The Power of Emergents The earth’s atmosphere with watery clouds was established about three billion years ago. When creatures emerged with eyes around 100 million years ago, they probably beheld skies something like this. While researching the evolutionary timeline for this information, my attention peaked at the word “emergence,” defined by science as a process […]
Where is our true home? As these geese take flight, returning to the places they were born to find food and mates, my thoughts turn to the place we call “home.” For some, it’s where we were born, the house we lived in the longest or where we live now. If “Home is where the heart […]
Where peace precipitates the power of potential On the evening this photograph was made, the dominant sound in this airport parking lot was birds—a stark contrast to the busyness and clamor of cars, shuttle-busses and conversations that once pervaded it day and night for several years. The difference between the activity then and the serenity […]
How life moves in sustainable ways From universe to “nanoverse,” one of nature’s most common structural features is “branching.” Networks of all kinds, physical and intellectual, are grounded in a pattern that chemists refer to as “child” (smaller channels) and “parent” (larger) branches. At the human level we see it in living systems—the brain, arteries […]
It abounds when and if we look for it Sunlight reflecting off sink fixtures Whenever I hear “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” I take it to mean that some people find […]
Forces and processes that optimize human potential Take the full range of individual piano tuning forks and stand up them in a row. Take another one, unmarked, and strike it with a mallet. Of the many forks, the one that sounds will match the unmarked fork—and identify it. For instance, f-sharp only sounds when it […]
The nature and extent of what’s possible Reflecting on this single point of light emerging from the darkness, I think about the Big Bang or Big Breath and connect it to the notion that from nothingness the universe burst forth into “pure potential.” To see what I might have on this subject, I went to […]
The consequence of collective, enduring and respectful attention and collaboration Dictionaries tend to define a “city” as an inhabited place of greater size, population or importance than a town or village. While size is a factor, social scientists emphasize that a city represents the collective consciousness—beliefs, values, aspirations and visions—of the people who live and […]
The “individual” is an expression of a whole. Depending who’s looking and how, a singularity can appear as a fractal, a hologram or simply an object or person. The blossom above and the stone below, seen in isolation, reflect the “wholes” of which they are a part—a geranium plant and a mountain respectively. If someone […]
Introduction This begins a series of posts on the subject of whole systems thinking. After the topic is introduced, I’ll offer a contemplation that relates to the headline photograph and text. Historically, patterns observed in nature were discussed and documented in China five thousand years ago, before they were articulated by Lao Tzu (Gia-fu Feng, […]
Contemplative Photography 