3: The Geometry of Pluralism

Fractal Pluralism 3:of:13
The Geometry of Pluralism

Romanesco, Broccoli 

         In all of these cases, Pluralist thought is a cognitive tool, an ontological step revealing the interconnected nature of existence. This Pluralist view does not erase difference. It is not intended to gloss over the structural dynamics of power or underestimate the fear and anger that rise up in response to the forces we face. The darkness is great, the pain very real, the stakes high. We are being called to action. The task before us is nothing less then transforming the way that we live with each other and the planet. We are being called to bring about true social justice, an internal and external peace unheard of in recorded human history. We are being called to bring about an environmental relationship drastically different then that which now enables our survival. The information indicates that time is running out. This is our narrowing window of opportunity to see the intricate and inextricable interexistance between the social and the environmental worlds, and to work for that totality, to work for a Global Justice.

            Because this is our current challenge, what we need is a clear model of how social change actually happens. So that we can be strategic with our efforts. So we can contextualize and co-ordinate our good work. So we can become lucid in this movement and step into empowered choice- choosing our tools, allies and campaigns from a place of conscious passion. So we can identify our true opposition and find greater acceptance in our co-existence with others. So that maybe we can come to love each other more, because maybe that is the only real chance we have at pulling this one out.

            Stepping into pluralist thought, expanding the peripheral vision to include ever more, seeing past closed categories to the larger, underlying territory. Gazing out at this vast ocean of what is- there is so much. The area is wide and deep, the raw expansiveness of it intuitively calls for a way to structure  the space. Turning towards geometry, the science and architecture of space, our mathematical language for navigating its expanses. Seeking an appropriate form, a descriptive principle. Pulling apart the scales, mapping out the emerging patterns. They come, building like wave out of wave. The contours of this pattern are far too complex to be described by traditional Euclidian geometry. And, remarkably, the self-propagating, self-generating, self-organizing scales of what is seem to follow the principles of a fractal.

            Fractals are self-similar patterns where smaller and larger iterations form the same pattern on different scales. Fractals are everywhere in nature: lungs, river networks, tides. A classic example is how a tree follows a primary branching pattern. Its trunk reaches out to its larger branches, those branches then reach out into smaller branches in a form that follows the original pattern. Smaller branches then extend into leaves, whose spine is like a tree trunk reaching out with larger ribs that then branch out into smaller phytocellular branches and so on. These patterns repeating on different scales are everywhere in nature. The smaller pattern not only follows the form of the larger, but also experiences itself as an autonomous entity. An example of this is coral. Coral is made from polips. Those polips are part of the larger coral organism, functioning as one. Yet, simultaneously scientists have recently become aware that each individual polyp is having it own polyp experience. You can also think about how a brain cell looks like the projected image of the universe, how planets orbit the sun similar to how protons and neurons orbit an electron, or the way the whole planet behaves like a single living organism. The example of the tree branching pattern is a simple spatial fractal. An example of a time-space fractal would be something more like the carbon cycle- where beings exchange carbon for oxygen at varying levels of coordination simultaneously. A single animal exhales the carbon a tree inhales while the algae in the ocean inhale the carbon off-gassing from industrial production while the hooves of grazing animals turn up the oxygen in the soil and deposits carbon there all occuring on different scales in innumerable interactions all at the same time.

            Applying this principle, I have developed a model of the machinations of social change and a vision of Global Justice that I call Fractal Pluralism. Fractal Pluralism brings a fractal understanding to a pluralist conception of social change. Fractal Pluralism is a model,  a way of spatially visualizing the intricate interconnection of the full spectrum of activities being undertaken by people to bring about a life sustaining culture on this planet. It is a form of scalar play, collapsing the dichotomy between local and global to show the complex layering and the multi-scalarity of human organizing. As a model in action, it is geared towards finding tactical alliances on all scales. This does not mean that everyone is on the team. The opposition is real and a distraction;destruction and disengagement are ever present. This model is a tool for visionary activists to conceptualize their position in the pluralist process towards Global Justice. It is a re-imagining of networks, intended to move us towards the goal of discerning which relationships are useful to articulate, including markets, governments, non-governmental organizations, spiritual communities and whomever else one wants to include, honor and celebrate as doing the work to bring about Global Justice.