Tao As Emergent Property

Emergent Termite Cathedral

Biology (among other disciplines) makes use of the emergent property concept wherein simple structures, processes and order form a foundation upon which more complex properties (structures, processes, order) can emerge. Frankly, I notice this principle behind everything. I see each layer of existence as an emergent property modeled on something more primal. That’s not surprising really, for I’m always on the lookout for mysterious sameness.

It can be especially helpful to consider ideas (and ideals) as an emergent property, not only of biology (i.e., the brain, instinct) but also of something deeper as you follow ‘it’ down layer by primordial layer. The idea (and ideal) of balance is especially interesting. Balance is a virtuous ideal, not only in human affairs, but in nature as a whole. As far as I can tell, nature’s core ‘ideal’ is an ‘intention’ to maintain integrity of balance. It is the way of nature.

Emergent Snowflakes

Everywhere I look I see nature changing, ebbing and flowing, waxing and waning, around the ideal of balance. Each individual thing, be it an atom, a mountain, a cloud, a mouse or a person, strives to maintain, what is for each, an ideal balance (or counter balance) at the moment. That is so important I’ll repeat it: Each thing in existence does what it does to balance or counter balance where it is ‘at’ each moment.

Of course, Nature does not speak about this ideal, or any other for that matter. I know this is obvious, but it’s useful to point out. The words ‘ideal’ and ‘balance’ are themselves emergent properties symbolizing a silent primordial reality which we observe and label. In other words, nature’s unspoken ideal of balance unavoidably spawns in thinking animals (us) the words, “ideal” and “balance”.

Note: Correlations helps get to the bottom-most seeds of this emergent layered reality. The pyramidal graphic below is my clumsy attempt to illustrate this layering idea. As the words are hard to read I’ll insert them at the end⁽²⁾ .

Emergent Layers

Noteworthy also is the fact that nature’s ideal is neither ‘moral’ or ‘immoral’. The ideal is balance, and from that emerges ideals of ‘morality’, unspoken but common in most social animals. Morality, in its simplest unspoken form, is based on behaviors that facilitate balanced group interaction and survival. So, from an emergent property’s point of view, balance is the base from which emerges morality in social animals. Only humans (as far as I know) does this simple morality emerges as sets of culturally learned ethical ideals (see belief).

For example, the ideal of democratic rule is an governing ideal which suits this particular time and set of conditions. In other words, democratic rule is an emergent property of this era’s circumstances. The fluid nature of human culture has resulted in a great array of ethical ideals historically, from slavery to democracy. The deepest rooted and most enduring, though, have been the religious ideals each culture adopts to give its population an ideal ’spiritual path’ to balance and harmony.

Some, if not all, religious ideals seem inefficient and irrational, at least on the surface . Meaning they are ‘high maintenance’ and can consume much emotional energy. However, these drawbacks disappear when seen as simply symptomatic of a fundamental ‘high maintenance’ imbalance. An inner imbalance in need and fear⁽¹⁾ naturally results in an outer array of counter balancing religious ideals. Of course, this begs the question, what accounts for the acute imbalance of need and fear in the first place?

Imbalance of Need and Fear

Civilization’s primary objective is to optimize human comfort and security. Tools, from the stone axe onward have done this by giving us an edge over life in the wild. If you doubt this, consider for a moment, life without electricity; then life without iron; then life without stone tool. Without tools the wilderness would rush in. The unintended consequence of our unrelenting focus on comfort and security is that this disrupts natural balance. As with all animals, we are instinctively driven to seek comfort and security. In the wild, natural circumstances push back on this drive leaving the individual more or less balanced. We’ve taken ‘Mother Nature’s push back’ out of the balance equation, which leaves us perpetually unbalanced. This drives us to compensate in innumerable ways; music, diet, exercise, sports, warfare, and religion of course, come to mind.

However, the primary ‘tool’ that has enabled all the others is language. I reckon our difficulties (acute psyche imbalance in need and fear) arise first and foremost because we think we know; although it could be the other way around! Either way, language has sliced the uncarved block into a bewildering array of bits and pieces. The good news is that thinking enables us to figure things out, invent tools and survive beyond our ancestors’ wildest dreams. The bad news is, the more we define ‘it’, the more removed from the One we become. It’s a vicious circle in which innate fear drives us to define ‘it’, which then evokes an even deeper sense of disconnection. The irony lies in the illusion that definition increases our chances for solutions and connection. Greater definition of our ideals, moral and otherwise, does keep large populations connected, comfortable and secure, at least on the surface. At the individual, psychological level, however, definition leaves us feeling estranged, somehow forever outside nature’s ‘Eden’.

Returning to Balance

The remarkable characteristic of a Tao point of view is that it offers us a path away from greater definition, and counsels a returning to one’s roots – to Nature’s way, the unspoken ideal of balance. And so a Tao point of view may come closest to being a primary emergent property of Nature’s way. Recently, I set out to describe the why and what of Taoist point of view in as broad a context as possible. If you’ve not done so yet, take a look at… The Why and What of Taoist Thought. As always, I welcome feedback without reservation, and if you have a way to make it clearer or murkier as needed, I’m all ears.

Note: Excuse my attempt to be as brief as possible. Much more could be said, but each word added runs the risk of obfuscating the bigger picture. I feel it is better to have a murky understanding, than clear a misunderstanding.

⁽¹⁾ I use ‘need and fear’ as short-hand to describe an overarching issue. See, One who speaks does not know?

⁽²⁾ The words used in the layer illustration above. The layers can be read in a clockwise manner. View these as layers built one upon the other. Begin at the bottom, ‘energy –>appears… TIME –> VANISHES’, and work upward to the topmost, ‘ego–> rejects… ID –> ACCEPTS’. Needless to say, this must be done with your subtlest ‘taoist’ eye on the lookout for mysterious sameness and mystery.