Seeing Fractals Calms Us
Except from Our Fractal Nature A Journey of Self-Discovery and Connection
“Assume that all you are connected to is here for your enjoyment, your illumination, your progress. Act as if you are the universe’s favorite — who knows, maybe it is true.”
– adapted from Chris Coffey
Seeing Fractal in Business Connections
“Communities of practice (COP) are informal (sometimes formal) groupings of professionals with shared interests that form to facilitate the exchange of expertise and shared learning or to function as professional support networks. We analyse a dataset on the size of COPs and show that their distribution has a fractal structure similar to that found in huntergatherer social organisation and the structure of human personal social networks. Small communities up to about 40 in size can be managed democratically, but all larger communities require a leadership team structure. We show that frequency of interaction declines as size increases, as is the case in personal social networks. This suggests that professional work-oriented organisations may be subject to the same kinds of constraint imposed on human social organisation by the social brain.
―Webber, E. and R. Dunbar (2020). “The fractal structure of communities of practice: Implications for business organization.” PLoS One 15(4): e0232204.
What are 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.
Seeing the Pattern Calms Us
Pick a number between one and ten. If you think there are ten numbers between zero and nine, you are correct on one level. However, let’s shift perspectives, deepen our awareness, and suddenly you see that you can pick a whole number, a fraction, the square root of eight, or even an infinite, irrational number like pi. Fractals, like pi, are infinite. The detail you choose to focus on depends on your desire for accuracy.
Pi is approximately 3.14. We say approximately because there are literally no limits on the numbers that come after the decimal point. Pi is a mathematical constant that describes a relationship between a circle’s circumference and its diameter. How truly accurate we are in describing these relationships depends on how much detail we wish to see.
Is the number 3 the same as 3.1, or 3.141, or even 3.14159? How accurately do we describe the relationships in our life? How accurately do we want to see?
Fractals describe the irregularly-shaped objects in our natural universe — gnarled, rough-barked pine trees, dark smoldering rain clouds, the contours of the Peruvian Andes, California’s coastline. These shapes are self-similar down to the smallest levels, which, it turns out, are too small even to measure, but they still provide texture to our reality. According to quantum physicists, the smallest thing is not even a thing. It is a process, a wave, a possibility.
Do we see the infinite texture of shapes, processes, and choices spread out before us like stars pulsing in the sky? Do we hear them calling, “Look at me!” ”Pick me!”? Can we see the vital parts of the whole?
Fractals invite us to look within and beyond perceived limitations, to broaden our view of the choices we have, to see the way we influence the pathways of our lives and how they all connect.
Having this sense of choices that will launch us on a powerful trajectory into the future is relaxing and exciting. Just by appreciating the beauty of natural scenes and the fractals they contain can make us healthier. People recover from major surgery far more quickly when placed in hospital rooms with windows looking out on natural scenery. Eventually, it may be possible to produce even more effective stress-reducing fractal artwork.
Connect to Your Fractal Health
Consider which of your choices will benefit from more attention paid to the array of options.
When you go to a meeting or social gathering, look for the pattern in who speaks to whom. Consider who you decide to speak to and think about why?
Originally Published at Our Fractal Nature A Journey of Self-Discovery and Connection by Kimberly Burnham, PhD (Integrative Medicine). A Messenger Mini Book, 2011.
