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Healing Our Relationship with Gaia
3. Consciousness-Actualising Affordances: The evolutionary coherent complexity of living
systems acts as affordance for consciousness to actualise, through developing self-awareness
at various scales of being and inter-being. If a system does not afford the emergence and
development of awareness, and does not afford the actualisation of consciousness, it is not
a thrivability system.
4. Holarchic Complex Developmental Patterns: All living systems are complex developmental systems that generate holarchic patterns. A holarchic pattern is an organisational pattern whereby holons (wholes) are nested within larger holons (wholes) (Koestler, 1967).
Holarchic patterns of complexity are generative, dynamic and evolutionary coherent. This
is in contrast to hierarchic patterns that are degenerative, rigid and divisive. Information
distribution in holarchic systems can be accessed at any level of the system due to its
holographic nature and is attracted to the realisation of greater wholeness (Smitsman and
Smitsman, 2020).
5. Evolutionary Coherent Behaviours: This is one of the most important qualities of thrivability
systems; behaviour is sourced from the embedded informational wholeness and holographically distributed in a non-localised manner through the entire system. Accordingly, at any
level of the system, the parts of the system can remain sourced from wholeness and informed
by unity whilst diversifcation and growing complexity remains in dynamic place. This is the
key to evolutionary coherence. This has also been referred to as the unity in diversity principle. Humanity is yet to master this evolutionary coherence in its behavioural patterns.
By learning from the behaviours of living systems and embedding those fractal potentialities in the
design of our societal systems and interactions, we might start to understand how to systemically
design for thrivability.
FARMING OF TOMORROW
The study of the infodynamics of healthy living systems, in this chapter also referred to as thrivability systems, provides guidelines for developing the agroecological farming systems of tomorrow. Indigenous science and practice has shown us the importance of including the infodynamics
of living systems. If agroecological farming is to become truly wholistic in its practice, then it
also requires inclusion of the non-local and multiple dimensions that inform growth in the fnite,
space–time-bound, local dimensions of our world.
Our current multifaceted global crisis offers an opportunity to enter into a conscious, healing
and evolutionary relationship with Gaia. When we start to grow and cultivate our food from a sense
of unity with all of life, and honour the integrity of our planetary ecosystems, a new thrivability
model can emerge based on a fundamentally different relationship with food, resource cultivation,
the land, each other and the larger ecology of life. Through this chapter, we hope to have inspired a
deeper envisioning and regeneration of a healed and whole relationship with Gaia, the larger ecology of life and the wholeworld.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank Dr Meredith Lowry for her valuable contribution.
REFERENCES
Baring, A. (2015) The Dream of the Cosmos: A Quest for the Soul. West Melbury: Archive Publishing.
Bateson, N. (2016) Small Arcs of Larger Circles: Framing through Other Patterns. Axminster: Triarchy Press.
Bauer, M. and Ellis, E.C. (2018) The Anthropocene divide: Obscuring understanding of social-environmental
change. Current Anthropology 59(2). DOI: 10.1086/697198.
Healing Our Relationship with Gaia
3. Consciousness-Actualising Affordances: The evolutionary coherent complexity of living
systems acts as affordance for consciousness to actualise, through developing self-awareness
at various scales of being and inter-being. If a system does not afford the emergence and
development of awareness, and does not afford the actualisation of consciousness, it is not
a thrivability system.
4. Holarchic Complex Developmental Patterns: All living systems are complex developmental systems that generate holarchic patterns. A holarchic pattern is an organisational pattern whereby holons (wholes) are nested within larger holons (wholes) (Koestler, 1967).
Holarchic patterns of complexity are generative, dynamic and evolutionary coherent. This
is in contrast to hierarchic patterns that are degenerative, rigid and divisive. Information
distribution in holarchic systems can be accessed at any level of the system due to its
holographic nature and is attracted to the realisation of greater wholeness (Smitsman and
Smitsman, 2020).
5. Evolutionary Coherent Behaviours: This is one of the most important qualities of thrivability
systems; behaviour is sourced from the embedded informational wholeness and holographically distributed in a non-localised manner through the entire system. Accordingly, at any
level of the system, the parts of the system can remain sourced from wholeness and informed
by unity whilst diversifcation and growing complexity remains in dynamic place. This is the
key to evolutionary coherence. This has also been referred to as the unity in diversity principle. Humanity is yet to master this evolutionary coherence in its behavioural patterns.
By learning from the behaviours of living systems and embedding those fractal potentialities in the
design of our societal systems and interactions, we might start to understand how to systemically
design for thrivability.
FARMING OF TOMORROW
The study of the infodynamics of healthy living systems, in this chapter also referred to as thrivability systems, provides guidelines for developing the agroecological farming systems of tomorrow. Indigenous science and practice has shown us the importance of including the infodynamics
of living systems. If agroecological farming is to become truly wholistic in its practice, then it
also requires inclusion of the non-local and multiple dimensions that inform growth in the fnite,
space–time-bound, local dimensions of our world.
Our current multifaceted global crisis offers an opportunity to enter into a conscious, healing
and evolutionary relationship with Gaia. When we start to grow and cultivate our food from a sense
of unity with all of life, and honour the integrity of our planetary ecosystems, a new thrivability
model can emerge based on a fundamentally different relationship with food, resource cultivation,
the land, each other and the larger ecology of life. Through this chapter, we hope to have inspired a
deeper envisioning and regeneration of a healed and whole relationship with Gaia, the larger ecology of life and the wholeworld.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank Dr Meredith Lowry for her valuable contribution.
REFERENCES
Baring, A. (2015) The Dream of the Cosmos: A Quest for the Soul. West Melbury: Archive Publishing.
Bateson, N. (2016) Small Arcs of Larger Circles: Framing through Other Patterns. Axminster: Triarchy Press.
Bauer, M. and Ellis, E.C. (2018) The Anthropocene divide: Obscuring understanding of social-environmental
change. Current Anthropology 59(2). DOI: 10.1086/697198.