Revealing Invisible Patterns
I’m always amazed at how when I intentionally look for something, I start to see it everywhere. This happened for me last week when I went for a walk with the intention of noticing patterns. On one walk, I saw almost every type of pattern listed in last week’s email, even tessellations at the lake.
This week, my plan was to focus on patterns that aren’t visible or tangible, but present nonetheless. Not an easy proposition. If patterns are “the bones of the universe,” then they’re the structure underneath the surface of our lives. There are patterns of thought, of ways of being, of abuse and addiction. Patterns become habits and rituals, customs and culture.
When you think of them this way, it becomes clear that they play a huge part in how we see. Some are handed down through a culture or a family and some are unique to us and our own life experiences. Patterns can bring a helpful order to life but some can be extremely harmful, like addiction in an individual or racism in a system. In these cases, something is needed to disrupt or break the pattern. And, that’s not easy to do. How do you begin to notice the invisible patterns present in your life? And what do they tell you about how you see?
As I began to write about this topic, I quickly realized that it is way too huge for one post. We could do a whole year on invisible patterns alone. And, I’m not qualified to speak on any of these things. But I can at least offer ways for you to begin to notice the patterns in your own life. One of the ways that I’ve worked on this myself is through the cultivation of contemplative habits, which helps to reveal the patterns.
Then, I can look at what they mean and how they affect my life. Meaning shows up through metaphors, symbols, and archetypes, each of which gives meaning to patterns.
Metaphors, Symbols, Archetypes
“Metaphor is a particular form of patterning. When we perceive metaphorically, we note a likeness, a similarity in form or organization, a kind of symmetry between patterns.” ~ Laura Sewall, Sight and Sensibility
Metaphor is the language of relatedness. It links things together that are not the same, but similar. For example, when you say “My Mom is a rock” you don’t mean it literally, you mean she is as strong and solid as a rock. When we practice learning this language through direct experience, we start seeing these patterns and metaphors everywhere.
Last week, I shared an example of discovering a pattern of noticing blossoms at my feet as I explored my new town. Another was when I first saw the curving farm fields in the Palouse area of Washington State, they struck me as like the curves in a human body, very sensual.
A symbol is similar to metaphor but with a twist. It’s a word, object, or image that stands in for or represents something else. For example, the shamrock is a symbol of luck, a flag is a symbol for a country. Patterns like the spirals found in sunflowers and pine cones become symbols of the path inwards.
Sewall defines an archetype as “a constellation of qualities, a pattern of patterns. It is a grand metaphor. Landscape archetypes are forms and forces of the natural world that simultaneously reveal to us more of the world and more of ourselves.”
Archetypes exist at a subconscious, psychological level. They are felt as significant. For many, mountains remind them of solidity, presence, and stillness. Other archetypal landscapes are the sea, forests, and deserts.
Water is an archetype that I am consistently drawn towards. According to Jung, water is a symbol for the unconscious. Many of us feel a deep connection to water, maybe because seventy-percent of our body is composed of the stuff. Water is cleansing, renewing, and refreshing. It can be calm, peaceful, and relaxing or wild and raging, with the ability to destroy.
Patterns have a rhythm to them that can be felt. They offer a sense of movement or time passing. There is an ebb and flow to life, times of order and times more chaotic. There is the rhythm in the seasons, in the growing of plants and food, in life and death. Perhaps rhythm is the thread that ties our encounters together and creates relationships.
Becoming aware of patterns, metaphors, and archetypes, inspired by nature, is a way for you to connect what’s inside you with the human and other natural communities around you.
Practice
If this is all a little too deep for you, start by noticing daily patterns and rhythms and rituals in your life and why they’re important to you - the rising and setting of the sun, when you get up, what you choose to eat, where you go, what you do, who you spend time with, and even your heartbeat. How are the rhythms in your life important to you? How do they shape you?
Are there particular metaphors, symbols, and archetypes that consistently draw your attention? What do they say about you and how you see? In the on-demand workshop, A Visual Journal, there is an exercise for identifying metaphors and symbols through your photographs. You can download it here.
Resources
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg was an influential book for me in understanding how habits are formed when I was studying contemplative habits.
A Visual Journal - an on-demand workshop for photographers