpredictability, uncertainty, and a lack of proportionality between cause and effect. And within this chaotic era, our linear thinking (a judgmental logic) becomes increasingly counterproductive due to the protective nature of linear thinking that is defensive in the face of change, unpredictability, and lack of control. Driven by fear, it leads us to direct our energy towards blame, guilt, and violence when we face the unsustainability of human behavior throughout our social, economic, political, and environmental systems. We see this in the fear that stems from having a decreased sense of control over events and their outcomes, such as how jobs, products, and industries are being eliminated as technology continues to progress. We also can see this internationally in how countries are refusing to synchronize and collaborate as a whole network, as they choose to attempt to outcompete each other by focusing on self-assertiveness, control, and domination. This linear relationship between nations is merely dividing us further and ultimately creating a global whole that is less than the sum of its parts. 

The defensive nature of linear perception amplifies a narrative of hyper individualism, guiding us to view each person as alone in the world—separate from a greater system. In attempting to defend a being that perceives itself as solitary, our linear perception magnifies our failures out of fear of repeating them, and as a result emphasizes negativity, violence, and disaster through a lens that ultimately focuses on hopelessness. In this way, the tendency of linear thinking to defend linear modeling and perception brings further chaos via fear, hate, and violence of and towards all that we logically view as “separate” or “other” as it is a mindset that labels any perceived difference as a threat. This linear mindset leads us to behave with the aim of short term gain and blame as it is driven by fear, rather than focusing on finding a systemic solution for the challenges we face. 

The Source of Social Change & Planetary Application

(Chapter 7)

If we look at the whole human network in lack of systemic solutions, quantitatively it is only a small percentage of that network who are actively responding to the challenges of the emergent era with violence, hate, and unwavering blame, and guiding and consuming the whole network’s potential. By developing an app that provides continuous quantified evaluation of the quality of performance within an individual’s body network, we could monitor the linear modeling that currently dominates the relationships throughout their body in order to observe the shift to systemic modeling and relationship that supports the whole body network. This same app and its systemic evaluation could then be applied at scale to any process or organization, be it political, economic, environmental, corporate, social, and so on. In this way this technology could be used to guide individuals, larger organizations, and even guide the stock market towards more sustainability and certainty. It could potentially also be used to hold our political representatives accountable in their adherence to the guidance of the greater system.

As we previously discussed, when a hub of a network (such as the brain, or a small number of people leading the rest of the group) acts with linear relationship, the whole network will perform as a whole that is less than the sum of its parts. Similarly, when hubs within the global network of nations take a linear approach to internal and global challenges, the entire international network of nations becomes an unsustainable sum that is performing at less than its highest potential. There are several countries and country networks that act as hubs in our global systems, such as the US, the EU, and China. We can examine the behavior and influence of each hub within its own borders and as part of the greater international network in order to identify where we can shift behavior within these hubs to facilitate our journey through this chaotic, emerging process. 

As one of these hubs, the United States serves as a model of a powerful, industrialized, democratized nation for the rest of the international network. With its current linear approach, the US is acting as an inefficient hub within the nation itself and abroad; and its short-term gain policy and actions are negatively affecting its own citizens and the rest of the world. In this way the US is also a model of how the short-term gain of domination and competition is inhibiting the whole network’s ability to build a hopeful future. 

Within the US, its citizens are dogmatically divided by binary political factions (liberal vs. conservative, progressive vs. traditionalist, etc.) and misinformation, viewing value systems that are different from how each individually identifies as the enemy, thus amplifying defensiveness and inhibiting cooperation. This counterproductive division is modeled by its political representatives as well, as one party (of essentially a two-party system) achieves something for the benefit of that party’s fixed values and certainties, and the other party then goes and undoes whatever its counterpart instated. This “undoing” does just that—reverses any action or attempt at progressing towards the values and goals of either party, leaving no possibility of continuity within the political system, as each party is focusing on their differences rather than shared values, and countering the other’s progress towards any kind of policy change. This linear relationship greatly reduces the political network’s overall potential, and creates a whole system that is less than the sum of its parts, as is the case when hubs in the body act similarly linearly.

As we observe the global economic systems, we see several elements that are showing signs of limitation and an inability to sustain as the stock market is currently modeled on gross consumption. This gross consumption model is reaching limitations in terms of Earth’s resources that support it and our linear expectation for its ongoing growth. Additionally, we are seeing a dramatic decline in the spending power of the population that is responsible for 70% of consumption, the middle- and low-income populations. As uncertainty in the stock market economy increases in this emergent era, money is rapidly shifting from the middle and lower populations to the minority of the highest earning population, increasing the inequality gap. This is happening as the rapid rate of change in technology (such as artificial intelligence, gene therapy, 3D printing, etc.) is simultaneously leading to the elimination of service and manufacturing jobs across industries, which all in combination could bring social unrest and further division.

Though the linear perception that has developed out of linear thinking is reductive and arguably an incomplete model of our universe and any nonlinear network within it, the process of us developing this left-side, judgmental thinking has not been a wasted effort. Through this process we not only developed an awareness of the domination of this model (as we are speaking on it now), we also created detailed knowledge of how this self-organizing process works universally. And in this way, this detour can be observed as a necessary step in the expansion of consciousness for the whole human network. 

One of the most powerful properties describing this shared simplicity of self-organizing networks is universality, as it allows the familiarity of one network (such as the human body) to lead to an understanding of the properties of any other network at scale. Now that we are able to become aware of this process as self-organizing, our next step is for us to move beyond our exclusively linear, liability-based perspective and apply what we have learned from our observations of the human body to develop systemic approaches to our current challenges. And we can do this by focusing on solutions we are capable of implementing by acknowledging, sharing, and synchronizing our assets.

The systemic approach equips us with nonlinear perception, allowing us to create systemic solutions by acknowledging that we are participants in this greater, emerging, self-organizing process. With nonlinear perception we are able to redirect our fixed focus from liabilities to the appreciation of the assets we’ve achieved thus far. If hub nations were to shift to a nonlinear approach by aiming for long-term gain by investing in (and expanding) their assets through cooperation and partnership between currently competing systemic structures, this would facilitate newfound certainty by permitting new uses of established industries and technologies. Instead of focusing on one-upping each other they could each find their place within a nested system that is working together for a greater whole. By synchronizing our actions and assets, we will be able to more easily and creatively participate in this inevitable, emerging process and become conscious participants who are in sync with the systems larger than ourselves.

As one would not favor a map that purposefully leaves out life-saving waypoints, we are updating our understanding of our mapping of our universe, planet, and ourselves in order to traverse further through human history with greater collective ease. Guided by the nonlinear assessment of an app that monitors members of the human network and greater societal networks, we could implement policy that is quantitatively evaluated and continuously verified based on how closely the individual parts of networks are performing with nonlinear values. This app could provide guidance for all systems at all scales, and help manage any organization by reevaluating, reorganizing, and then reallocating its assets to perform more efficiently as an economically and ecologically minded entity. It could also guide linearly separate systems and industries currently competing through various models of planned obsolescence and sync them to focus on assets and resources that are in regenerating demand: clean energy, water, information processing, and food. 

Consider the US Department of Defense and Intelligence Community as a hub within the government network’s assets, as they collectively consume a significant portion of the US government’s total annual budget. Collectively, this defensive hub is made up of many of our most intelligent and highly trained personnel, people of discipline and of high physical and mental ability creating the world’s most advanced technology and devising and implementing advanced strategy throughout these defense-driven sectors. But as the US continues to invest in defense technologies and use this technology to dominate other countries, the government is not directly netting a return on its investment. As this hub performs with linear relationship to the rest of the system, each individual is taking on the high cost of high-stress environments involving combat and domination mentally, emotionally, and physically, which they each then must grapple with to some extent when they leave their work environment and re-enter their familial networks at home. In this way, this hub within the US government is not performing at its highest potential for its members, nor is it performing efficiently for the nation as a whole or as a part of the international network.

However, with a shift towards systemic relationship, if the defensive hub were to introduce the information and technologies to entrepreneurs of national and international markets, it could gain a return on its investment and eventually pay back the government’s deficit. This convergence of innovation could also bring certainty to the stock market during this uncertain time by permitting the public the use of these technologies and thus financially incentivizing further development of such tech. Instead of “sticking to our guns” and fighting this inevitable accelerating rate of change by limiting our use of our highest technological achievements exclusively to defense, this would allow for these achievements to be used for advancements focused on improving assets beyond just our defense systems. The intelligence and discipline of those whose careers are currently being used to defend assets via war could be applied towards building a better world, and those currently profiting from war-making could profit from peace. The profit from taking this tech to market could then be used to invest in finding solutions to domestic challenges, improving social services, and creating a sustainable cycle of life-supporting systems, rather than one that is fueled by violence and war. 

This would change the US from a hub of linear modeling into an emergent, model nation of systemic relationship to the rest of the world. As we are witnessing a rapid change of intensity and frequency of severe weather and natural disasters around the world causing major disruptions and migration of people from south to north and east to west, this currently defensive hub could be mobilized to focus on finding and implementing solutions to these challenges. By shifting to systemic values of cooperation, we can use our assets of intelligence, discipline, and technology that this hub possesses to focus on the development of resources in regenerative demand. This would allow this hub to develop models of sustainable, green cities in countries that have been destroyed by war, and then use this modeling to scale to systems around the world.

This is but one example of how a hub within a government can work more systemically and efficiently to serve its citizens and the world. Just imagine: when the military network of the world becomes self-aware of their assets, will they continue to fight and suffer the consequences of warfare? They may realize how we humans have invested so much time, money, and intelligence into technology we never wish to have to use (e.g., nuclear weaponry); and then they might choose, rather than fight and compete, to apply their assets to systemic relationships of peace and build a more sustainable world. 

So where do we begin this process?

If we look at the Earth as a network, human beings are the hub that uses the most resources of the Earth and has the most domination over the rest of the inhabitants of the whole network, even though we are but a small portion of the entire network of our planet. Like any hub of any network, when acting with linear perception and relationship, it causes unsustainability of the whole network. But by shifting to a systemic relationship, we will bring stability to the whole network of Earth.

Within the human network, only a small percentage of the entire network is living within circumstances where they can think beyond their daily needs for survival. This network is the one that can become the hub of the human intelligence network. Within this network there is a further hub: those who are already aware of the emergent, self-organizing process. Those who are intuitively aware of this happening make up a network of spiritual thinkers; and those who are able to understand intellectually are the hub made up of systems thinkers and network theorists. Among these systems and spiritual thinkers, there is yet another hub: those who are highly connected with greater networks and also possess higher levels of knowledge and understanding of this emergent process. They are the thinkers who have already communicated these understandings of how our planet is a living, self-organizing system, and identified the essential behaviors of a living system. So these thinkers are the ones who now must apply nonlinear relationship amongst themselves to create a community of attuned systems thinkers that is greater than the sum of its parts by enriching, distilling, and delivering this knowledge collaboratively to the whole systems thinkers network worldwide. Then by bridging the conversation with the hubs within the greater spiritual network who already have an intuitive understanding and belief in this emerging process we are experiencing, we will be able to synchronize networks, and create a whole that is greater than the sum of its otherwise separate parts—and eventually this knowledge we develop will become an essential part of the collective consciousness of the human network and our planet. 

* * *

Hopefully system thinkers and network theorists will consider and find some value in this discussion. And then we can start this process by having open discussions that further our collaborative understanding.

In further discussion, we will go more into detail of how these linear models are unsustainable. If we are able to shift these systems into systems of nonlinear relationship and values, this will lead to greater success individually, collectively, and ecologically. Eventually, we will add other media such as animation and other visualization to this explanation and discussion in order to communicate the message to a wider audience who might not be as familiar with the terms and subjects. And then we will be better able to offer this knowledge to younger generations and women-led networks, to empower them to bring change based in hope, peace, love, and collaboration.

What is the Principle Quality or Feeling of the Universe?

(Chapter 8)

Our observation shows that our planet Earth is providing a smooth ride around the solar system while providing for all our needs 365 days a year, regardless of how we are treating it in return. We see this with our Sun, whose core goes through the 27,000,000°F fusion process to create photons that reach the Earth in 28 minutes, providing energy that plants and other inhabitants transform to be further used by all of Earth’s inhabitants. And the Sun doesn’t offer this energy upon certain conditions of how we will use it. As we see the Sun and Earth as modeling the sharing of resources without expectation, we can view them as models of unconditional love. We also can observe this quality in dogs. They consume maybe 1/10th of what a human does, and they create maybe 100 times more unconditional love as they are tuned with this greater, self-organizing, loving system that we are all a part of.

One reason spiritual experiences are one of the most advanced and unique experiences of human beings, and through these experiences we can discover the overall feeling of the universe. Spiritual experiences come through various modalities including immense suffering, near death experiences, via dance or trance states, deep meditation or focus, intense physical activity, and by consuming psychedelic compounds. A quality that is shared between these states is that a person can experience the loss of their illusive separation, and they experience an awareness of being one with the greater network. In this stage, there is an immense feeling of love, peace, and calm. 

Unconditional love is a most enjoyable human experience and is the pinnacle of the emotional part of the cognition process. After all, most spiritual beliefs hold that the fabric of the universe is made of love and that the primary duty of human beings is to recognize and manifest this concept as the ultimate goal of the spiritual journey. In his work The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell shows how most mythical stories of human beings are telling us that the main purpose of creation is the manifestation of unconditional love. In Christianity, for example, these values found their physical embodiment in Jesus Christ’s experience and his core beliefs. On the other hand, the self-serving, protective nature of our linear perception codes our judgments with blame, guilt, and hate. Thinking in terms of blame hinders our ability to forgive, which is an inherent quality of unconditional love. 

The mythology of Sufism also states that the creator is love, and it wanted to manifest itself in physical form, so it created angels. But these angels could not feel and suffer the pain that accompanies love. So it created human beings, who are capable of feeling and suffering, to manifest this ultimate goal of creation. In this way, humans are seen as capable of experiencing a more vast spectrum of divine love. This teaching ultimately embodies itself in a great number of Sufis’ personal life experiences. The values were explored in the poetry of love, inspired by the experiences of Rumi, a renowned Persian poet and Sufi mystic born in 1207, and a century later in the work of Hafez, “a Muslim, Persian-speaking sage whose collection of love poetry rivals only Mawlana Rumi in terms of its popularity and influence” (Omid Safi).

Through Love all that is bitter will sweeten.

Through Love all that is copper will be gold.

Through Love all dregs will turn to purest wine.

Through Love all pain will turn to medicine.

Through Love the dead will all become alive.

Through Love the king will turn into a slave!

—Rumi

The Nonlinear View of the Self-organizing Universe

This is the full manuscript.

Start by reading the Q&A introduction here.

Or browse by chapter from the homepage.

Chapter 1:

Observing the Universal Self-organizing Process at Different Scales

Let’s start by observing our body’s network to see how the self-organizing process is capable of performing the most complex tasks with minimum effort.

The human body as a self-organizing, living system

As soon as one thinks of a word to be spoken, four million neurons and cells synchronize in order to deliver that single word to the listener. And while the human body is performing this complex task, it is also regulating its oxygen levels, sugar levels, enzymes, temperature, heartbeat, and more. Acknowledging the simultaneous performance of multiple systems within the human body network without conscious effort allows us to observe the deep simplicity of nonlinear systems as they are self-organizing, living systems and their capability of performing complex tasks with minimum effort. This deep simplicity is inherent throughout the whole universe and so we can observe it not only in our body but in other inhabitants of our green planet and throughout our solar system.

Observing the vast, creative universe

We can observe this deep simplicity within animal networks as well. When bees are needing to move their hive to a new location, they go through this nonlinear self-organizing process. First they send 50 or so expert navigator bees to scout for a new location. These investigator bees then return to the original hive and dance to communicate where each is suggesting the hive might move. The direction of the dance points to the new potential location, the duration of the dance correlates to its distance, and the rate of wing movement describes its quality. The investigators then examine that information more closely and this process happens repeatedly until eventually they all synchronize with the suitable location, and a decision is made. 

In plant and fungal networks, we can find this deep simplicity in their cooperation. Plant networks share food and nutrients with each other through their root systems and shared fungal networks through a nonlinear, self-organizing, cooperative process, which creates oxygen for fungi and animals. In the 2019 documentary Fantastic Fungi, we see that fungal systems are a major part of how plants communicate with one another. The vast, nonlinear mycelial networks help the living systems they are a part of by communicating needs and warnings of danger or scarce resources to seemingly separate parts of the interconnected systems. For example, if one area is lacking a nutrient that the trees in that area need, this need is communicated via the networks of mycelium often over great distances so that the plants and fungi that are in areas where this nutrient is more available are able to transport that nutrient via their root and mycelial networks to the area in need. In this way these systems of separate biological kingdoms are self-organizing via nonlinear communication and the cooperative synchronization of the network’s members’ assets (expertise, intelligence, and resources) in order to perform with higher efficiency and deep simplicity, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

At the planetary scale, we can observe this deep simplicity in how Earth uses its different capabilities to make a habitable planet. For instance, storms in Africa’s Sahara Desert can bring minerals to the Amazon Rainforest. The wind that carries minerals across the ocean creates a static charge in the clouds above the Amazon that forms lightning, and this acts as a catalyst for chemical reactions between nitrogen, oxygen, and other minerals that provide nutritional rain for the plants below. Those plants then convert photons received from the sun into sugars, which ultimately provide protein and oxygen that serves as nutrients to the other inhabitants of Earth. 

At the solar level, according to current knowledge, there are 100 billion galaxies, each with 200 billion stars; and one of those stars is our Sun. Our Sun is made of around 98 percent helium and hydrogen, the two simplest elements on the Periodic Table. From these simple elements comes a capability of creating a unique gravitational field that gathers the celestial bodies that we know as our solar system. This gravitational field arranged our solar system in such a way that placed our Earth in a position where it is capable of creating and sustaining life as we know it. 

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Now that we have observed the deep simplicity of this amazing process happening at multiple levels of our universe, we will investigate the nonlinear networks that are the organizational pattern of the self-organizing systems. Next we will explore how by studying nonlinear networks, we can obtain the essential behaviors of the self-organizing process.

Chapter 2:

Nonlinear Networks

A nonlinear network is a mathematical pattern of self-organizing systems. Because nonlinear networks are mathematical, our observation of them will not deal with substance, rather their shared qualities between nonlinear networks, which will bring us to a deeper understanding of the self-organizing process.

First we will look at how nonlinear networks are made of order and randomness simultaneously. Then we will explore how there is an uneven power law distribution that applies to all networks universally. And the observation of this universal quality will bring us to the universality of behavior of all nonlinear networks, allowing for the familiarity of one nonlinear network to grant access to knowledge of all others at scale. 

Order and randomness

Nonlinear networks are made of a combination of order and randomness. A natural example of the combination of order and randomness can be observed in the human heart. If the rhythm of our heart was strictly orderly and invariable, the heart muscle would get tired after so many beats (around two trillion beats in an average lifetime). A little bit of randomness makes our heart’s rhythm erratic, having slight variations between each beat it keeps. These slight variations allow for part of the heart to rest while the whole is still performing as a system. Without this inconsistency, our heart would tire out, and our heartbeat would become unsustainable. 

Order brings clustering and structural cohesiveness; and randomness makes a highly connected network with the lowest degree of separation. Randomness also makes the nonlinear network flexible enough to experience instability, giving its components the ability to function far from equilibrium: in the chaotic zone. Upon reaching a critical point, networks become fractal and a new order of greater complexity emerges simultaneously. All the components of the network synchronize their assets to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This creative and cognitive process is constantly occurring throughout our world and universe. 

Nonlinear networks are highly connected and therefore able to transfer and process information at a high rate of efficiency. All nonlinear networks have emerging and flexible structures that permit the transference of information over a multitude of interconnected routes. 

From Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks (2002) by Mark Buchanan

An example of this can be seen when water is heated and the water molecules at the bottom of the container (if the heat source is at the base, as it is on a stovetop or hotplate) start moving upward randomly in different directions. The more heat they receive, the more chaotic their upward movement becomes. Upon reaching a critical point, a new order suddenly emerges in which each water molecule joins one of the many three-dimensional hexagons as shown in the diagram below: 

Water molecules, when heated, create a new order from randomness.

Molecules at the bottom travel vertically to the top and then move down the sides of the hexagons. They move in such an orderly fashion that it seems as if they could all be aware of each other. 

In the context of order, chaos, and synchronization within nonlinear networks, new order emerges when all the elements within a given system synchronize. Their cooperation creates a synergetic relationship among them, elevating the quality and functionality of the network as a whole which is capable of performing at a higher level than the sum of its individual parts. We have all experienced this holistic, cooperative effect among large gatherings of people at concerts, games, political demonstrations, or religious events. Steven Strogatz explains this concept further in his book Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order (2003): 

At the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat: the sound of cycles in sync. It pervades nature at every scale from the nucleus to the cosmos. Every night along the tidal rivers of Malaysia, thousands of fireflies congregate in the mangroves and flash in unison, without any leader or cue from the environment. Trillions of electrons march in lockstep in a superconductor, enabling electricity to flow through it with zero resistance. In the solar system, gravitational synchrony can eject huge boulders out of the asteroid belt and toward Earth; the cataclysmic impact of one such meteor is thought to have killed the dinosaurs. Even our bodies are symphonies of rhythm, kept alive by the relentless, coordinated firing of thousands of pacemaker cells in our hearts. And that raises a profound mystery: scientists have long been baffled by the existence of spontaneous order in the universe. The law of thermodynamics seems to dictate the opposite, that nature should inexorably degenerate toward a state of greater disorder, greater entropy. Yet all around us we see magnificent structure-galaxies, cells, ecosystems, human beings, that have somehow managed to assemble themselves. This enigma bedevils all of science today. The tendency to synchronize is one of the most pervasive drives in the universe, extending from atoms to animals, from people to planets. All the examples are variations on the same mathematical theme: self-organization, the spontaneous emergence of order out of chaos.

One of the best modern examples of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts is the function of light in the form of a laser. The intense, coherent, needle-thin beam of light is a result of trillions of atoms emitting light waves in sync with one another. The atoms themselves are no different from those in an ordinary light bulb; the trick is the way they cooperate as a group. Instead of a cacophonous light of different colors and phases, laser light is one color and one phase—a choir singing the same note. The resulting laser is composed of the atoms which collectively create a beam that is more than what the atoms are capable of individually. 

The integrative, synchronized, and emergent behavior of the components results in the holistic, cooperative, and qualitative characteristic of nonlinear networks. The synergistic character of nonlinear systems is also what makes them such rich subjects worthy of focused exploration. Every major unsolved problem in science, from consciousness to cancer to the unpredictability of the economy, can be better understood with a nonlinear approach. As is evident in a laser, the synchronized whole has a quality and functionality which none of the individual components had on their own. 

Nonlinear networks have an uneven power law distribution

The distribution of components in nonlinear networks follows an uneven power law distribution. For instance, the Sun is composed of 71 percent hydrogen and 27 percent helium. The remaining two percent is composed of a variety of elements that are not equally distributed. Oxygen is the most abundant of that two percent (at 42.9 percent), followed by carbon (17.7 percent), and iron (9.7 percent). Various metals make up the tiny remainder of that two percent. This uneven and scale-free type of distribution is called a power law distribution. It is one of the most universal characteristics of nonlinear networks. 

Within a nonlinear network such as the internet, those sites with the most connections have the lowest degree of participation, and the sites that exhibit the highest degree of participation have the fewest links or connections. Take for example Google, Amazon, or other large websites: there are only a few of them participating at that level, so they have the most connection with other websites. Because those few large sites have so many connections, they have more power within the network and their effectiveness to reach other websites within the network is that much stronger. These are the hubs of the network, and they are crucial in supporting the stability and robustness of the whole network. But those sites that have the highest degree of participation, such as the millions of small personal websites, have the fewest connections. In nonlinear networks, the members with higher connectivity in the network have more power and more control over the whole network. 

Power Law Distribution of participation and connections among websites

The power law distribution principle applies to all nonlinear networks, including networks within the body that regulate our blood circulation and nervous system, and the networks throughout the rest of our natural world. 

Nonlinear networks display self-similarity and universality

Fractals are created by the repetition of basic operational rules, and this signifies a deep simplicity at the core of the creation of this complex universe. Self-similarity is a powerful property of nonlinear systems. Duncan J. Watts connects this self-similarity to the principle of universality in his Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (2003) as follows:

The observation that very different systems can exhibit fundamental similarities is generally referred to as universality, and its apparent validity presents one of the deepest and most powerful mysteries in modern physics. It is mysterious because there is no obvious reason why systems as different as superconductors, ferromagnets, freezing liquids, and underground oil reservoirs should have anything in common at all. And it is powerful precisely because they do have something in common, which tells us that at least some of the properties of extremely complicated systems can be understood without knowing anything about their detailed structure or governing rules. 

There is no proportionality between cause and effect

Pulling further from Strogatz’s Sync:

Linear equations describe simple, idealized situations where causes are proportional to effects, and forces are proportional to responses. Linear equations are tractable because they are modular: they can be broken into pieces. Each piece can be analyzed separately and solved, and finally all the separate answers can be recombined—literally added back together—to give the right answer to the problem. 

In a linear system, the whole is exactly equal to the sum of the parts. But linearity is often an approximation of a more complicated reality. Most systems behave linearly only when they are close to equilibrium, and only when we don’t push them too hard.

Since nonlinear systems perform far from equilibrium, cause and effect are not proportional. In a nonlinear system, small changes may have dramatic effects because they may be amplified by self-regulating feedback loops. In highly connected nonlinear networks, sometimes small changes can have major implications, while at other times even major changes can be absorbed with remarkably little disruption. 

When we observe the real world from a nonlinear perspective, we see examples all around us in which cause and effect are not proportional. The behavior of water illustrates this principle of network theory. Water has one exceptional property when compared to any other liquid: when it freezes, its volume increases and its density decreases. This ability to gain volume while transitioning between liquid and solid makes ice lighter than water. This is why ice floats on top of liquid water. Scientists believe that because of this property, during the early ice ages, ice on the top of the oceans protected the water underneath from volatile, unlivable conditions on the surface while being thin enough to allow some sunlight through, thus enabling the early phases of microbiological development to survive. Without this exceptional property of water, we would not exist to know about it; human life was made possible by one seemingly insignificant property of water.

In his book The Web of Life (1997), Fritjof Capra contextualizes the power law distribution within fractal mathematics: 

In nonlinear systems, small changes may have dramatic effects because they may be amplified repeatedly by self-reinforcing feedback. Such nonlinear feedback processes are the basis of the instabilities and the sudden emergence of new forms of order that are so characteristic of self-organization. Mathematically, a feedback loop corresponds to a special kind of nonlinear process known as iteration, in which a function operates repeatedly on itself. 

If we take a nonlinear function and assume initial values for constants and variables for the first round, then start applying the iteration process by repeatedly taking the resulting value and feeding it back into the system, we may see that the patterns are diverging, converging, or constant. But eventually we reach a zone where the results provide chaotic values without any traceable pattern. With the help of a computer, we can divide that chaotic zone into thousands of points and plot the obtained values. The resulting plotted values reveal self-similar fractal patterns in which any magnified part resembles the larger section from which it was taken. As we observe this process, we will notice that even though we see chaos on the surface, at deeper levels of observation the elements are creating an emerging order of self-similar patterns. If examined at different scales, they all display the same degree of order. In other words, they look the same at all scales.

* * *

We’ve discussed how nonlinear networks are made of order and randomness, and because they perform at the chaotic zone where there is no proportionality of cause and effect, they follow a power law distribution and they display self-similarity and universality. Next we will explore the historical development of the linear approximate model, and how this became the currently dominant model in our thinking and activities.

Chapter 3:

The Duality of the Brain in Perceiving and Processing Information

We can begin to understand the human body as a nonlinear network by looking more closely at how we have developed a linear model of the universe through our self-awareness process, and how that model has led humanity to perceive itself as disconnected from the guidance of the self-organizing process of the universe. What we will find is that this perception both granted us the capabilities of incredible technologies, and that this linear perception based subjective observation ultimately is an approximation of the real performance of the universe. 

Early in our development, human beings began using their hands and vocal systems to increase their ability to cooperate with each other. They used sign language for short-range communication and vocal projections for long-range communication. They mimicked the sounds of other animals to attract certain animals and distract dangerous ones. Combining sign language and vocal projections eventually created a subjective virtual world of information. The expression of abstract concepts enabled an agreed upon perception of physical objects when the communicator and communicatee were physically distant from the objects being described. 

This separation of subject from the object was a major achievement in communicative technology and the development of human consciousness; and it also allowed us to illusively separate ourselves from the greater environment. This illusive separation created a linear perception that assumes that we are all alone in this universe, struggling to survive, independent and separate from the greater network. And we therefore created a linear, approximate model that aims to protect our separated self from the rest of the universe. 

The stability and order that exists in our immediate surroundings including the orderly cycles of our sun, moon, seasons, and so on led us to believe that this approximate linear model is an accurate model, because there is a perceived proportionality and predictability of cause and effect in our observations. The approximate model is a simplified model that eliminates randomness by reducing the web of events to only one or so seemingly most significant causes, and the result is that we overlook the randomness that is a part of the real world and reduce it all to a narrative of orderly and linear events. And so from our linear observations, we began relying on linear thinking—a reduced logic. This perceived order of linear thinking is a very powerful tool to work with when working with systems that are performing at equilibrium. These orderly and stable systems are modular and can be broken into pieces. Each piece can be analyzed separately and solved, and finally all the separate answers can be recombined, literally added back together, to provide the same answer to the problem. These linear systems are what our current reductionist science is based on, and with linear perception the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. But linearity approximates a nonlinear reality, and therefore overlooks a reality that is performing at the edge of chaos: where cause and effect are not proportional, and the whole which is greater than the sum of the parts.

Any event is the result of a collective web of events

According to the universality of the power law distribution of nonlinear networks, there is a dominant participant in any network of events. Eliminating the supposedly insignificant participants of the event and focusing on only the dominant participant provides a predictability that provides determinism, certainty, and expectation as tools for judgment and control over outside events. When we focus on the dominant element and get the expected result, it further reinforces our belief in the linear model. Therefore, our linear thinking becomes a judgmental logic based on approximate models. Then by modeling the world in our mind this way, we notice that there is proportionality between the distance from the source and the clarity of what we see or hear. This reinforcement leads us to believe that cause and effect are proportional, as focusing on the dominant element provides higher predictability and reinforces our judgmental logic and linear thinking. 

Let’s observe the lack of proportionality between cause and effect in an event such as a car crash. In this scenario consider a car crash at an intersection with a stoplight. If one driver received a phone call just as they were heading out the door and it was a wrong number, this would have delayed them by just a few seconds. This delay would have the driver reaching the intersection at a slightly different time than they would have otherwise. The second driver runs a red light and hits them. This event, like any other we experience, has an indeterminable network of interconnected events and experiences that precede the moment of the accident. Using linear logic, we freeze the event at the moment of the accident and judge the dominant cause based on information most immediate to the moment of the crash: the other driver might have been drunk, sleepy, or otherwise distracted leading them to run a light. But in reality, there are many factors that led to the crash in that intersection. If the first driver had not answered that wrong number, they would have passed through that intersection a few seconds earlier, avoiding the accident. The phone call was such an insignificant cause, but it potentially had a major effect. 

Since our linear logic is based on the proportionality of cause and effect, the chaos and uncertainty in the nonlinear world highlights the non-proportionality of cause and effect and inconsistency of our linear judgment system, and our values and beliefs rooted in our linear model. So why do we continue to perceive, think, behave, relate, and create value systems based in linearity? 

Linear thinking as a defense mechanism

Linear thinking has been implemented as a defense mechanism to protect this illusively separated identity. It is possible that the areas of the brain that create procedural memories and define our orientations when we are thinking linearly are the same areas of the brain that activate our survival instincts. The defensive nature of linear thinking leads to a negative attitude towards change as it codes that which is being perceived by the body network based upon difference or judgment. And this judgment of what is “different” or “separate” has led to a perception of the world that is dominantly biased towards fear, guilt, blame, anger, violence, and hopelessness. This general fear of change also results in a lower quality of information processing, particularly of chaotic events and challenges that we are witnessing in our increasingly nonlinear digital world. By focusing on the liabilities of our actions rather than the achievements, we are unable to benefit from our achievements because we are not appreciating them as assets of a greater whole that could then be combined with other appreciated assets to create a sum that is greater than its individual parts. Guided by our perceived illusive separation, we created linear relationships based in this linear judgment for the purposes of self-assertion, short-term gain, domination, competition, control, and liability management. And this has led to our development of linear values based on rigidity, quantity, and consumption. 

Some neuropsychologists are calling linear thinking the “default state of mind.” According to psychologist Kelly McGoinigal in her work The Neuroscience of Change, in the default state of mind, we hold a critical opinion about the present. By time traveling in our minds, we create an alternate reality, regretting the past and projecting it as a negative liability onto the future. Worrying about the past or future prevents us from giving full attention to the present, and it hinders our ability to focus our creative brains to manage current challenges. The default state of mind also creates a self-referential identity, or ego, separate from others, which linearly leads us to be compelled to defend it. According to psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher and literary scholar Iain McGilchrist in his The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning and neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor’s My Stroke of Insight, the human brain consciously perceives and processes information in the left-side hemisphere and unconsciously in the right-side. Although dividing the brain strictly into two regions is an oversimplification and is not a holistic approach, when we think linearly (in “default” or “survival mode”) most activity takes place in the left-side hemisphere; when we are thinking nonlinearly by implementing systems thinking, the majority of activity takes place in the right-side. While the left-side brain is analytical, deterministic, judgmental, reductionist, archetypally masculine, and materialistic, the right brain is observant, nonjudgmental, holistic, archetypally feminine, and spiritual. The left-side primarily perceives and processes information in a more orderly, liability management-focused, linear way, creating a model or perception that separates us from the self-organizing universe. The right-side, however, primarily perceives and processes information in a nonlinear manner creating a model or perception of the world that is holistic and focused on asset management, as it is connected and synced with the inherent self-organizing process of the universe. 

Currently, linear thinking and left-side brain activity is dominant not only in our minds, but throughout our societal structures. The social design favoring linear thinking propagates linear values and those who are able to learn to embrace and operate by these values are rewarded by social advancement as they navigate our various social systems. This linear bias can also be seen in the design of so many of our tools that favor the left-side brain, which controls the right-side of the body. By designing this way we are perpetuating linear values and their domination over the whole human network. And by aligning with this pattern of a dominating perception of the world, we are furthering an imbalance within the physical body while we externally design our environment and education systems encourage linear, archetypally masculine, dominant thinking. In exchange for our linear biases, we have lost touch with a natural intuitiveness, spirituality, and creativity that will only re-emerge once we bring back into balance our left- and right-side brains. 

On the other hand, systems thinking is nonlinear thinking that is rooted in the greater self-organizing process of the universe, and so it is a perception that observes the universe as a highly interconnected, dynamic network of relationships and recognizes how the components of a network interact to give rise to emergent processes. It is a holistic logic based on behaviors of nonlinear living networks in which all members implement their assets in a manner of cooperation and partnership to achieve the long-term goals of the whole network, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of the network’s parts that is beneficial to all members of the network. The non-proportionality of cause and effect that creates an inconsistency in our linear judgment also provides an observant and nonjudgmental quality to nonlinear thinking. Nonlinear logic is a thinking that welcomes change and challenges as it recognizes chaos as a prerequisite to evolve to a higher level of cognitive order through self-organization.

Because systems thinking is consistent with the inherent self-organizing process of the universe, we can use systems thinking to guide us to reconnect with the greater creative process. It’s a paradigm shift in our model of the universe toward simplicity, flexibility, quality, patterns, relationships, cognitive process, interconnectivity, and interdependency, shifting our perception from separation to connectedness of the whole. This shift in perception encourages our thinking based in negativity, blame, anger, revenge, violence, and hopelessness to shift to logic that is observant, positive, forgiving, tolerant, peaceful, and hopeful. As we shift our thinking, we too will shift our behaviors as this new highly interconnected model, and subsequently we will see a shift in our relationships from self-assertive to integrative, from rational to intuitive, and from reductionist to holistic, as we begin to observe the value of practicing unconditional love. It will also shift our values of consumption to conservation, competition to cooperation, quantity to quality, domination to partnership, rigidity to flexibility, and liability management to asset management, as we become more interested in supporting all the parts and their relationships because it is acknowledging each as contributing assets serving the greater system. As we shift from linear to nonlinear thinking, we gain a greater ability to intuit as well as to process information analytically, further benefiting all highly connected members and their connections with highest efficiency. In this way nonlinear thinking provides a hopeful, creative, peaceful, ecologically harmonic framework to navigate a nonlinear, chaotic, digitally integrated world. 

Nonlinear thinking provides an arena for a state of mind commonly being referred to as “mindfulness.” When we are mindful, we experience events with our senses rather than our judgments. We are fully aware of the present moment as a creative mode where we are selfless, totally connected to the flow of the inherent self-organizing process of the universe, with the knowledge and power of the whole system. Many athletes and musicians describe this flow state as being “in the zone” where the linear, logical mind is no longer the dominating force and the person’s performance seems to be nearly effortlessly guided by higher intuitive instruction. It is highly possible that this state of mind activates the areas of our brain where all metaphysical experiences of our ancestors have been stored, and this is likely why many nonlinear scientists have a certain degree of spiritual awareness.

It is very important to recognize that linear modeling, reductionist science, and its corresponding technologies are incredibly useful tools that enabled us to achieve our current understanding of nonlinear science, the concept of the living universe, nonlinear logic, and even our realizations of the limitations and liabilities of the linear model itself. In this way, the linear model is a major achievement in our expanding understanding of our universe and of the continued development of human consciousness. Linear thinking is an asset in providing communicable order to our routine activities, including communicating the ideas inspiring this writing with you, the reader. And so, the main purpose of this writing is to encourage the unification of linear and nonlinear perception in order to achieve the ultimate potential of our creative minds. And though the process of developing linear thinking may seem off course from the greater self-organizing process we are a part of, it has served more as a detour that is leading us back to join with the self-organizing process with more measurable understanding of how to perform in synchronization with it. We are at a point in human history where we have consumed the resources of the Earth and converted them into information that we’ve used to reinforce our linear model, perception, thinking, behavior, relationship, and values. And now we have arrived at a moment where this information is allowing us to recognize that we are part of a greater self-organizing process, to examine how that process works, and to discover how we can align ourselves with it. 

In the current digital age, a combination of nonlinear theories, cognitive science, neuropsychology, and spiritual teachings allow us to acknowledge the power of the linear and nonlinear perceptions and how to holistically integrate the two to achieve the ultimate potentials that exist within us. By investigating how the domination of linear logic functions in the human body, we will gain deeper insight into how to realign ourselves with the ongoing self-organizing process of our body.

* * *

With what we have learned about self-organizing living networks, next we’ll investigate our body network as a metaphor for any self-organizing network. In the process we will find out how the domination of linear thinking and relationships created a disconnection from the universal, ongoing, self-organizing process. And because of the universality of behavior of all nonlinear networks, these observations can then be applied as a metaphor to any network at any scale.

Chapter 4:

Investigating the Human Body as a Metaphor for Self-organizing Networks

When we investigate how the domination of linear logic functions in the human body, we gain deeper insight into the linearity of human behavior. As a nonlinear network, our body has a power law distribution in terms of energy distribution, control, and consumption. This can be seen in how although the brain accounts for only 2.5 percent of the whole body’s weight, it has dominant control over the whole body and it consumes more energy per gram per second than any other organ in our body, making it the main hub of our body network. The function of the hub is crucial for stability, sustainability, and robustness of the whole network when it participates in nonlinear relationship with the rest of the network. Subconsciously the brain syncs with the whole body, allowing us to perform with deep simplicity. 

Consciously, however, as the domination of linear thinking illusively separates ourselves from the universe, it illusively separates the brain from the body network as well. Driven by self-assertiveness and short-term gain, the linearly-minded brain then implements linear relationship between it and other members of the body network instead of holistic and integrated behavior. And as a result, the brain often maintains and entertains itself at the expense of the rest of the body, prioritizing entertainment, habits, liability management, and control. Our brain can be so shortsighted that it does not realize that its own long-term sustainability is connected to the wellbeing of the whole body network, not just its own. To satisfy our brains’ short-term desires, we consume more than we need, and we suffer the consequences later. In this way, we see how linear thinking also leads us to exhibit a similar tendency toward other members of the web of life, including plants, animals, the Earth itself, and even other humans. We divide each other into genders, races, nations, and separate beliefs; and instead of cooperating and utilizing asset management with the whole network to achieve optimum synergy, we focus mostly on differences and liability management, rather than recognizing shared values. 

The body network is a whole organism made up of many subnetworks (respiratory, circulatory, immune, central nervous, muscle, skeletal system, etc.), which are all cognitive systems according to Santiago theory. Though it is another part embedded within the overall network, the domination of linear thinking has led us to believe that the brain is the only member of this multi-system cognitive network. For instance, we tend to view the heart only as a pump; but the heart is another center that perceives information through gut feeling and intuition. We tend to ignore the heart’s potential beyond its mechanical functionality, along with the potential of other participants within the body network, though they are collectively creating our perception of the universe. This perception of members of our body network performing in limited ways leads us to ignore perceivable relationships amongst the various nonlinear systems that are part of a greater cognitive network. 

Once we start observing our actions, thinking, and habits with systemic thinking, relationship, and values, those observations act as a self-organizing feedback system. Consciously participating in this feedback system will allow us to overcome the dominance of linear perception to synchronize our left- and right-sides of the brain. By shifting the domination of the left-side to a cooperation of left- and right-sides, we will eventually sync the whole brain with the whole body network and fully optimize the potential of our brains in a way that is in sync and harmony with the greater networks we are a part of. After our brain goes through this process of observation and the self-organizing process that results, the brain will reconnect with this inherent, universal, self-organizing process that orchestrates our universe. And the result will be a more efficient brain and a more healthy body, and we will become mentally and physically more sustainable. The paradigm shift will start within our individual body networks, and will expand to any network that we are participating in at any scale. 

The development of an app that monitors our linear behaviors could provide feedback that guides us to shift toward systems relationships and values would be instrumental in personal development, and its findings could be applied to any other network at scale.

Chapter 5:

The Impact of Acknowledging the Inherent Self-organizing Process: Integrating Science, Spirituality, and Philosophy

When we observe the historical pattern of the progression of western science, there is an emergent pattern of foundational assumptions and theories shifting from a static, rigid, and linear view of the universe to a more dynamic, flexible, and nonlinear view. We are shifting from a mathematical perception initially based in Euclidean geometry, which deals with static shapes or the flat concept of Earth, to one of fractal geometry, which collectively explain the dynamic, flexible, and nonlinear world, such as the self-organizing process of living systems. The following shifts are the result of a series of nonlinear discoveries that have changed our understanding of fundamental scientific paradigms, many of which are being explored by renowned scientists including Fritjof Capra, Steven Strogatz, Mark Buchanan, Albert-László Barabási, and their colleagues.

The first shift is understanding that the universe is not made of fundamental building blocks but in its purest form is constantly moving energy that contains a cognitive pattern of information. The dancing energy has a pattern of information that can be found everywhere. Each creature on Earth is composed of information; information sits at the center of our cells and rattles around in our brains. Every particle in the universe, every electron, every atom, every star, and each one of the countless galaxies throughout our universe is packed full of information. That information is always flowing, moving from place to place, spreading throughout the cosmos. 

Therefore, energy and information are the most essential components of the universe, and so we can observe the universe as being made of cognitive energy. And as cosmic history has progressed, our energetic universe has evolved to contain a diverse array of complex life forms that are capable of processing this complex, energetic information, including human beings. Now that we have processed the information of our universe structurally and quantitatively, we are shifting to processing this information through qualitative evaluation. In the old paradigm, it was the structure that determined the processes; in the new paradigm, the process is primary, and every structure we observe is a manifestation of an underlying process. And focusing on patterns, relationship, and networks allows us to more deeply understand this process. 

The second shift is due to the discovery of entanglement phenomena which created a new era of understanding that we are dealing with an interdependent, interconnected, correlated, and nonlinear universe. And in order to understand this universe we must remodel our approach to be similarly holistic, systemic, and nonlinear.

The third shift is a shift in the relationship between the observer and the observed, as we are recognizing that there is also entanglement among the consciousness of a human observer and the observed universe—for when we try to observe the dualistic behavior of a photon it responds to our observation. 

The fourth shift is one of our perception of chaos. This shift is being facilitated by our recognition of the nonlinear network as the structural organization of all living systems. This recognition is allowing us to develop a deeper understanding of randomness and its significant role in a nonlinear world, and to acknowledge that there is an amazing order beyond our perceived chaos as we observe how nonlinear networks manifest themselves into fractal patterns. As fractal patterns, they become self-organizing systems when the behavioral patterns of the elements and the whole system are in sync, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Considering chaos as an emergent zone leading us to a higher order through synchronization will allow us to shift our negative perception of chaos as purely destructive and adopt positive, hopeful, and comfortable perception of it as an essential part of a greater creative process of our self-organizing universe.

The fifth shift is a recognition that there is a deep simplicity that governs the universe, and the search for the unified theory that describes this deep simplicity is shifting from physics to living science, and eventually self-organizing networks. In his book Decoding the Universe (2007), Charles Seife describes this shift as our metaphors for our defined order of the universe continues to evolve:

There is a long tradition of using pinnacles of science and its corresponding technology as a metaphor for the universe. In ancient Greece, geometry, surveying equipment and musical instruments were the science and technological wonders of the age, and Greeks regarded the cosmos as a manifestation of geometric relationships and the most complex technology, and Newton described a deterministic clockwork universe, with time as an infinitely precise parameter that gauged all cosmic change. In the nineteenth century, with advancements in thermodynamics and entropy, and development of the steam engine, Clausius, Von Helmholtz, Boltzmann, and Maxwell described the universe as a gigantic entropy-generating heat engine, sliding inexorably to a cosmic heat death.

The last few decades have been dominated by the development of computer science and information technology, resulting in the proposition of the metaphor of the universe as a gigantic computer by Seth Lloyd, Gregg Braden, and other scientists. Now, our continuously advancing observational technology allows us to witness the self-organizing process and fractal dimension of the universe at different scales in ways we were previously unable. Our expanding perception combined with advancements in biomimicry have provided a new metaphor of the universe as a living system. Although Gaia theory has been accepted among scientists since the 1970s, until recently achievements had not been applied to our understanding of the Earth as a living system. Similarly, many spiritual thinkers had not paid attention to Gaia theory and the emerging living universe metaphor and how Gaia theory is consistent with most spiritual traditions. And now we are seeing the living universe metaphor having the potential of providing a theory capable of unifying the previously siloed conversations of science and spirituality.

The Universe is made of cognitive energy

The universe is made of cognitive energy and cognitive energy performs in its most efficient form as a wave; but when it experiences local stability, it performs as particles. The particles carry an inherent spiral pattern of information (which could be demonstrated by the fractal dimension of the golden ratio) that makes them capable of organizing themselves in nonlinear network patterns, to perform at the chaotic zone, become fractal, and create the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. And so energy experiencing local stability as molecules is able to organize itself in this inherent nonlinear network to create enzymes with a higher level of functionality, content of information, and intelligence with a higher cognitive purpose. With a similar organizational pattern, these enzymes create proteins that contain a higher level of such qualities. If we follow this expanding perspective from enzyme to protein, protein to cell, cell to organ, and organ to our body, there is always a higher intelligence or cognitive purpose at each level. 

By applying this observation of the body network to the collective consciousness of humanity, we then come to the consciousness and cognitive purpose of the entire Earth (which includes collective intelligence of humans, plants, animals, and the planet itself) we can observe it all as an interconnected system of cognitive information that is collectively greater than the sum of Earth’s individual parts. From there, we can zoom out even further to other planets, to our solar system, and to galaxies and acknowledge each having higher intelligence and higher purpose, as the whole at any scale is always capable of operating with greater creativity and efficiency than the sum of its parts. With this perspective, we are able to observe a universal process that is capable of continuously producing something of qualitatively higher functionality, content of information, and intelligence, as it is creating its own guidance for and of itself. This is the greatest creativity of the universe: a self-creating, self-organizing living system that is able to grow beyond and continuously manage itself.

With linear perception and linear thinking, the way we illusively separated ourselves from the universe and the brain from the body, we separated the divine (creator) from creation. However, now we know that this is a self-creating system that is capable of creating itself without the need for an outside creator, without any central command. From this perspective we are able to integrate the creator and creation. Acknowledging this unified higher intelligence is in line with various wisdom traditions around the world, as they discovered intuitively that there is a higher intelligence that is governing the system, and that higher intelligence is not found exclusively  outside of the body experiencing consciousness, but within ourselves as well. 

This brings us back to the seemingly inefficiency and unsustainability of human behavior based on linear modeling that has emerged as part of our self-awareness process. A systems approach focuses on the cognitive process and on connectivity. When it is established that everything is connected and not separated from each other, we can then see the self-awareness of human beings as part of the greater process of a system of higher intelligence. From this perspective, our self-awareness process was not a waste but a detour. As we converted cognitive energy into information, now this information is allowing the greater human network to observe ourselves as part of a greater cognitive process: the process of the whole Earth network becoming aware of all of its parts, and the value of the details of each asset in its own self-organizing process. And so with our awareness of this, our previous role in the greater process has already been achieved, and our self-awareness process was not a waste as it has played its role in this greater process. 

Human beings are a byproduct of an amazing creative process. So why are we not consistently performing at the level of creativity of the greater process? Consciously we are not synchronizing with this inherent self-organizing potential. If our will is to perform with our ultimate potential mentally, physically, and spiritually, as a cognitive system, the goal of the Earth is similar to our own: to manifest its greatest potential through the self-organizing process. As the greater guiding system, our planet network defines our destiny. So when we shift our brain from domination of the left-side to cooperation of left-and-right, our brain and body synchronize with the universal, inherent process, and our destiny and will become one. 

Mystical, metaphysical, and spiritual experiences are some of the most elegant experiences that we can perceive as humans. But until now, these experiences have not been acknowledged as part of the cognitive process because these experiences could not be explained through reductionist, linear sciences. Now, we are not only able to acknowledge these experiences as a part of our planet’s greater self-awareness process, but we are also able to explain these experiences via this new paradigm of the self-organizing, living universe, by integrating science and spirituality. In traditional philosophy we try to explain the world through linear logic and perception, which does not acknowledge the metaphysical power of the universe. But systemic perception has the potential to enable linear logic to explain mysticism, and the metaphysical power of the universe.

The emerging self-awareness of our green planet enables us to experience a cognitive process which is not limited to mental capacities and intellectual experiences; it is a process that has manifested the amazing potentials of this universe, through the scents of flowers and their beauty, the sounds of birds and animals, the aesthetics and flavors of food, the beauty of the human body, and more. The human experiences of mysticism, art, and eventually science and technology have enabled us to become consciously aware of how this universe works, identify its essential behaviors, and recognize how it is able to manifest itself through this creative process of coming into self-awareness. This may seem like a detour from our natural alignment with the greater cognitive process of our planet as from it emerged our illusive separation of ourselves from the greater system. But this process has been a part of Earth’s overall cognitive, self-awareness process, as Earth wanted to consciously come into awareness of its potential, what it is and how it works; and now, this has been achieved through the shared discoveries of science and spirituality.

We are residing in a living universe, which is made of self-creating, self-healing, self-regulating, self-organizing networks.

Chapter 6:

Digital Age Transformation Era & Hope

Throughout the history of the universe the rate of change, or the time from one stage of complexity to the next, shortens after each progression on an astronomical, planetary, and biological scale. At the human scale, the recent integration of two fundamental components of the universe (information and energy) has created the digital era. This is exponentially accelerating the rate of change, and as a result, scientific understandings and technological advancements are progressing at an astounding rate. While it once took centuries for a paradigm shift to occur, in the digital era it can happen in just a few years; and it will continue to happen much faster than we have ever witnessed before. According to previous Google CEO Eric Schmidt, we now create as much information as we created between the dawn of civilization and 2003 every two days. Recent applications of artificial intelligence are creating cognitive programs and devices that will accelerate this process, creating a world that is highly interconnected, interdependent, interrelated, inseparable, as well as increasingly unpredictable, uncertain, and chaotic. All of this in combination is revealing the unsustainability of our linear model and the political, economic, and ecological systems that stem from it, indicating the emergence of a new paradigm. 

Another sign of the digital era being a transformational era of emergence is the degree of separation decreasing within the human network. In the 1970s, the maximum degree of separation between humans was six degrees. Now it is only ~2.7 degrees, and this continues to lessen as the internet and social media are further connecting us via their increasingly interconnected networks. Through this process, the human network is emerging as an increasingly connected, nonlinear network.

In the emergent chaotic zone where there is no proportionality of cause and effect, the self-organizing process emerges as one small thing can cause a major effect because of the correlation of events becoming increasingly nonlinear and highly unpredictable. We can observe this within the global human network with coronavirus, how a thing we cannot even see with the naked eye can connect the whole world and cause major changes in our individual and societal behaviors, in our economics and politics, and so on. Another example is how the price of wheat has been dramatically increasing since the Ukrainian invasion, which could lead to major problems in Africa such as civil unrest and political issues, as much of Africa’s grain imports come from Ukraine and Russia. In previous years, war could take place in one region and seemingly have little or no effect on other parts of the world. Now a conflict in one region can easily cause another in a region we have otherwise categorized as “separate” from the region of direct conflict. With this we can see how our linear approximate model that we created is becoming unsustainable. And so now is the time to shift our linear habits and behaviors to strategies based in systemic and nonlinear modeling that will sync us more closely with the greater self-organizing process, in order for us to more creatively and successfully navigate this emergent process.

As the rate of change is exponentially accelerating in this emergent era, we will continue to observe chaos, unpredictability, uncertainty, and a lack of proportionality between cause and effect. And within this chaotic era, our linear thinking (a judgmental logic) becomes increasingly counterproductive due to the protective nature of linear thinking that is defensive in the face of change, unpredictability, and lack of control. Driven by fear, it leads us to direct our energy towards blame, guilt, and violence when we face the unsustainability of human behavior throughout our social, economic, political, and environmental systems. We see this in the fear that stems from having a decreased sense of control over events and their outcomes, such as how jobs, products, and industries are being eliminated as technology continues to progress. We also can see this internationally in how countries are refusing to synchronize and collaborate as a whole network, as they choose to attempt to outcompete each other by focusing on self-assertiveness, control, and domination. This linear relationship between nations is merely dividing us further and ultimately creating a global whole that is less than the sum of its parts. 

The defensive nature of linear perception amplifies a narrative of hyper individualism, guiding us to view each person as alone in the world—separate from a greater system. In attempting to defend a being that perceives itself as solitary, our linear perception magnifies our failures out of fear of repeating them, and as a result emphasizes negativity, violence, and disaster through a lens that ultimately focuses on hopelessness. In this way, the tendency of linear thinking to defend linear modeling and perception brings further chaos via fear, hate, and violence of and towards all that we logically view as “separate” or “other” as it is a mindset that labels any perceived difference as a threat. This linear mindset leads us to behave with the aim of short term gain and blame as it is driven by fear, rather than focusing on finding a systemic solution for the challenges we face. 

Chapter 7:

The Source of Social Change & Planetary Application

If we look at the whole human network in lack of systemic solutions, quantitatively it is only a small percentage of that network who are actively responding to the challenges of the emergent era with violence, hate, and unwavering blame, and guiding and consuming the whole network’s potential. By developing an app that provides continuous quantified evaluation of the quality of performance within an individual’s body network, we could monitor the linear modeling that currently dominates the relationships throughout their body in order to observe the shift to systemic modeling and relationship that supports the whole body network. This same app and its systemic evaluation could then be applied at scale to any process or organization, be it political, economic, environmental, corporate, social, and so on. In this way this technology could be used to guide individuals, larger organizations, and even guide the stock market towards more sustainability and certainty. It could potentially also be used to hold our political representatives accountable in their adherence to the guidance of the greater system.

As we previously discussed, when a hub of a network (such as the brain, or a small number of people leading the rest of the group) acts with linear relationship, the whole network will perform as a whole that is less than the sum of its parts. Similarly, when hubs within the global network of nations take a linear approach to internal and global challenges, the entire international network of nations becomes an unsustainable sum that is performing at less than its highest potential. There are several countries and country networks that act as hubs in our global systems, such as the US, the EU, and China. We can examine the behavior and influence of each hub within its own borders and as part of the greater international network in order to identify where we can shift behavior within these hubs to facilitate our journey through this chaotic, emerging process. 

As one of these hubs, the United States serves as a model of a powerful, industrialized, democratized nation for the rest of the international network. With its current linear approach, the US is acting as an inefficient hub within the nation itself and abroad; and its short-term gain policy and actions are negatively affecting its own citizens and the rest of the world. In this way the US is also a model of how the short-term gain of domination and competition is inhibiting the whole network’s ability to build a hopeful future. 

Within the US, its citizens are dogmatically divided by binary political factions (liberal vs. conservative, progressive vs. traditionalist, etc.) and misinformation, viewing value systems that are different from how each individually identifies as the enemy, thus amplifying defensiveness and inhibiting cooperation. This counterproductive division is modeled by its political representatives as well, as one party (of essentially a two-party system) achieves something for the benefit of that party’s fixed values and certainties, and the other party then goes and undoes whatever its counterpart instated. This “undoing” does just that—reverses any action or attempt at progressing towards the values and goals of either party, leaving no possibility of continuity within the political system, as each party is focusing on their differences rather than shared values, and countering the other’s progress towards any kind of policy change. This linear relationship greatly reduces the political network’s overall potential, and creates a whole system that is less than the sum of its parts, as is the case when hubs in the body act similarly linearly.

As we observe the global economic systems, we see several elements that are showing signs of limitation and an inability to sustain as the stock market is currently modeled on gross consumption. This gross consumption model is reaching limitations in terms of Earth’s resources that support it and our linear expectation for its ongoing growth. Additionally, we are seeing a dramatic decline in the spending power of the population that is responsible for 70% of consumption, the middle- and low-income populations. As uncertainty in the stock market economy increases in this emergent era, money is rapidly shifting from the middle and lower populations to the minority of the highest earning population, increasing the inequality gap. This is happening as the rapid rate of change in technology (such as artificial intelligence, gene therapy, 3D printing, etc.) is simultaneously leading to the elimination of service and manufacturing jobs across industries, which all in combination could bring social unrest and further division.

Though the linear perception that has developed out of linear thinking is reductive and arguably an incomplete model of our universe and any nonlinear network within it, the process of us developing this left-side, judgmental thinking has not been a wasted effort. Through this process we not only developed an awareness of the domination of this model (as we are speaking on it now), we also created detailed knowledge of how this self-organizing process works universally. And in this way, this detour can be observed as a necessary step in the expansion of consciousness for the whole human network. 

One of the most powerful properties describing this shared simplicity of self-organizing networks is universality, as it allows the familiarity of one network (such as the human body) to lead to an understanding of the properties of any other network at scale. Now that we are able to become aware of this process as self-organizing, our next step is for us to move beyond our exclusively linear, liability-based perspective and apply what we have learned from our observations of the human body to develop systemic approaches to our current challenges. And we can do this by focusing on solutions we are capable of implementing by acknowledging, sharing, and synchronizing our assets.

The systemic approach equips us with nonlinear perception, allowing us to create systemic solutions by acknowledging that we are participants in this greater, emerging, self-organizing process. With nonlinear perception we are able to redirect our fixed focus from liabilities to the appreciation of the assets we’ve achieved thus far. If hub nations were to shift to a nonlinear approach by aiming for long-term gain by investing in (and expanding) their assets through cooperation and partnership between currently competing systemic structures, this would facilitate newfound certainty by permitting new uses of established industries and technologies. Instead of focusing on one-upping each other they could each find their place within a nested system that is working together for a greater whole. By synchronizing our actions and assets, we will be able to more easily and creatively participate in this inevitable, emerging process and become conscious participants who are in sync with the systems larger than ourselves.

As one would not favor a map that purposefully leaves out life-saving waypoints, we are updating our understanding of our mapping of our universe, planet, and ourselves in order to traverse further through human history with greater collective ease. Guided by the nonlinear assessment of an app that monitors members of the human network and greater societal networks, we could implement policy that is quantitatively evaluated and continuously verified based on how closely the individual parts of networks are performing with nonlinear values. This app could provide guidance for all systems at all scales, and help manage any organization by reevaluating, reorganizing, and then reallocating its assets to perform more efficiently as an economically and ecologically minded entity. It could also guide linearly separate systems and industries currently competing through various models of planned obsolescence and sync them to focus on assets and resources that are in regenerating demand: clean energy, water, information processing, and food. 

Consider the US Department of Defense and Intelligence Community as a hub within the government network’s assets, as they collectively consume a significant portion of the US government’s total annual budget. Collectively, this defensive hub is made up of many of our most intelligent and highly trained personnel, people of discipline and of high physical and mental ability creating the world’s most advanced technology and devising and implementing advanced strategy throughout these defense-driven sectors. But as the US continues to invest in defense technologies and use this technology to dominate other countries, the government is not directly netting a return on its investment. As this hub performs with linear relationship to the rest of the system, each individual is taking on the high cost of high-stress environments involving combat and domination mentally, emotionally, and physically, which they each then must grapple with to some extent when they leave their work environment and re-enter their familial networks at home. In this way, this hub within the US government is not performing at its highest potential for its members, nor is it performing efficiently for the nation as a whole or as a part of the international network.

However, with a shift towards systemic relationship, if the defensive hub were to introduce the information and technologies to entrepreneurs of national and international markets, it could gain a return on its investment and eventually pay back the government’s deficit. This convergence of innovation could also bring certainty to the stock market during this uncertain time by permitting the public the use of these technologies and thus financially incentivizing further development of such tech. Instead of “sticking to our guns” and fighting this inevitable accelerating rate of change by limiting our use of our highest technological achievements exclusively to defense, this would allow for these achievements to be used for advancements focused on improving assets beyond just our defense systems. The intelligence and discipline of those whose careers are currently being used to defend assets via war could be applied towards building a better world, and those currently profiting from war-making could profit from peace. The profit from taking this tech to market could then be used to invest in finding solutions to domestic challenges, improving social services, and creating a sustainable cycle of life-supporting systems, rather than one that is fueled by violence and war. 

This would change the US from a hub of linear modeling into an emergent, model nation of systemic relationship to the rest of the world. As we are witnessing a rapid change of intensity and frequency of severe weather and natural disasters around the world causing major disruptions and migration of people from south to north and east to west, this currently defensive hub could be mobilized to focus on finding and implementing solutions to these challenges. By shifting to systemic values of cooperation, we can use our assets of intelligence, discipline, and technology that this hub possesses to focus on the development of resources in regenerative demand. This would allow this hub to develop models of sustainable, green cities in countries that have been destroyed by war, and then use this modeling to scale to systems around the world.

This is but one example of how a hub within a government can work more systemically and efficiently to serve its citizens and the world. Just imagine: when the military network of the world becomes self-aware of their assets, will they continue to fight and suffer the consequences of warfare? They may realize how we humans have invested so much time, money, and intelligence into technology we never wish to have to use (e.g., nuclear weaponry); and then they might choose, rather than fight and compete, to apply their assets to systemic relationships of peace and build a more sustainable world. 

So where do we begin this process?

If we look at the Earth as a network, human beings are the hub that uses the most resources of the Earth and has the most domination over the rest of the inhabitants of the whole network, even though we are but a small portion of the entire network of our planet. Like any hub of any network, when acting with linear perception and relationship, it causes unsustainability of the whole network. But by shifting to a systemic relationship, we will bring stability to the whole network of Earth.

Within the human network, only a small percentage of the entire network is living within circumstances where they can think beyond their daily needs for survival. This network is the one that can become the hub of the human intelligence network. Within this network there is a further hub: those who are already aware of the emergent, self-organizing process. Those who are intuitively aware of this happening make up a network of spiritual thinkers; and those who are able to understand intellectually are the hub made up of systems thinkers and network theorists. Among these systems and spiritual thinkers, there is yet another hub: those who are highly connected with greater networks and also possess higher levels of knowledge and understanding of this emergent process. They are the thinkers who have already communicated these understandings of how our planet is a living, self-organizing system, and identified the essential behaviors of a living system. So these thinkers are the ones who now are capable of applying nonlinear relationship amongst themselves to create a community of attuned systems thinkers that is greater than the sum of its parts by enriching, distilling, and delivering this knowledge collaboratively to the whole systems thinkers network worldwide. Then by bridging the conversation with the hubs within the greater spiritual network who already have an intuitive understanding and belief in this emerging process we are experiencing, we will be able to synchronize networks, and create a whole that is greater than the sum of its otherwise separate parts—and eventually this knowledge we develop will become an essential part of the collective consciousness of the human network and our planet. 

Chapter 8:

What is the Principle Quality or Feeling of the Universe?

Our observation shows that our planet Earth is providing a smooth ride around the solar system while providing for all our needs 365 days a year, regardless of how we are treating it in return. We see this with our Sun, whose core goes through the 27,000,000°F fusion process to create photons that reach the Earth in 28 minutes, providing energy that plants and other inhabitants transform to be further used by all of Earth’s inhabitants. And the Sun doesn’t offer this energy upon certain conditions of how we will use it. As we see the Sun and Earth as modeling the sharing of resources without expectation, we can view them as models of unconditional love. We also can observe this quality in dogs. They consume maybe 1/10th of what a human does, and they create maybe 100 times more unconditional love as they are tuned with this greater, self-organizing, loving system that we are all a part of.

One reason spiritual experiences are one of the most advanced and unique experiences of human beings, and through these experiences we can discover the overall feeling of the universe. Spiritual experiences come through various modalities including immense suffering, near death experiences, via dance or trance states, deep meditation or focus, intense physical activity, and by consuming psychedelic compounds. A quality that is shared between these states is that a person can experience the loss of their illusive separation, and they experience an awareness of being one with the greater network. In this stage, there is an immense feeling of love, peace, and calm. 

Unconditional love is a most enjoyable human experience and is the pinnacle of the emotional part of the cognition process. After all, most spiritual beliefs hold that the fabric of the universe is made of love and that the primary duty of human beings is to recognize and manifest this concept as the ultimate goal of the spiritual journey. In his work The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell shows how most mythical stories of human beings are telling us that the main purpose of creation is the manifestation of unconditional love. In Christianity, for example, these values found their physical embodiment in Jesus Christ’s experience and his core beliefs. On the other hand, the self-serving, protective nature of our linear perception codes our judgments with blame, guilt, and hate. Thinking in terms of blame hinders our ability to forgive, which is an inherent quality of unconditional love. 

The mythology of Sufism also states that the creator is love, and it wanted to manifest itself in physical form, so it created angels. But these angels could not feel and suffer the pain that accompanies love. So it created human beings, who are capable of feeling and suffering, to manifest this ultimate goal of creation. In this way, humans are seen as capable of experiencing a more vast spectrum of divine love. This teaching ultimately embodies itself in a great number of Sufis’ personal life experiences. The values were explored in the poetry of love, inspired by the experiences of Rumi, a renowned Persian poet and Sufi mystic born in 1207, and a century later in the work of Hafez, “a Muslim, Persian-speaking sage whose collection of love poetry rivals only Mawlana Rumi in terms of its popularity and influence” (Omid Safi).

Through Love all that is bitter will sweeten.

Through Love all that is copper will be gold.

Through Love all dregs will turn to purest wine.

Through Love all pain will turn to medicine.

Through Love the dead will all become alive.

Through Love the king will turn into a slave!

—Rumi

* * *

Hopefully system thinkers and network theorists will consider and find some value in this discussion. And then we can start this process by having open discussions that further our collaborative understanding.

In further discussion, we will go more into detail of how these linear models are unsustainable. If we are able to shift these systems into systems of nonlinear relationship and values, this will lead to greater success individually, collectively, and ecologically. Eventually, we will add other media such as animation and other visualization to this explanation and discussion in order to communicate the message to a wider audience who might not be as familiar with the terms and subjects. And then we will be better able to offer this knowledge to younger generations and women-led networks, to empower them to bring change based in hope, peace, love, and collaboration.

Thank you for reading. May we find the most highly efficient and creative ways to inspire hope and facilitate our collective transformation into this new nonlinear era.

Energy as the Essential Fabric of the Universe

(Appendix A)

“This shift in paradigm thinking in science concerns a shift from thinking in terms of structure to thinking in terms of process. In the old paradigm, it was thought that there were fundamental structures, and then there were forces and mechanisms through which these interacted, which gave rise to process. In this old paradigm, it was the structure that determined the processes. In the new paradigm, we think that process is primary, that every structure we observe is a manifestation of an underlying process. This process thinking came into physics with Einstein’s relativity theory. The recognition that mass is a form of energy eliminated the concept of a material substance from science, and with it also that of a fundamental structure. Subatomic particles are not made of any material stuff; they are patterns of energy. Energy, however, is associated with activity, with processes, and this implies that the nature of subatomic particles is intrinsically dynamic. When we observe them, we never see any substance, nor any fundamental structure. What we observe are dynamic patterns continually changing into one another – a continuous dance of energy.”

— Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics page 330

To learn more of Fritjof Capra’s most current systemic conception of life at the forefront of science and its application in economics, management, politics, design, medicine, and law, explore his online academic course Capra Course.

Unifying Science, Philosophy & Spirituality

Given that the universe is composed of cognitive energy, there is an inherent universal potential within the elements of the universe to organize themselves into nonlinear network patterns. This organization creates a whole with higher functionality, an abundance of information, and intelligence exceeding the sum of its parts, capable of guiding the entire network. For instance, a collection of molecules can assemble through nonlinear network patterns to form enzymes, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. These elements combine in a nonlinear network pattern to construct individual cells that form organs. These organs collectively participate in interconnected networks (respiratory, digestive, lymphatic, etc. systems) and eventually form the human body—a network of heightened consciousness able to guide the entire system towards a higher cognitive goal or purpose. This model can be scaled to Earth, synchronizing the intelligence of its inhabitants to create a network of superior functionality, information content, and intelligence. The cognitive pattern can further be applied to the solar system and beyond.

The nonlinear view allows us to acknowledge the higher intelligence of Earth and, ultimately, the universe, which guides the system and possesses higher consciousness and purpose. Wisdom traditions involve eliminating the illusory separation of self and uniting with the universe or Earth, thereby connecting directly with that higher consciousness and intuitively accessing the superior intelligence of the larger network, as do other Earth species.

While linear thinking attributes this higher intelligence to a separate divine creator acting from outside the universe, the nonlinear view doesn’t distinguish the creator from the creation. It perceives the universe as a self-creating system capable of generating higher intelligence to guide itself without central command or an external creator, unifying spirituality, science, and philosophy. While linear perception isolates humans in the universe devoid of guiding intelligence, the nonlinear view sees human self-awareness as a component of the planet’s greater self-awareness process. Acknowledging this higher, guiding intelligence could bring hope to humanity.

Cognitive Energy

What could the nonlinear view reveal about the essential fabric or pattern of the universe?

The development of nonlinear theories in the last century has significantly altered our understanding of the universe’s composition. One of these theories, quantum mechanics, suggests that the universe is not composed of building blocks (see Fritjof Capra, page 330, The Tao of Physics for details) but consists of dancing energy that fundamentally behaves as a wave. However, when this energy achieves a certain stability or locality, it performs as a particle. This dancing energy carries a pattern of information that is omnipresent. Every creature on Earth is composed of information; information lies at the core of our cells and rattles around in our brains. Every particle in the universe, every electron, every atom, every star, and each of the innumerable galaxies in the heavens, is teeming with information. Consequently, energy and information constitute the essential fabric of the universe.

Quantum mechanics has also redefined our observed-observer relationship by demonstrating that particles alter their behavior when we observe them with certain expectations. This revelation added a cognitive dimension to energy. Systems theory and cognitive theory subsequently introduced the concept that the self-organizing process is a cognitive process capable of creating a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Therefore, when considered in conjunction, these nonlinear theories lead us to conclude that the universe is composed of cognitive energy. According to Max Planck, who was awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize for Physics, “We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This is the matrix of all matter.” Not only is this “force of existence” conscious and intelligent, but Fritjof Capra also contributes a network-perspective to this cognition-centric universe view: “Life organizes itself in networks, and these networks are regenerative, creative, and intelligent.”

Regardless of whether this energy behaves as a wave or a particle, it carries this inherent pattern of information, allowing particles to participate in nonlinear network patterns and form self-organizing systems. As we start perceiving all aspects of our universe on a large scale as carrying this similar pattern, we can see how everything in the universe synchronously fits together, leaving no gaps. Therefore, we can envision a world that operates automatically, without any central command, much like our bodies that constantly perform simultaneous complex tasks with minimum effort.

An Overview of the Fractal Dimension

(Appendix B)

Fractal geometry is the geometry of chaos. If we take a nonlinear function and assume initial values for constants and variables for the first round of iteration, on each round we will get a value that we will feed back into the system. Now, if we analyze the values that we obtained at each iteration, we may see patterns where the values are diverging, converging, or constant. Then we reach a zone where the results provide chaotic values without any traceable pattern. With the help of a computer, we can divide the chaotic zone into much smaller increments and plot the values. 

The result of this plot reveals self-similar patterns in which any magnified part looks just like the larger section from which it was taken. Even though we see chaos on the surface, at deeper levels we observe that the elements are creating an emerging order of self-similar patterns, where in different scales they display the same degree of order. The most surprising quality of fractals is that they are created by repeating basic operational rules which signifies a deep simplicity at the core of this complex universe. 

Fractal mathematics is geometry of the real world, which has rough or irregular surfaces. In contrast, Euclidean geometry is based on the assumption that surfaces are smooth (planes have only two dimensions). Euclidean geometry assumes that structures exist only in whole dimensions (1, 2, 3), but fractal geometry allows us to explain the fractional dimensions that exist in the real world (e.g., a snowflake’s dimension is 4/3). Fractal geometry describes chaotic transition. Fractal mathematics is one of the greatest achievements of the human mind in the digital age. 

Mathematics

(Appendix C)

The living universe is made of cognitive energy that inherently contains a pattern of information which makes it capable of organizing itself into self-organizing nonlinear networks. I propose that the fractal dimension of the Golden Ratio could contain this pattern of information; therefore, I will briefly explain fractal geometry and the golden ratio.

Fractal geometry is the geometry of chaos. If we take a nonlinear function and assume initial values for constants and variables for the first round of iteration, on each round we will get a value that we will feed back into the system. Now, if we analyze the values that we obtained at each iteration, we may see patterns where the values are diverging, converging, or constant. Then we reach a zone where the results provide chaotic values without any traceable pattern. With the help of a computer, we can divide the chaotic zone into much smaller increments and plot the values. 

The result of this plot reveals self-similar patterns in which any magnified part looks just like the larger section from which it was taken. Even though we see chaos on the surface, at deeper levels we observe that the elements are creating an emerging order of self-similar patterns, where in different scales they display the same degree of order. The most surprising quality of fractals is that they are created by repeating basic operational rules which signifies a deep simplicity at the core of this complex universe. 

Fractal mathematics is geometry of the real world, which has rough or irregular surfaces. In contrast, Euclidian geometry is based on the assumption that surfaces are smooth (planes have only two dimensions). Euclidian geometry assumes that structures exist only in whole dimensions (1, 2, 3), but fractal geometry allows us to explain the fractional dimensions that exist in the real world (e.g., a snowflake’s dimension is 4/3). Fractal geometry describes chaotic transition. Fractal mathematics is one of the greatest achievements of the human mind in the digital age. 

The Golden Ratio (phi)

The golden ratio is the most irrational number (in up to 20,000 decimals, there is no trace of repeating patterns), but it creates beauty and order in art and natural world phenomena.

Mario Livio’s book, ”The Golden Ratio: PHI, the world’s most amazing number,” explains the role of phi in human history. In it, Livio says that Euclid first described phi more than 2,000 years ago. In the natural world, it appears in mollusk shells, sunflower florets, crystals, and galaxies. As a critical concept in mathematics and physics, it made possible the construction of pentagrams, the Egyptian pyramids, and the Roman Parthenon. Phi is featured in poetry, music, and great works of visual art, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” and Salvador Dali’s “The Sacrament of the Last Supper.” Some psychologists believe the golden ratio is the most aesthetically pleasing proportion to the human mind, and followers of Pythagoras believed it revealed the hand of God. 

In the 1930s, the accountant Ralph Nelson Elliott published his “wave principle,” which suggested that the golden ratio is connected to the behavior of the stock market. According to Gregg Braden in his book Fractal Time, “The golden ratio applies to everything from the brain’s states of consciousness to the proportions of DNA itself. For example, one complete turn of a DNA strand is 34 (angstrom units) in length and 21 wide. Each of these lengths is a member of the Fibonacci sequence,” which their ratio represents the golden ratio.

The universality of the golden ratio provides all kinds of self-similar algebraic forms and geometric shapes. If we choose point C on a one-dimensional segment of AB, such that the proportionality of the larger AC over the smaller CB is equal to the proportionality of the whole AB to the larger AC, the product is the golden ratio.

In two dimensions, if we create a rectangle where phi = a/b, a = length, and b = width, this rectangle is called the golden rectangle. Amazingly, if we take away one square from this golden rectangle, the remainder is also a golden rectangle. This process could continue indefinitely, and each time we’d end up with smaller but self-similar golden rectangles. Also, if we connect similar points in these golden rectangles, we end up with a spiral pattern called the golden spiral. 

In three dimensions, if we create a golden cube and take away smaller cubes, we again end up with never-ending, self-similar but smaller golden cubes. And again, by connecting the self-similar points in these golden cubes, we end up with the golden spiral, which creates these self-similar shapes in three-dimensional spaces. 

Therefore, the golden ratio, through its spiral patterns, creates self-similarity in Euclidian geometry. 

Nonlinear Mathematics are mathematic of patterns and process in chaotic zone; fractal geometry is the proper geometry of self-organizing non-linear living networks. So if the golden ratio provides the self-similarity of shapes, through its spiral patterns, in Euclidian geometry, then the fractal dimensions of the golden ratio will represent a spiral pattern which guides the universality of self-organizing process. It makes the living universe capable of organizing itself in nonlinear network patterns without any central command.

A recent study done by Steven Strogatz looked at the synchronization of networks in three dimensions. What he found supports the existence of spiral patterns within all networks excitations. Strogatz traced spiral patterns in chemical “BZ” reactions that rhythmically alter between sky blue and rusty red dozens of times. These reactions are named for their discoverers, Boris Belousov and Anatol Zhabotinsky.

As Strogatz writes in his fascinating book Sync: The emerging science of spontaneous order, “Spiral waves are now recognized to be a pervasive feature of all chemical, biological, and physical excitable media…. The most striking thing about spiral waves is that they seem to be alive (emphasis mine). They are self-sustaining, they don’t need pacemakers”. “If you watch one in a thin layer of excitable BZ reaction, it looks like a perpetual pinwheel, chasing its tail and regenerating itself endlessly.”

The Divided Brain with Dr. Iain McGilchrist

Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, writer, and former Oxford literary scholar. McGilchrist came to prominence after the publication of his book The Master and His Emissary, subtitled The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. His work formed the basis of Orlando Wood's books on advertising, Lemon and Look Out.