A Fractal Search for Meaning
Except from Our Fractal Nature A Journey of Self-Discovery and Connection
“Eyes that see do not grow old.”
– Nicaraguan proverb
Fractals Build Consciousness
Recent evidence suggests that the quantity and quality of conscious experience may be a function of the complexity of activity in the brain and that consciousness emerges in a critical zone between low and high-entropy states. These researchers, “propose fractal shapes as a measure of proximity to this critical point, as fractal dimension encodes information about complexity beyond simple entropy or randomness, and fractal structures are known to emerge in systems nearing a critical point.”
They found that a more robust fractal pattern in the brain, the healthier and more conscious the person. they noted, “significant decreases in the fractal dimension between healthy volunteers (n = 15), patients in a minimally conscious state (n = 10), and patients in a vegetative state (n = 8), regardless of the mechanism of injury. We also found significant decreases in adjacency matrix fractal dimension and Higuchi temporal fractal dimension, which correlated with decreasing level of consciousness. These results suggest that cortical functional connectivity networks display fractal character and that this is associated with level of consciousness in a clinically relevant population, with higher fractal dimensions (i.e. more complex) networks being associated with higher levels of consciousness.”
– Varley, T. F., et al. (2020). “Fractal dimension of cortical functional connectivity networks & severity of disorders of consciousness.” PLoS One 15(2): e0223812.
Fractals
“In discerning our fractal nature, we are nature contemplating and embodying ourselves.”
frac * tal — noun. Term from Mathematics, Physics, Life and Nature. Latin fract(us) — uneven + al, fraction of something, a term introduced by French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot.
A fractal is a textured geometric shape. It can be split into parts, each of which is roughly a smaller version of the larger part, exhibiting self-similarity.
While fractals are a mathematical construct, they are found in nature, artwork, our bodies, the stock market, and the universe. They behave in a magical way, as if the dimensions of the structure — its fractal dimensions — are greater than the spatial dimensions. In other words, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
A Fractal Search for Meaning
The ability to pay attention is fractal in nature. As we consciously choose what we pay attention to, we increase our self awareness and brain plasticity — literally, our ability to heal and adapt.
What do you pay attention to, listen to, or see in your daily life?
Our eyes use a fractal power function to search complex visual patterns and insure that we find vital information in the shortest amount of time. Fractal scanning is an efficient way to find what we are looking for. The more we notice in the patterns, the safer and more relaxed our nervous systems and eyes feel.
Preventing cataracts involves maintaining the fractal dimension of the protein formations in our eyes’ lenses, thus allowing us an undistorted view of our environment.
Essentially, the healthier our eyes are the safer we feel.
Each cell in our bodies picks up light and electromagnetic energy. Our eyes, of course, have a specialized visual function, but each cell can “see” what is going on around it.
Our DNA, eyes, and brains allow us to perceive the beauty in art and natural scenery with both visual complexity and fractal dimensionality. Viewing fractals helps us relax, which in turn facilitates increased attention and enables better decision-making processes.
Our penetrating eyes, our listening ears, our sense of touch, all our internal sensors are set up to recognize patterns, to pick out what is new and interesting as we scale the mountains of our desires. As the saying goes, “The fastest way to become an old dog: Stop learning new tricks.”
Fractals also teach us to look at the past, to see the patterns emerging from chaos. If we look at a tree, we see the trunk, all the branches, and the leaves that emerged from the seed. We see the pattern of what was created in the past. We can enjoy the tree’s beauty, the shade it provides, and the delicious fruit. And if we don’t want what this particular tree, planted in the past, has to offer, we have the ability today to plant a new seed and notice the new opportunities for enjoyment. We can make sense of our world by picking out the patterns over time.
While we don’t know what will grow tomorrow, we can mentally time-travel into the future, imagining the pattern unfolding and learning from all the people who planted seeds in the past.
Our fractal brains use the same brain circuitry to remember who we were in the past and to imagine ourselves in the future. By choosing how we view the information, we can turn our brains into clearing devices, releasing what no longer serves us well. When we choose what to pay attention to or synchronize with, we can literally change the landscape and texture of our minds.
Our sense of time is also fractal in nature. A mother’s sense of time differs from that of a clock. Time can appear to stretch out when children are at school or sleeping and there are few interactions, or it can seem to contract, as when the number of children and their needs for attention are multiplied.
Fractals teach us that there is no right path, no left path. There are an endless number of paths working uniquely together to serve us perfectly.
Do we choose to step away from patterns which no longer serve us? Do we look for pathways to best assist us on our journey today?
Connect to Your Fractal Health
Look around the room at something that you bought in the past or something that was a gift. How do you feel about it today? How does that feeling differ from the way you felt when you bought or received the object? Imagine how you will feel about it in a month.
Pick up a piece of food. Close your eyes, and then describe the food in detail. How does it feel? What is its texture, its shape? How does it sound when you tap on it? How does it smell or taste? “See” the food with your hands, your ears, your nose, and your taste buds.
For each of your goals, make a list of what the perfect ten — a perfectly achieved goal — looks like or feels like when you wake up in the morning. Imagine how you feel when you tell a friend about accomplishing your goal. Visualize success in the richest details possible.
Trace the edge of a natural object with your finger. Notice the roughness. Notice the contours and the texture. Notice the path your finger takes. Does appreciating the detail change your enjoyment of the object?
Answer these questions about a friend. How many nested layers or separate connections are there in your friendship? How many emotions from other relationships influence this one? See the layers of information, and increase the clarity in this friendship.
Originally Published at Our Fractal Nature A Journey of Self-Discovery and Connection by Kimberly Burnham, PhD (Integrative Medicine). A Messenger Mini Book, 2011.
