Part Three. Bracing for Change: Multiple Strange Attractors in Existing Systems. (No astrology here.) Science and society in the whirlpool…]

Bracing for Change: Multiple Non-Linear Systems in Chaos.

We talked before about the nature of chaos. The irony of chaos is that the MOST chaotic time is the ONLY time when something totally new can arise. Mild chaos only pushes us into adapting old systems, but total chaos creates a breakdown because so many substructures are interacting in such chaotic ways that they actually form brand new, previously unthinkable systems. Right now, in 2009 and probably for the next several years, we are looking at not just one system reaching a chaos-point: We’re looking at almost every system in our society undergoing dramatic change. Having this many systems in chaos doesn’t just double, triple, quadruple the chaos around it—it amplifies it in logarithmic ways. This is intuitively obvious, but there’s a scientific explanation as well.

Each of these systems has its own strange attractor, and as each system is stretched, little-used pathways in its strange attractor become engaged. As each system is developing its underused pathways, each of these systems is now interacting with other systems in brand new ways. If you change something in your life—say your job—you notice a sense of excitement, perhaps apprehension, and you begin to meet new people and make new connections. Sometimes it’s tricky to develop new relationships in an organization where everyone else already has their procedures, routines, and expectations. But what if EVERYONE is brand new, as in a brand new organization. In that case every single person is being asked to stretch and grow, and the excitement of newness is palpable. In that case we could say that each person is using a rare path in their personal strange attractor, and the interactions between people will take a brand new form as these new paths interact.

At this time in our civilization we have multiple systems at chaos points, and while some of these systems are clearly in the process of breaking down, others are in the process of new creations. What’s breaking? The list is long, and just so you don’t get depressed reading it, remember two things: One is that there is another long list that follows of things that are already in the chaos of CREATION (including many of the items on the break-down list), and Two, each of these chaotically breaking systems is interacting with the others in totally new ways, and these new ways of interacting is exactly what is required for totally new systems to develop. OK. Ready now?

Competing Strange Attractors in Existing Systems: Chaotic Breakdown List

· The global economic system is clearly at a chaos point.

· There is growing social unrest, as economic pressures create greater divisions between the “haves” and the “have-nots”. Many people, feeling their lives are running out of control, tend to take reactionary, divisive, and sometimes violent political positions in an attempt to gain some kind of psychological control.

· There is a growing tax revolt in this country. It comes in four flavors:

o Unreported tax revolt is called “failure to file”, and the IRS says it’s growing fast. These people, for whatever reason, have decided that their money is theirs, and not filing a tax return will make their legal liability disappear.

o Under-reported income on tax returns also appears to be growing, according to IRS estimates. People, forced to earn “under-the-table” income to make ends meet, simply don’t report the excess. This happens at all income levels.

o The most concerning is the growing anger against taxes, fueled by the huge taxpayer bailouts of corporations. This could lead to an outright tax revolt.

o Property tax revolts. The current economic crisis is making states and municipalities even more dependent on property taxes at a time when landowners are even less able to pay. Cities don’t want title to these homes, but as people default, this will raise the stakes on property tax anger.

· We’re still experiencing a global population explosion with its concomitant increased demands on all resources.

· Demands on energy systems are growing among newly developing large nations (China, India) just as global energy supplies are running out.

· There is a growing concern about the increased number of antibiotic-resistant diseases. The ease of transportation through the global village makes the possibility of a global pandemic ever more likely. Even if such a pandemic isn’t deadly, it will add to the economic crisis, as Mexico’s experience with the recent flu virus demonstrates.

· The medical/healing establishment the west has grown to rely on over the last hundred years is breaking down for various reasons. One of the biggest is the cost/benefit ratio. Another may be related to the fact that, in the United States, the NUMBER ONE cause of death from any source is the medical system itself: incorrect drugs or dosages, or hospital-acquired diseases or medical errors. Those old-timers who refused to go near a doctor or hospital for any reason are now looking less stubborn and maybe smarter than we realized!

· The calcification of the age of “science” is beginning to crumble. When battles with the Catholic Church resulted in the tacit (backed up by the inquisition) agreement that the church handled all the unseen, and science dealt with only the physical world, we got an artificial divorce. New scientific discoveries are proving that there is a very strong scientific connection between the seen and unseen realms, but science has long been stuck in a mode of “if we can’t explain it, it doesn’t exist” which of course is the antithesis of the scientific method of inquiry. The real equation is a leftover imprint of the idea, “if we can’t explain it in physical terms, we can’t call it science or we may be tortured to death.” Either science will lose its credibility or it will begin to grow up and address these questions in modern terms.

· Global climate change. It doesn’t matter what causes it. Almost everyone knows we’ve got “weird weather” now. And those looking closely can see just how close we are to total upheaval due to rising seas, declining gulf stream currents, conditions ripe for super-storms, and unpredictable (and therefore non-producing) farming conditions.

· Related to the global climate change is the largest species die-off we’ve seen since the dinosaurs disappeared.

· There are rumors of water-wars on the horizon, as the distribution of weather patterns puts water where we don’t need it and dries out places that have depended on local water. And increased population demand puts even more pressure on these systems.

· Not surprisingly, the global infrastructure is breaking down at the same time. Highways, water systems, bridges, power delivery systems, electricity grids, sewer lines—not a day goes by without reports of some city being flooded with water (or worse), or having a lengthy electrical blackout.

· And not surprisingly, our faith in all the institutions we’ve relied on for centuries is at an all-time low. All the old structures: government, religion, educational institutions, medical institutions, corporations, banks, the infrastructure—seem to be failing us just when we think we need them most.

But is that true? Do we really need them to be as they’ve always been? Of course not! They must change to meet changing situations.

Figure 7: The Universe: The Four Winds and the Four Elements (tapestry by Anne Beversdorf based on undated medieval illuminated manuscript)

Ready for the good news? Here’s another list:

Competing Strange Attractors in Existing Systems:

Multiple Nonlinear Systems in CREATION

· Right now, we’re seeing dramatic breakthroughs in energy sources. And the information explosion caused by the Internet is making the science behind these techniques available to anyone interested (whereas in the past, these techniques were closely guarded, and often “shelved” secrets.)

o The prematurely debunked fusion experiments of 20 years ago are getting new and positive attention.

o Magnetic and electromagnetic engines are being developed

o Hal Puthoff’s Institute for Advanced Studies has proven the availability of zero point energy (the ability to pull energy from a vacuum) in practice as well as theory.

o Concept cars have been developed using compressed air for fuel; water; and hydrogen.

o Solar, wind, and water energy systems are being combined with breakthroughs in storing and delivering this kind of energy over distances to make sustainable and renewable energy resources available over large areas.

o Fuel cells as energy storage devices can make it possible for individuals to live anywhere they want.

o With freely available energy through renewable and storable resources, no longer will people have to cluster together where energy systems are delivered. You could take your fuel cells into the desert, pump water over long distances, and heat and cool your home without depending on the “grid” of wiring that limits comfortable living to clustered areas.

o New plastic wires have been developed by a California company that have NO energy impedance. At present, over half the energy that goes through our wiring systems is lost because of impedance. This new wiring alone doubles the available energy to homes and businesses.

· New technological breakthroughs in many other areas, including nanocomputing, medicine, genetics, that can aid us in adapting to rapid change.

· New paradigms of health and healing are challenging the supremacy of allopathic medicine’s “medicine as warfare” concepts. Spiritual/mental/emotional states, herbal remedies, essential oils, homeopathy, as well as energy healing, both technologically and spiritually mediated, are beginning to encroach on accepted medical practices, immediately enlarging our resources for personal health and wellness.

· Dramatic new understandings of the universe present us with models for understanding global change initiated at the personal level. Astrophysicist Nassim Haramein, for example, has published peer-reviewed articles that mathematically prove that black holes are present in every bit of matter and, rather than being sink-holes that swallow universes hole, they are quite literally the creative point of EVERYthing. This is because a black hole is density of information to the point that all information in the universe is being sucked into it. And since these are everywhere, including in us, we ourselves have universal knowledge and information available to us, with which we participate in creating the universe. Furthermore, we have new information about the creative power inherent in the dodecahedron (sometimes called the star-tetrahedron). Katya Walters’ theories in her work The Double-Bubble Universe also give us access to new levels of consciousness that work both on the scientific and on the emotional/spiritual level.

· The nature of time itself seems to be morphing. Even the young are commenting on how time itself seems to be speeding up. More and more people are reporting time anomolies, where time no longer seems to be predictably linear. Physicists report that the reason time seems to be going in only one direction is because it is linked with space, and in an expanding universe, space is traveling away from the big bang point. But as the universe begins to contract, the physics of time say time will start running backwards. Interesting to think about, isn’t it. Will we have a “redo”? or perhaps better, a “re-Undo”? On the other hand, physicist also tell us that all time exists simultaneously, and advanced states of meditation or prayer (and sometimes near-death experiences) can throw us into experiences of other places and times. Perhaps a flexibility in understanding and experiencing time will allow us circumstantial “re-dos” as we revisit choice points in the past with a fresh perspective of joy and healing.

· the Maharishi Effect and Heart-Math studies prove that our own internal emotional/spiritual state has direct and measurable influence over the world around us. The Maharishi Effect meditators changed crime rates in major cities and in a case of “mediation by meditation” diffused a near nuclear war in the middle east. Heart-Math researchers along with NASA measurements of the Global Magnetic field have demonstrated that global emotional congruency actually changes the protective magnetosphere of our planet. By finding our joy, our bliss, we actually and literally protect the earth.

· If we can extrapolate from what we know of the Bose-Enstein condensate, it may not take many humans living in joy and bliss to affect a global change. Bear with me here, so I can explain this.

o The Bose Einstein Condensate is actually a NEW state of matter. We are all familiar with matter as solids, liquids, or gases. The BEC is a “Boson Wave” that is none of the above.

o At low temperatures, Bosons can behave very differently than ordinary matter. When a small number reach a “high spin state”, it triggers a “condensation of the probability state,” in which, suddenly, ALL the bosons in the condensate reach high-spin in the same instant. In hydrogen Bosons, only 3% of atoms reaching high-spin will trigger the whole condensate to become high-spin. What’s so great about high-spin? It’s a superconductor! A superconductor puts out more energy than it takes in.

o Some researchers believe that Bosons in a superconductor state are partly in the physical world, and partly in the non-physical world of limitless energy. Usually Bosons require energy-sucking cold conditions to turn into superconductors, but a few researchers have identified conditions not requiring super-zero temperatures.

There seems to be an analogy between the Bose-Einstein condensate state and the widely-reported “hundredth monkey” phenomenon. Rupert Sheldrake refers to this as a morphogenetic field. When enough monkeys (100, in the story) on one island started washing their tubers in the ocean to remove the sand and enjoy them more, monkeys on other islands spontaneously started washing their tubers, too. According to Sheldrake, the concept of washing tubers entered the “field of monkeyness”, where all monkeys could have access to it. The principles seem to be a macro-level example of the Bosons-turned superconductor at the micro-level.

· On a social level, new communications tools have created the foundation for new socially conscious community-activist advertising. Carrotmob is the name given to a marketing technique designed to create environmentally sensitive businesses by rewarding those who do it. In the first instance of its use, a liquor store agreed to spend thousands of dollars reducing packaging waste and recycling everything in sight in exchange for “nine thousand people coming to your store next Saturday.” Through cell phone messaging, internet viral messaging, and Twitter, the marketers asked everyone to spread the word that THIS liquor store was going green, all the way, and to reward and thank them, please show up next Saturday and buy something. The crowd was much larger than the promised 9,000 and the store, the marketing team, and the community were all pleased with the results. The store changed because of the carrot of the mob dangled before them, giving the marketing technique the name “Carrotmob”.

· Paradigm shifts in international leadership models are not only showing up, but are being appreciated and are spreading. First, there’s Bhutan’s model of “Gross National Happiness” as a measure of economic well-being. Their 2008 conference on Gross National Happiness attracted top government policy makers from the US and Western Europe, as they explained the metrics of the 74 measures of well-being that run their economy. As an example, they state that people must have quiet time to reflect on their life in order to be happy, so the well-being of the country is better served if people work fewer hours a week but earn enough to live on. More dollars at the cost of quiet reflective time is not good for the country or its people. They also state the people are happiest when they have natural beauty to gaze upon, so logging industries that threaten their forests are discouraged as being against the well-being of the country, and city landscapes with trees and plants and flowing water are encouraged. A second change, and one with more publicity, is President Obama’s total rejection of the politics of fear and divisiveness in favor of a policy of hope and inclusion. To the frustration of many of his former supporters, his refusal to embrace divisive politics continues even as his political opponents have demonstrated their commitment to their “no to everything” policies.

· The population explosion itself seems to be triggering a unified field of consciousness among humans. Ervin Laszlo’s theories show a fractal development of single entities multiplying to form group consciousness at a certain critical population level. From atoms that coalesce to form molecules, wherein atoms work together for the purpose of the molecule; molecules that coalesce to form cells, where molecules work together for the larger purpose of the cells; cells that form ants, wherein cells work together for the larger purpose of the ant, ants that form colonies wherein all ants choose to act in ways that support the whole group, cells that form humans, where all cells work together for the well-being of the human; to eventually humans to form the human group, wherein all humans work together for the well-being of all. These turning points in group awareness seem to come at about the 10 billion population point. At present, the earth’s population of humans is somewhere around 8 billion. Our population explosion could be leading us inexorably toward a unified field of human consciousness.

· Somewhat related to this is a growing understanding of spirituality as a non-dogmatic, experiential state. In centuries past, one’s religious orientation was directed quite specifically by the organization of one’s religious affiliation. Now more and more people identify themselves as “spiritual, but not religious”, meaning that they believe in direct connection with the spiritual world, but are not willing to cloak this in dogmatic explanations or directives. This is related to an increased awareness that the world and the explanations of our world are a matter of “this AND this” instead of “this OR that.”

· And while we are caught up in the awareness of the monumental changes in front of us, a growing number of individuals are, privately and collectively, actively and deliberately choosing to celebrate life itself. Certainly a massive catastrophe bring about the joy of seeing oneself alive. I was blessed to visit Hawaii just after a category 5 hurricane, Iniki, had devastated the island. While over 90 percent of the roofs on the island had been torn off by the force of the winds, the only fatality was an elderly man who had a heart attack. The attitude of the islanders after the storm was a huge celebration of life. To have experienced such a powerful force of nature that the very leaves were stripped from the trees and still see ones’ friends and neighbors alive and well put into perspective the value of life over the “things” that had been lost. As global changes threaten much of our lifestyle, I believe we are simultaneously seeing a reclaiming of the values of life, and love, and community, and kindness towards our neighbors, both local and global.

Figure 9: God, Creating the Universe (miniature tapestry by Anne Beversdorf, based on French illuminated manuscript from the early 13th century)

When, as a culture, we start to experience simultaneous total breakdown of known structures and total re-invention our culture, what happens to our ideas? Clearly our ideas change. This is what we sometimes call a “global mind-change”. And what do new ideas create? New ways of being… in fact new ideas create whole new worlds, and new ways of relating to the rediscovered and newly created cosmos.

(continued in Joyful Change: FOUR)