1. Global Context: Our relationship to the world. Experiences of physical reality, the biosphere, and the global ecological systems. In this context is an emphasis to a global perspective; interdependence, sustainability, recognition of limits, diversity, partnership, competition, cooperation, change, evolution, adaptation, cycles, and energy flow. Emphasis is on the organic nature of planet Earth and all its physical, cultural, and knowledge systems.

Interdependence Relationship in which the success of the system as a whole depends upon the success of each individual member, just as the success of each member depends upon the success of the whole system.

Sustainability Every system requires a resource base to provide the raw materials upon which the system depends for survival. This resource base is necessarily limited. The long-term sustainability (survival) of any system depends on its ability to live within these limits.

Diversity In general greater diversity results in greater stability. An oak forest with its rich diversity of life is far more stable than a cornfield, which is essentially a monoculture. The diversity of ethnic cultural backgrounds is one of the strengths of our nation. In all human organizations, diversity is necessary to maintain stability. This is especially important in our age of narrow specialization.

Partnership Too much competition leads to burnout and self-destruction. Too much cooperation leads to passivity, inertia, and apathy. There is a powerful bias in our country toward unrestrained competition in human economies (social Darwinism). There is no such thing as unrestrained competition in nature, and no one believes in unrestrained economic competition. In natural systems, competition within species is always constrained by cooperative strategies such as territoriality and dominance hierarchy. Competition between species is controlled by factors such as adaptive modifications, which often result in two similar species utilizing entirely different food sources. In cultural system, the most vocal defenders of unrestrained economic competition are often the first to exploit political means to protect them from the very competition that they defend.

Change occurs as species and groups evolve through an interplay of creation and mutual adaptation.

Cycles fluctuate as feedback loops provide various levels of tolerance in the dynamic interplay between stability and change. Seasons, life cycles, economic cycles, atoms, molecules, matter, planetary ecological systems, living organisms, flow of money. Just as urinalysis provides information/feedback about the health of the human body, the quality of our planetary water supply provides information/feedback about the health of our ecological system. Public purpose private interest. Human rest cycles to growth cycles burnout...

Energy Flow All living systems are open systems and as such are dependent upon an external energy source for survival. Cultural systems depend on resources and information, external forms of energy. Money, knowledge, and data are forms of energy transferred into information by the human mind. Just as the health of natural systems depends on a free flow of solar energy throughout the system, the health of a cultural system requires a free flow of information. System imbalance occurs whenever there is a glut of energy/information in one part of a system at the expense of the rest of the system. Too pronounced, a systemic catastrophe may result.

2. A Relationship Context: Peoples relationships to others and themselves. In the relationship context we recognize and explore the subjective and participatory nature of human knowledge, experience, and focus on humans' responsibility in making principled decisions as individuals within a community.

3. Our place in Time Context: Our relationship to the past, present, and future. In the time context we explore our relationship to time and change, incorporate an evolutionary perspective on time and change, and incorporate a historical perspective and a future perspective.

4. The Symbolic Context: Our relationship to the world of information and knowledge. We recognize the significance of ideas, symbols, and metaphors in shaping our thoughts and actions. In the information context we emphasize concepts, generalizations, integration, and connectedness; emphasize a systems approach to selecting, organizing, and processing information; incorporate the use of higher-order skills in addressing questions; and focus on the quality of information rather than the quantity. Different information means different things to different people.

Robert Sweetland's Notes ©