What Lies At The Core of Pattern Language, and Why Should We Care? (Carolyn Baker)

[Tace]

Dec. 28, 2010 (CarolynBaker.net) -- Many individuals involved with Transition, including Rob Hopkins, have become fascinated with the work of Christopher Alexander and his development of pattern language.

Long before there was a Transition model, Alexander was studying patterns and noticing that any built environment is like a language in that the patterns communicate problems we confront in our environments but also contain within them the solutions. The genius of pattern language is that it can be applied in myriad situations and models, the Transition model being one of millions.

Anyone drawn to the Transition or Permaculture models is likely to stand in awe of Alexander’s work and his capacity for envisioning the revolutionary potential in both models. Enchantment with Alexander’s discoveries and his writings about them is inevitable the more one grasps their profundity, but often overlooked is what Alexander calls the “luminous ground” on which the pattern language theory is built.

Vermont author Karen Speerstra has researched Alexander’s luminous ground concept which is described in depth in Book Four of his Nature of Order series. When one grasps the implications of Alexander’s understanding of luminous ground, one must also acknowledge that at its core, pattern language is a theory based on profoundly spiritual principles. In her article “Our Luminous Common Ground,” commissioned by the Fetzer Institute, Speerstra extracts from The Nature of Order a number of statements from Alexander indicative of the place the sacred holds in his world view.

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http://worldnewstrust.com/all-content/what-lies-at-the-core-of-pattern-language-and-why-should-we-care-carolyn-baker.html

[aquart]

1. ?

[Sinistrous]

2. This reminds me of Alan Sokal

"Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity"

The flowery language quoted in the OP hints that "pattern language", etc. is equally valid.