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. The wind of these storms carries minerals across the ocean to the Amazon Rainforest, creating a static charge in the clouds above, 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 will become protein, and oxygen that sustains the life of inhabitants all 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.