Pattern Dynamics

= a pattern language method developed by Tim Winton

Context

David Macleod:

"For Whitehead, nature (and life - all of nature is alive for Whitehead) is rhythm; and rhythm is a polarity; and a polarity is two poles with a mediating third.

So that trinitarian dynamic is there fundamentally in the basic metaphysical categories and then exemplified at every scale in nature via a relational process.

...this trinitarian dynamic is what's real, is what powers evolution even."

I work with PatternDynamics, which is a Pattern Language developed by Tim Winton, which names Rhythm and Polarity as the first two of six 1st order patterns that operate in all systems. The third pattern is Structure (I could make an argument for its role as a mediating third), and the fourth pattern is Exchange - playing the pivotal role of "relational process."

(https://footnotes2plato.substack.com/p/christianity-buddhism-and-hinduism)

Description

Integral Permaculture:

"Tim Winton, steeped in both Permaculture and Integral Theory, has deveolped a new Integral Sustainability Pattern Language to communicate principles of sustainability.

According to Winton,

PatternDynamics is a simple tool that can be learned by anyone to overcome the challenges posed by complex systems–at any scale.

Here’s how it works:

• The key to complexity is systems thinking;
• The key to systems thinking is Patterns; and,
• The key to using Patterns is to form them into a language.

Winton’s language of visual patterns to teach systems thinking is similar to Odum’s realization that he needed a way to get people to see the big picture (he called it the Macroscope) of how energy flows in systems. Odum developed his own pattern language he called an energy circuit language.

Similar to my thinking that an Integral Permaculture will be rooted first in Ecological/Energy understanding, Winton’s Pattern Dynamics is rooted in the enduring patterns found in nature, but with the idea of effectively making these ideas meaningful to culture. Rather than pushing ‘the arrow of progress,’ Winton argues for “a shift to a more second person orientation, to build meaning, values and the culture that support effective embodiment and application.” (https://integralpermaculture.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/the-wavepulse-of-human-history/)