Importance: 10%
The Big Idea
A top down approach to Wholeness. Rather than thinking of the whole made of parts. Starts with the whole and sees the whole making or inducing its parts.
Quick definition of Wholeness
the system of centers created by the spatial configuration of the (space). -Nature of Order, bk 1., p. 98
Usually most western scientific thinking pictures everything made up of parts. In this conception Wholeness is usually thought of as a lot of individual parts being combined or working together to make the whole. Kind of like a car with all its parts. This is a bottom up approach.
But the idea of wholeness composed of centers is a top down approach. Wholeness with this definition sees the world as a coherent whole out of which arises the smaller parts. This is more like Michelangelo’s approach to sculpting where he just “got rid” of the extra stone to reveal the figure that was already there.
Taking this a step further then. Defining these smaller parts as centers like here: Thinking of Spatial Relationships as Centers
Allows us to think of wholeness along many different scales because each center is itself a whole composed of and forming its own smaller centers.
This creates a perspective that can see even a small change to a whole will have ripple effects both up and down the chain of centers (or “wholes”) causing sometimes unexpected changes to the composition of things.
Another article that describes this concept: Stefan’s notes on Christopher Alexander’s idea of Wholeness