Total situations are, therefore, patterns in time as much as patterns in space” is a profound statement that implies every situation we encounter is not just a static entity existing in a particular location, but also a dynamic process that unfolds over time.
To understand this, let’s consider a simple example. Imagine you’re looking at a painting. The painting is a pattern in space – it has a certain shape, color, and texture that you can observe and analyze. But the painting is also a pattern in time. It has a history – it was created at a certain point in time, it may have changed over time due to aging or damage, and it will continue to exist and possibly change in the future.
This concept can be applied to any situation – a business meeting, a romantic relationship, a political conflict. All these situations have spatial patterns – they involve certain people in certain places, they have a certain structure and organization. But they also have temporal patterns – they have a past, a present, and a future; they evolve, change, and develop over time.
Understanding this can be crucial for personal development. For instance, if you’re trying to improve your skills or habits, it’s not enough to just focus on the current situation – what you’re doing right now, in this particular moment. You also need to consider the temporal pattern – how your behavior has changed over time, what trends and patterns you can observe in your past behavior, and how you can use this knowledge to predict and shape your future behavior.
In today’s fast-paced world, this idea is particularly relevant. We often get caught up in the immediate, spatial aspects of situations – the here and now. But if we want to make meaningful progress, be it in our personal lives, in our careers, or in society at large, we need to pay attention to the temporal patterns as well – the then and there, and the yet to come.
