A summary of what I took from Neil Theise’s Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness and Being (Spiegel & Grau, 2023). Back to What I’m reading.
Complexity as a science of being
Theise, a doctor and Buddhist practitioner, found that the medical, scientific and spiritual ideas he had gathered over the years fitted together. Complexity, he concludes, is “a science of being”: a way of understanding reality and our place in it.
How complex systems work
Complex systems sit between order and chaos. They are open-ended and always evolving, and what emerges from them can’t be predicted. They work through feedback loops, communication between their parts, and just enough randomness: too much and nothing organises itself; too little and the system behaves like a machine, unable to adapt.
Interwoven, not separate
We don’t walk through the world as observers; in his words, “we are interwoven with it”. The same patterns repeat at every scale, from particles to cells to societies. Separateness is real, but so is oneness, and neither is more true than the other.
Consciousness as fundamental
Drawing on complexity, quantum physics and contemplative traditions (Buddhism, Kabbalah, Vedanta and Shaivism), Theise suggests that the brain doesn’t produce consciousness but receives it. Awareness comes first, and everything else arises within it.
What it means for how we live
The afterword is the part that stayed with me most. Because every effect is local and no one knows what a small gesture might set in motion, there is always reason to take part rather than withdraw. However dire things look, a way forward may be just around the corner, and we may help bring it about.
Why it matters to me
Echoing Whitehead, Theise sees reality as “only process, interaction and relationship”. That deepened my sense of the “loving” in living, learning and loving systems: love as mutual, interconnected awareness, which is what life and the universe fundamentally are.
Theme: Love, compassion and social change
Topics: complexity, love and compassion