The Nature of Order

Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Four Conditions Necessary for Unfolding to Happen
! Unpredictability: To make the adaptation successful, the process must be
relaxed about the unpredictable character of where it goes. Unfolding
cannot occur except in a framework which allows the whole to go where it
must go. The dire modern passion for planning and advance control must
be replaced by an attitude which recognizes that openness to the future,
and lack of predictability, is a condition for success. It must be alright for
the thing to become whatever it becomes, under the influence of
adaptation and feedback, even though one does not know, in detail, what
that thing is going to be.
! Awareness of the Whole: Fourth, and this is the most difficult for us,
there must be an ever-present awareness of the whole, throughout the
process. For the adaptation to allow wholes to unfold successfully, the
unfolding must take place within a framework of true awareness of the
whole.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
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