Living System Science & Principles

Purpose of Living System Science and Principles Blog

The Living System Science and Principles Blog enables you to understand the nature of Human Living Systems composed of individual persons, collectives and their networks - And to apply this new knowledge to your own life, relationships, groups, organizations and networks so you can implement the emerging New Pattern for Success that we define as the practices of Living System Psychology, Living System Life and Work and its Nodal Network Business.

We approach Human Living Systems science and principles from the viewpoint of the human psyche - As the most fundamental living system for humans - rather than from the conventional approaches of non-human biological, ecological and physical systems. The human psyche stages and evolution process are the direct underlying causes for all human experience and behavior - Personal and collective.

This sounds unfamiliar and strange. But, it is the most direct path to understanding and using Human Living System Science and its Principles. Frank Herbert wrote, "The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand". His wisdom applies to discovering this new path as something dramatically different from what we now know and understand. This blog explores the new path. Its knowledge is a discontinuous leap beyond conventional beliefs about Human Living Systems.

John Clayton Caris

How to Begin Work With Human Living System Principles

It is best to begin work with Human Living System Principles by first learning the nature of each Principle - To learn the language and ideas of the Principals themselves and then how they form a network of inter-related knowledge among themselves.

I am asked, Why do you begin discussing individual Principles? Isn't that a linear process? Why not begin with the example applications you gave in your previous post? Isn't it a faster path to use those examples as guides to follow.

There are several questions here. Let's answer them.

Yes, focusing first on individual Living System Principles is a linear process. But it is best in this case. These Principles are so new, so discontinuous from conventional knowledge and beliefs, you really must learn each and how they fit together before you try to integrate them into complex applications.

Never forget that you cannot just add-on the new principles to current linear examples to improve them. That is not how the Principles should be used. Human Living System Principles are the foundation for a dramatically new pattern for successful living and working inconsistent with what currently exists. They are not best used to try to "fix-up" the current systems of leadership, management, organization, operations and entrepreneurship.

Another question is - Why not begin with the example applications as guides? That is not wise. The reason is they are only "Partial" examples of Living System applications. They are not completely consistent with Human Living System Principles - They have only certain core elements that are consistent with the right Principles and other elements are not. Trying to use partial examples to guide your making of Living System applications just will not work. It is most productive to study partial examples for discovering the Human Living System Principles buried within them. Therefore current applications are not adequate as guides to emulate as you would a "Business School Case".

Your growing knowledge of the Principles and their interactions forms in your own psyche a "Pure" Living System framework, not a "Partial" one. Your personal framework of pure principles is your best guide for creating your own applications for Living System Life and Work.

The Isis Group is the pioneer in developing the theory and practice of Living System Life and Work from the viewpoint of the Human Psyche System for individuals and organizations. The discussions in this blog series are key parts of that theory and practice. They are "Originals" - They have never been given before in public in this way – They are our status report on the Living System Life and Work. My research and consulting practice assure me this is the direction leading-edge of businesses are moving in - If your life and work are aligned with these Principles you will be swimming with the stream – Not against it, as most are doing.

I look forward to your Comments, Questions Suggestions.

John Clayton Caris

P.S. - For Those Who Consider These Ideas Are Too New and Unconventional -

You can of course feel that this is not for you until it is all figured out and there are large numbers of people and organizations that have proved that it works in standard ways. That is OK, if you wish to miss the great opportunity to be a leader in the New Pattern for Success. That is your choice. If you are waiting for some standard theory and practice, you should realize that the emerging living system world will never operate in standard ways like the decaying linear machine system world does.

Leaders are those who can take the emerging knowledge of Human Living System Principles and create applications that no-one has yet figured out. That is how I believe the greatest returns will be won. That was the path chosen by such people as Dee Hock of VISA. That is our direction.

Their advances did not come from the “Spoon Feeding” of formal schools – In fact, their advances often come from deep feelings contrary to what formal schools tried to teach them. They act in ways they just feel are the right things to do, often based on intuitions at this early stage of Living System Life and Work.

I am trying to help you to become such a leader yourself. To do that, I give you authentic Living System raw materials to create your own applications, rather than giving you finished, polished materials like you are fed in conventional schools. If you are looking for a “Cookbook of Recipes” for Living System Life and Work you will be disappointed. There is no cookbook like there is in the linear world and probably never will be. If you need a cookbook I believe you are not likely to become a leader in the emerging era.

Click on the Continue reading link below for a list of links to Previous Posts in this series.

Applications of Human Living System Principles - Already Exist

Applications of Human Living System Principles are fact - Not just abstract ideas about future possibilities. I am aware of them starting as early as the 1950's. They have appeared with greater frequency and importance since then. Knowing this makes the next posts more meaningful for you.

This post's purpose is to introduce you to a few partial applications of Human Living System Principles impacting how the world is organized and run. They are quite visible if you know what to look for and how to see them.

Of course, that is what my discussions of the Human Living System Principles enable you to do - Know what to look for and how to see it within the "Partial" Living System applications we now know of. I explain why I say "Partial" applications in a moment.

A short list of existing applications includes:

- W.L.Gore & Associates organized and run as a Nodal Network Business in the 1950's with later examples continuing to emerge, such as the Virgin Group;

- Transformation of the Hollywood movie industry from a few giant independent studios in the 1960's to today's temporary networks of very small companies in voluntary nodal teams;

- Dee Hock's revolutionary restructuring of the VISA group using "Chaordic" concepts and practices;

- The "Hacker Culture" creating Open Source operating system and application software - Web-Based Applications advancing relentlessly in the process of replacing Proprietary, Desktop and Local Server Based Applications (Google vs. Microsoft & Linux vs. Windows);

- Toyota with its Living System like "Pull Manufacturing" processes replacing the Linear System "Push Manufacturing" and administration of the U.S. Big 3 (GM Ford and Chrysler) in volume, profitabilty and return leadership;

- Business "Evangelism" replacing conventional ideas and practices of Sales & Marketing pioneered by Apple, further developed by Guy Kawasaki, Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba, and just beginning is a Living System Branding-Design-Marketing-Buying Process pioneered by Isis Creation;

- Recreating leading-edge military organizations as Nodal Networks of small Special Forces Teams;

- Recreating New Venture Development, such as by Paul Graham and Guy Kawasaki, relative to conventional Venture Capital.

This is only a short list of some existing partial applications. The amazing fact is that pioneers are making significant, if not spectacular, advances based on only fragmentary understanding of living systems and using only limited living system practices, apparently without being consciously aware of what they are doing. Nearly all of the persons leading these examples never mention living systems or seem to be consciously aware of Human Living System Principles underlying what they do.

I am saying these pioneers appear to act based on internal guidance consistent with the world discontinuous transformation to Living System Life and Work that they do not appear to be consciously aware of. They demonstrate they are compelled by an underlying force to do what they are doing. They just intuitively seem to know that the current conventional linear system approaches to life and work no longer work and they must abandon them. They just inherently seem to know how to begin taking actions consistent with living system theory and practices even though they do not yet really understand them. This situation makes the world human transformation all the more real. As I said, it is rare that they even use the language of living systems. Why? Because they don’t know it - Consciously.

How in the world could this happen? Very easily! The Human Psyche System is the "Morphic Field" – the underlying field – the guiding force for human affairs – both for individuals and groups. Each stage of human psyche evolution has its own Morphic field pattern for success. The Morphic field for a new pattern for success is emerging in the psyches of leading persons.

Pioneers of Living System Life and Work, who are yet a small minority of leaders, are in the process of transcending to the new Human Psyche System stage – Named Stage A’. It is the emerging human stage that inherently operates in living system patterns. Therefore, it is natural for people and groups transforming to Stage A’ to begin doing things consistent with Living System Principles even without consciously realizing that is what they are doing. And it is natural that most people and groups, who are not yet transformaing, do not believe that what these pioneers are doing is significant relative to the size of what is comventional - It is.

Now, it should be easier for you to understand why are the applications we are seeing are only Partial ones? When people and groups are just beginning to transform, their new application actions are only partial – They are a mixture of newly emerging psyche stage patterns and those of their previous stages all mixed up together. They are driven by inherent internal patterns - Their Morphic fields - Partly to investigate the new and partly to adhere to previous patterns. There are probably no pure Human Living System applications Yet - But they are coming. The Isis Group Network quest is to be the Leader in service to other Stage A' pioneers.

I am make these points to assure that you do not expect to see complete Living System Principle applications yet – like business school cases of conventional Linear System applications. They are in the process of being created through experiments by leading-edge people who are struggling and stumbling along the way. We need to be able to recognize the Human Living System elements within transformaing applications. The Human Living System Principles are our most powerful tools to accomplish this.

The great strategic advantage for you is to become one of these pioneers now - Not to wait until the new Living System applications are widely understood. Recall, that you cannot be a leader by marching in someone else's parade.

I look forward to your Comments, Questions Suggestions.

John Clayton Caris

Click on the Continue reading link below for a list of links to Previous Posts in this series.

Best Approach to Understanding Human Living Systems - The Human Psyche

We need the most direct approach to understanding Human Living Systems. That approach is through Human System Psychology for individuals and collectives - That means through the unconscious and conscious processes of the Human Psyche System - Specifically its Stages of human life and their evolution process through individual human lives and through collective human history. The Human Psyche is the most fundamental Living System at the core of all human affairs.

Our interest is making applications to Human Living Systems - That means making applications to the lives and work of human individuals and their collectives from two person relationships to organizations of any size. Our focus is on human leadership, organization, operations and entrepreneurship.

Most other discussions approach Living Systems from a "Non-Human" Living Systems perspective - Some are quite linear in their mechanical perspective. Specifically, they use an historical scientific perspective from biology, ecology or some version of modern physical concepts, such as quantum mechanics or physical field theory.

This approach cannot go directly to useful applications in human life and work – Especially in business. It requires making complicated analogies and interpretations from Non-Human systems to Human Systems before trying to be applicable to human persons and their organizations.

I find such analogies weak, often misleading or wrong. They do not, because they cannot, directly shed light on the transforming patterns of human motivation, behavior, leadership, organization and entrepreneurship that are direct results of the Human Psyche System.

Starting from Human System Psychology enables us to make direct applications to the lives and work of humans. We do not need to make analogies or interpretaions about how biological, ecological or modern physics systems are like human systems before we can make applications. We can go directly to the heart of the matter - And that is what we do.

As you proceed in this blog and the other two Core Knowledge Blogs, especially the Human Psyche System and Living System Psychology Blog, you should become comfortable with the reality that the Human Psyche System is the underlying energy field system for human life. It is not the human brain, which is the portion of our physical body that enables us to become aware of our psyche's energy fields during our life on Earth. The psyche is the totality of all conscious and unconscious processes at the core of our life. Its transformations are what cause transformations through the stages of our individual lives and through the stages of collective human history. They are the same series of stages for individuals and for collectives. All human practical applications follow from this.

To tell business people that the most important thing to understand about the New Pattern for Success is a new Genre of human psychology may sound strange. I assure you it is not. It certainlyis a new concept for many, but it is not strange. It is the core of Living System Life and Work.

Rudolph Steiner, an early pioneer in what has become Living System thought, wrote: “Only he who understands life can become a truly practical man.” Our path is to approach Living Systems from the Human Systems viewpoint so we can directly understand the stages of human life and their practical consequences in individuals and organizations. With this knowledge we can become a new type of practical person who naturally operates in the New Pattern for Success.

I want to assure I am being clear, so I summarize what I have said about approaching Human Living Systems from the viewpoint of the psyche. Once we understand the Human Psyche System and its transformations, there is no need for analogies to make direct applications in life and work. The Human Psyche, its structure, its behavior and its stage-by-stage evolution process, are what we need to know to understand what is happening in the world, in our own lives and how to create, organize and operate a business organization containing real people. You do not need analogies from molecular biology, genetics, ecology, fundamental particle physics, etc. We believe this the most important human knowledge a leading-edge business leader needs to implement the New Pattern for Success.

I emphasize - Our approach to Human Living Systems is from the most modern science of the Human Psyche System. It is not the conventional viewpoint that almost always begins from the science of non-human Living Systems. This knowledge can give you strategic advantage in creating, leading/managing and operating a Living System Business. This blog presents information that should enable you to decide for yourself.

John Clayton Caris

Click Continue Reading link below for a list of Previous Posts in this series.

10 Human Living System Principles - Part 2

The Ten Human Living System Principles are directly useful for guiding persons and organizations in the practice of Living System Life and Work. I have learned that in practice. However, there are reqirements to be met before these Principles can be understood, become useful and can lead to superior performance.

They cannot just be added on top of conventional ideas and practices - The conventional must be set aside, thanked for its previous service, and then abandoned - That is the price for implementing the New Pattern for Success. The New is embraced and the Old is set aside.

First, you require a new Mindset to understand and use these Principles. Then, Second, you need a new Approach to Human Living Systems founded on the Human Psyche rather than on non-human living system sciences like biology, ecology or modern physical theory. And Third, you need to realize that Human Living System Science is a dramatic discontinuity from conventional science.

I repeat below the Ten Principles of Human Living System Science for your reference before I proceed to discuss the three pre-requirements for understanding and using the Principles. If you have not read the Previous Post in this series you may want to read it now.

- Inherent Bi-Polarity
- Underlying Morphic Fields
- Function in Cyclical Waves
- Organize as Nested Systems in Nodal Networks
- Open Systems with dynamic Interactions
- Embedded in Enabling and Nurturing Environments
- Never at Equilibrium - Unless Dead
- Optimal Sizes for Sub-Systems
- System Analysis by Underlying Wave Patterns
- Power Law Statistical Distributions - The Long Tail

Now the pre-conditions for their understanding and use. You need to satisfy them if you are to be able to transcend the conventional paterns of living and working that surround us.

Let's deal with the third requirement first - Realizing Human Living System Science is a dramatic, qualitative discontinuity. Holding on to conventional ideas about what is "scientific" and true will retard your progress.

The knowledge I present in this series of posts is inconsistent with much of what is understood to be valid "Science" today. Please review the Purpose of this Blog. Human Living System Science cannot be "added-on" to current ideas and practices of existing science to develop the next step in scientific understanding. It is not simply a next step - It is a discontinuous leap away from what generally exists. This may be somewhat confusing at first - But it is confusing only if you try to understand it in terms of conventional scientific ideas. Sorry - That is just the way it is with Human Psyche Stage Transformations - They are leaps from one psychological reality to another.

The second requirement is to approach Living System Science from the viewpoint of the Human Psyche - The energy field that comprises all of the processes of the human conscious and unconscious. It is the most fundamental Living System underlying all human affairs.

The Human Psyche It is NOT the Brain. It is a non-physical energy field system. It is the Underlying Source for human life and work - It is the "Morphic" Field for our motivations, thoughts, intuitions, feelings and behavior. The Brain is a marvelous bio-material system through which we as humans can be aware of portions of our Psyche, depending our evolutionary stage, during our physical life on Earth. The Brain is also a living system, but secondary to the Psyche. The Psyche and the Brain serve us as what we will call a Bi-Polar pair of systems at the core of our life.

The first requirement is to develop a new Mindset so we can experience reality in a new way - To become enabled to perceive and then understand the Living System Pattern of human life and work that is now the emerging pattern for superior performance.

My purposes in the series of Blog posts are four:
1) To better understand Human Living Systems and their science, that can be called the Science of the Underlying Plane;
2) To begin understanding the Principles for making Living System applications yourself;
3) To begin learning how some leading-edge persons and organizations are making partial applications of Living System Science concepts and practices in their life and work with dramatic positive results; and therefore
4) To begin practicing the New Patterrn for Success in ways of leadership, organization and operations your conventional competitors cannot even understand, much less try to imitate.

In the next Post I introduce you further to the fundamental transformation in life and work you are enbarking on. This should better prepare you for grasping the specific Human Living System Principles.

I look forward to your Comments, Questions Suggestions.

John Clayton Caris

Click Continue Reading link below for lists of Previous Posts in this series.

10 Human Living System Principles - Part 1

Here begins a series of blog posts presenting Ten Principles of Human Living System Science I discovered in my research and applications. They are the foundation for making applications of Living System Life and Work and its Nodal Network Business that are your new path to superior personal and organization performance.

There are surely more Principles to be discovered. But these are enough to begin understanding the structure and behavior of Human Living Systems in all types of human affairs - Individuals, organizations, business, markets and the sweep of human history from the distant past to the present and into the future.

A thoughtful man questioned me about Living System Life and Work saying, "How do you put legs on this table?" Here is my answer.

That is indeed doable. But, we must be sure to see and understand the nature of the "table" before we try to put legs on it - Meaning trying to use the new table in action. Let's use his analogy of Living System Life and Work as a new "table", that is the platform or work place, for a new pattern of living and working.

We are talking about a unique type of new "table" that did not previously exist - Knowing about conventional tables is not useful. In fact it is harmful. You cannot put Living System legs on a conventional Linear System table. They do not fit. They will not support the new Living System "table".The two types of table are discontinuously different as platforms for useful work.

The Principles of Human Living Systems in this series of posts define the nature of the new Living Sytem Life and Work "table". Applications of these new Principles for living and working are the "legs" for the new Living System "table". How we practice the new applications defines how we "put the legs on the new table".

So there are three things we are dealing with:

1) A new Platform for living and working - The Human Living System Principles (The Table),
2) New Applications of the Human Living System Principles (The Legs), and
3) New Practices of the Applications consistent with the new Principles (Putting the Legs on the Table).

And all of these three things are inconsistent with conventional principles, applications and practices of life and work today.

Let's start with listing the Human Living System Principles I am now aware of and use:

- Inherent Bi-Polarity
- Underlying Morphic Fields
- Function in Cyclical Waves
- Organize as Nested Systems in Nodal Networks
- Open Systems with dynamic Interactions
- Embedded in Enabling and Nurturing Environments
- Never at Equilibrium - Unless Dead
- Optimal Sizes for Sub-Systems
- System Analysis by Underlying Wave Patterns
- Power Law Statistical Distributions - The Long Tail

Do not expect to understand these principles from this first exposure. It cannot be done. In the next post I explain why. Later posts in this series discuss each Principle, introduces some of its applications and your practices to use it.

Many have not been prepared to deal with such new knowledge that is discontinuous from nearly everything we have previously known and believed. Recall the wisdom of Frank Herbert, the author of the Dune Books, when he wrote, "The beginning of knowledge is the discvovery of something we do not understand."

Such new knowledge cannotbe added on our old knowledge to take a next step in learning. It may help to read, or re-read, a previous post I made in my personal blog entitled the Curse of Add-On Knowlege.

I look forward to your Comments, Questions Suggestions.

John Clayton Caris