“At the forefront of contemporary science, the universe is no longer seen as a machine composed of elementary building blocks. We have discovered that the material world is a network of inseparable patterns of relationships; that the planet as a whole is a living, self-regulating system.” In this article from Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, Fritjof Capra gives an overview of “systemic thinking,” the scientific view of the world as network, instead of machine. Rather than looking at fixed parts and components, the focus is on the living world’s relationships, patterns, and context. At once, there is stability and change, death and regeneration, in weblike patterns of organization. Cognition is said to be found within all self-perpetuating activities, thereby adding mind into the mix. The way to fix world problems, asserts Capra, is through systemic solutions. Read on for more of this compelling theory.
