2.5.11. Invisible Structure Patterns

Invisible structures are energies you can’t see but still have patterns to them. These can include energy patterns, like gravity or electromagnetic waves, or time patterns, like seasons, or behavioral patterns of humans or other living things. 

Time patterns - All patterns in nature have a time component. Patterns evolve, grow, change over time. circular, spiral, sequential, block, growth-maintain-decay, long term cycles.

Seasons are important time patterns. Know your seasons. Even in the tropics where there are no winters, there are seasons, such as the hurricane or monsoon season. Migration patterns are something to be aware of seasonally.

Another pattern is the time it takes seeds to germinate. Many people are unaware that it can take weeks or months for fruit trees or other tree seeds to germinate, and give up before they are ready.

Insect pressure is very seasonal. In 9A and colder in Florida, we can plant seasonally to miss the major influx of the most harmful insects. Insects have seasonal patterns everywhere. Sometimes mass migration of birds can cause serious crop damage.

Or you could, like us, not mow the wild meadows until fall migration season is over so the birds have cover and can find seeds and insects to eat.

Some veggies are day length sensitive meaning they only fruit when the days grow shorter (usually). This is useful for farms because they can be harvested all at once. You can get “day neutral” varieties that will fruit any time of year for many varieties which allows for a crop that can be harvested over a longer season - important for backyard gardens.

There are longer term patterns as well, in climate, in fruit production, etc. Knowing some of these basic patterns will make you much more successful as a designer. 

Behavioral patterns - There are patterns in habits, reactions, rituals, learning, process, passages, evolution, family, and tribal. In the invisible structure part of this course, we address a number of these. 

Behavioral patterns can mimic natural patterns; for instance, most of us have witnessed someone on a downward spiral of self-destruction, whether on film or real life. Likewise, we may know someone on an upward spiral, where they took baby steps at first, then larger and larger steps.

This is a very workable way to approach transitioning to a permaculture lifestyle, as it can be a radical change for some people. Taking baby steps at first and making sure each new habit is well established, then broadening your actions has been a successful approach for many. 

We all have patterns of learning, or how we conduct relationships. We can observe those patterns, assess. design, and change the ones that aren’t creating the kind of energy we want.

One pattern that tends to be ignored in our culture that deals with both time and behavior is the pattern of life cycles. We have celebrations around birth and marriage, but have largely abandoned pattern language that many cultures have developed to help a child transition to adulthood, to acknowledge the movement into elder status for an adult, and to die with dignity and closure.

These patterns are inevitable in a natural life cycle, as much as the sun rising and setting - we all grow, we all become adults, we all age, and we all die. What are the patterns that would help us to do that with more grace and happiness? Many cultures have developed healthy patterns around these life passages.

Our schools don’t adequately prepare us to earn a living, raise children, to understand the environment we are in, have quality relationships, or even necessarily assess situations and make good decisions.

Many tribes or cultures routinely teach their children these skills, and then have a ritual or ceremony to acknowledge when that person has become a full adult. In our culture, often, the rite of passage toward adulthood is drugs, sex, booze, and an education that many feel has little relation to real life.

 There are many great things about our educational system. But our cultural system is kind of confused about how to bring people into adulthood. A number of organizations and individuals have attempted to remedy the lack of these passages in the US. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts help youth gain competencies for adulthood.

Community colleges now give classes on managing your personal finances, child care and other necessary skills for adulthood. How else could this vital life passage be supported? 

A host of organizations have sprung up to address aging from the perspective of becoming respected as an elder, instead of being warehoused in a retirement home, waiting to die. In many cultures, elders are highly respected. If you didn’t grow up in such a culture, imagine for a moment how your route to elderhood might have been different if you grew up experiencing the wisdom of elders and knowing that you should strive to gain that wisdom so you can share it when you are older.

What if we valued elders and all their knowledge and experiences, instead of warehousing them? https://www.thehealingspacecincinnati.org/classes-1/Elder-Wisdom-Circle 

“Mid-life crisis” is a passage that often has no context in our culture. Our children have left, we’re looking at the rest of our lives and our mortality may be more real to us. One of my mentors, Oliver De Mille, felt that this life passage could be channeled productively by using that energy to focus on leaving a meaningful legacy. 

What if this was the cultural agreement instead of getting divorced and hooking up with someone younger, or starting to drink, or whatever else people do because there is no context for what is often a major change and major epiphany in life? 

You’ve lived your life, you’ve gathered a lot of experiences, your children are likely raised and gone if you had some, so what do you do now? How could you use all that social and experiential and other types of energy you’ve acquired in life, and do something you can feel good about with it all?

In our culture, many people do not even discuss death. It is not discussed in polite company. It is tragic, and upsetting. But yet, every single one of us is going to die! It is the most inevitable thing in our entire lives - no one escapes! 

Anything else can happen in between birth and death, but every single one of us is going to die. So why do we ignore this inevitable life passage so thoroughly? Why do we resist it, to the point of putting people on artificial machines or drugs to keep them alive long after any quality of life has fled from them?

Death Doulas are becoming more well known and popular, helping a person transition into death with peace and dignity, in a similar way as birth doulas do for birth. This person also supports loved ones through this process. https://deathdoulas.com/

There are many other life passages that have pattern languages to them. Moving, changing jobs, making a set of new friends in a new location, children growing up, and more. What if we recognized this pattern language and designed our lives and our culture to capture the unique yield of each of these passages, and respond creatively to change?