Emergence and…

Emergence has many definitions but can be considered as complex patterns of life that arise from less complicated parts or elements. Whether in biology, psychology, or philosophy, emergence explains how complex systems grow from dynamic interactions among basic cells or ideas, beliefs or feelings.  Perhaps the older biological metaphor is “primordial soup.”

The Indians of the Taos Pueblo here—Tewa Red Willow people—believe that they emerged from the darkness underneath the Blue Lake on Sacred Mountain into summer and winter people.  This morning I was listening to a Jewish Kabala story send to us by friend Daniel Callahan of emergence from the dark into the light.  And, Morgan and I are watching a DVD on complexity theory in conjunction with our friend, Sharon Albert, from the Sea Ranch.  Emergence seems to be everywhere.

In Who Will Save Our Schools (1997) I wrote of emergence as it relates to teachers emerging into leadership roles and how they can tap into talents and intentions they didn’t know they had.  Within the next week, I’ll write about the emergent properties of leadership capacity.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about “synchronicities.” Well, they continue to happen with such frequency that they are almost commonplace in the shadow of the Sacred Mountain.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 5th, 2010 at 6:44 pm and is filed under Education, Fiction, Leadership, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.