Key Living-System Terms
Matrix, structure, organisation, configuration and form.
KEY LIVING SYSTEM TERMS
These terms describe how a living system maintains continuity while its present configuration and spatial form change.
FROM MATRIX TO STRUCTURAL MAP
Matrix
living generative field driving emergence and transformation
Structure
material components and their relations
Organisation
relational pattern maintaining the system as a whole
Configuration
current arrangement of the whole system
Form
spatial expression of the configuration
Structural map
flattened 2D representation of the configuration
SYSTEM ORGANISM AND THE DESCRIPTIVE “I”
System
a whole whose elements and relations function interdependently and generate properties of the whole
Organism
a living self-organising system that maintains, adapts and transforms itself through continuous exchange with its environment
Why system or organism?
these terms name the person’s whole living organisation; “client” names a therapeutic role and “person” names the human individual
the “I” in a self-description such as “I am …” expresses an identification within the present configuration; the Self refers to the authentic core structure of the person
Descriptive “I”
TERMS USED DURING THE WORKSHOP
Emergent quality
a new quality arising through connection that original elements do not possess
Constraint
a condition limiting the system’s available degrees of freedom and shaping its configuration
Relational field
the client, the therapist and what emerges between them, forming one embodied and co-regulated living field
Entropy
movement of the whole configuration towards greater disorganisation
expenditure and dispersal of energy or resources; it may accompany entropy but names the energy flow rather than the configuration’s degree of organisation