 On the other end of the
size scale, atoms also move at high velocities. Their speed changes as they heat and cool
in the day and night of our planet, as they react with other atoms and as they enter and
leave living systems.
The parts of the atoms
move even faster than the atoms. At the level of subatomic particles, the rapid movement
of all matter through space has critical implications.
Each kind of creature, and each layer of being, has its own ability
to detect motion. We can only directly perceive changes when they happen within
certain intervals.
We can, if we concentrate, directly observe the earth spinning,
especially at dawn and dusk when the sun is revealed or eclipsed by the rotation of the
planet. But we can't perceive the movement of the planet around the sun or the motions of
atoms. We can measure these motions using scientific methods, and although we can't see
them with our biological sensory capabilities, we know for an absolute fact that the
movements are there and nothing ever winds up in the same place twice. No cycle can ever
complete itself without an element of change.
This turns out to be a critical concept. Let me summarize this idea
as closed and open systems.
Closed Systems
From the perspective of the individual system, cycles do exist. The
Earth does spin neatly on its axis and from the planetary perspective, points on earth
return to the same RELATIVE position each day. We will call this a closed system cycle. A
bicycle is a closed system and the tires, gears, and pedals rotate very exactly back to
the same position relative to the bicycle itself. If you pump the pedals of your bike your feet will move in a cycle relative to you, always coming back to the same
place.
Open Systems
All closed systems exist within open systems where the cycles look
quite different. The points on the surface of our planet never return to the same place
again relative to the intergalactic fabric of space. When you use a bike, a point on
the tire describes an up and down sine-wave relative to a road, and never returns to the
same place on the road. Your feet on the pedals are always moving forward relative to the
road, and their trajectory is also a sine wave, not a circular cycle.
Open systems are both larger and smaller than closed systems. For
you on the bike, the road and the clouds are open systems. The atoms flow through you,
racing along their own open pathways.
Surprise
Cycles of closed systems always fail to meet expectations because
they are created within a network of open, non-linear, flowing systems. When the expected
cycles fail, awareness emerges.
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