Meadow mapping: Unfolding the vertical dimension of the map. Energy and Information.
Part 2. Unfolding the vertical levels, describing the realm of potentiality (the unseen) and the realm of information (the seen). This is the continuation of the framework creation.
We are starting from the meadow mapping process. This pieces is deeper look at some of the less obvious potentials of the map as it is.
Let us look at it from the bottom up. The essence relates very much to our core. Our innermost longings, woundings and patterns (habits). The essence is like the groundwater, it will have a certain quality, depending on the condition and the quality of the soil it will change overtime but a severely deteriorated groundwater is not easy to recover.
Graphics by Nils von Heijne
The unseen - vitality & potential
The relational level as the soil. The density of relationships is important here. The life available in the soil, the microbiome as well as the insects and mychorizza will influence to what degree we will be able to access the nutrition of whatever lands on or in the soil. It is about how much compost we have fed our soil with, how big are the pieces that we have been able to degrade, if we have access to fine mulch with high energy value or if we are looking at soil with lots of sand, mud and branches will influence what we are able to unfold next. Different seeds will thrive in different soil. The plants will also change the soil, so a garden left alone will cycle its plants over time. All relationships are recursive. The soil is unseeable. We cannot know it by seeing it. It is hard to measure its potential other than as a result of what is coming out of it. There are many things we could measure but it is not straight forward to know what it’s for. A skilled horticulturist will be able to feel the soil quality however. Unseeable is not unknowable but it does take a different kind of knowing. A deeper listening, more full-bodied perhaps. The temporal aspects is important to consider, as well as how determined the system is. Certain seeds will create variations of certain plants depending on the conditions. Rarely if ever will a cucumber seed produce a carrot. Yet the carrot’s shape and size will depend greatly on the quality of the soil. And what it takes out of the soil to produce the carrot might be more or less conducive to whatever it is that will replace the carrot next season. There is teleology in the meadow yet the causes and effects are not easily determined - we are working in the complex and need to behave accordingly.
These two levels, essence and the soil level are summed up as the potential of the system. This is the upper bound of the system if you will. To make radical changes or transformations we must work here, and the work here is inherently implicit in its nature. It is work that takes time and creates conditions for big difference. The manifesting of that difference into the visible is not however given until we are actually engaged in the unfolding of it and begin to see what was planted take form (in-form if you will). There are many different ways of realising the potential and the energy stored in the system.
The visible realm - information and probability
When we keep moving up through the ground, up to the visible realms we will first start seeing the sprouts and later stems and leaves as the plants take shape. It is important to keep track of where we are in the life cycle and also feed the plant with the right type of nutrition to get it towards flowering or bearing fruit. This is ‘the process’. Each plant will have a process of growing dependent on the conditions it exists in. Internal (below) or external (above). Systems that have begun taking shape also have path dependencies. The shapes are limitations to the potential. These structures have a logic of their own and their shape determines part of who they will become and how it is possible for the plant to interact with their surroundings. Depending on the seeds we might be growing rose bushes in their spiring glory, or fast growing wheat to be harvested after just a short, rapid growth or perhaps a mighty oak that takes many lifetimes to truly flourish and come into its own right.
Ground level and up we are looking at aspects that are information. Limitations to the energy or potential that exist beyond the visible. We could also call them habits. Personal, collective and systemic. Psychological and structural.
The blooming flowers are even more determined than the sprouting seeds or the initial stems. These are the objects of desire. This is what we were longing for. What is visible in our lives, what we may become known for. We do need to care for the flowers, prune them as they start to wane. Be attentive to the flowering plant so that it may flower for longer. We also need to keep nurturing the ground it stands on both as it is in full bloom and as it withers. So that the ground may take us back and reutilise the energy as we start the process of getting closer to it and then reentering it. Perhaps we can do that withering joyfully through mentorship, spreading our nutrition, seeds and wisdom widely. That is if we are lucky. Perhaps the plant may flower again in another season in another way if it is a perennial that was cared for in the right way. Perhaps we will rejoin the unseen world and feed the potential of the new plants in the meadow.
When weeds appear that is an invitation to look at under what conditions the weeds are thriving. It is information about the health of the system or the direction of the system. Especially if the weeds are ‘unwanted’ this might be an invitation for us to explore how well our wants and thoughts are with the systems overall potential and whatever seems to be unfolding in it at this moment. How can we create space for either welcoming the needs or giving the system what it needs so the weeds no long fill a balancing purpose. There is a stance that is related to “whatever grows is supposed to be here”, our work is to care for the creation of good soil and increase our understanding of the system not necessarily a weed-free lawn. If we are on the latter project, that will likely result in constant addition of various components like synthetic fertiliser, pesticides or other components that will have consequences to the resilience of the system as a whole.
The weather comes in here. These are the ‘external’ conditions. They inform us. The direct and influence the energy or potential in the system. Depending on the climate where our meadow exists a ‘good’ meadow will look very differently. So will a thriving meadow. But we will leave that for another piece for now.
Everything in the visible realm can be seen as information. These are limitations to the potential or path dependencies. The information is the channel through which the potential can take shape. We cannot become whatever once we have planted a seed that has started to grow, the way we materialise our potential is directed, dependent on many aspects of the context. Working with rather than against ones fundamental make-up is preferable. If the structure is no longer suitable lets see how we can compost it, release the nutrition as learning so it can inform the next seed that lands in the soil.
Summing up
We are suggesting that these different vertical aspects of the meadow mapping can be summed up as energy and information. The aspects below the visibility line essence and soil are the potential of the system. These are personal, inter-personal and intersubjective relations that we can tap into to let the system take shape.
The above groundlevel aspects, the visible aspects are path dependencies, patterns that direct the energy and limit it. This is information. Whatever potential we are able to materialise is dependent on the structures, the forms we have available to us.
It is important to remember that the map is recursive. The soil informs the plants and the plants will change and increase the soil - both when they are healthy and when they are not. Finally it is clear that not everything in the map is necessarily what it seems. To discover both above and below ground aspects of each entity in the map and its relationship or exchange with the whole is very central to what this work is about.
Meadow mapping is a tool that Nils von Heijne and Amit Paul are developing as part of their work with Innrwrks. This framework is currently being piloted in personal coaching, group facilitation as well as in company work. If you are interested to find out more reach out. The tool will be unfolded in a series of articles on this Substack.