Germinating
The final curved quality of the Gift of Set I will discuss is its capacity to create emergent systems. The best metaphor for this is that of plants germinating, which requires an interaction between a seed and a soil matrix. In addition to the direct metaphor of Germination, it also provides additional considerations, namely the need for an evidence procedure to see if the seed is sprouting and growing correctly and its impact on the broader ecology in which it operates.
Seed and Soil
Think of the seed quality as being the internal conditions of a given subject. As our primary concerns are ourselves, consider yourself a seed for now. The key to developing a good seed, a robust set of internal conditions, is finding and focusing on the highest leverage.
The first of these is patience. As a seed can stay dormant for extended periods, you must realize that your chance to unfold fully will not come immediately. Instead, focus on the internal changes you can make now so that when the time comes, you are more prepared for the challenges you will face.
Beyond patience, however, there are other internal qualities worth investing your time and will towards. These include optimizing your health, developing empowering habits and beliefs, developing practical skills related to your desires, gaining knowledge in general and of various models of the world, and developing the ability to focus your awareness for discrete periods of at least an hour or more. Developing these “seed” qualities will provide you with sustained capacities to Work while preparing you for your eventual greater unfolding.
Think of the soil qualities as the external conditions critical to your eventual unfolding. Regarding Soil, it is crucial to notice what you can and cannot control. As with actual soil conditions, you may be able to change certain qualities by adding or subtracting fertilizers and other chemicals; however, factors like geographic location, sunlight, and rainfall are outside of your direct control. This means focusing on what you can control, being aware of what you cannot, and coping with the unexpected. Among the most crucial soil conditions to invest your will and effort in are the creation of distraction-free places of Working, carefully choosing the people you surround yourself with in terms of your closest friends and companions, and the group of people beyond that circle that you work most closely with.
Evidence Procedure
Like the first sprout of a seed unfolding in its Soil, the first set of evidence procedures you will need is an early indicator. New sprouts can lead to surprises, such as discovering that the seed you thought was for a maple tree was actually for an orange tree, meaning you will need to adjust the Soil and your expectations rapidly. The questions to ask yourself in your projects are: what would you see early on for this project? This is so you can know which situations to push forward, which to lay off, and which to uproot completely.
There are other questions to consider as well. How would you know if you are succeeding with your Visions? What should you focus on to know you are headed in the right direction or that your plans are unfolding properly? What sort of impact will happen when your Vision takes root in reality?
Ecology
Frank Herbert offers one of the better definitions of Ecology for our purposes in his novel Dune. His definition is simple: ecology is the study of consequences. To truly engage in the process of Germination, you must become increasingly skilled at learning the nature of consequences.
Initially, your ability to do this will be reasonably short-term. This is how human perception is biased, as long-term consequences are outside the scope of in-the-moment survival. However, you must slowly do so, and the scale of your understanding must expand until you can understand the long-term consequences of the germinating systems you are setting in motion. This will allow you to take steps ahead to compensate for how your systems will demand your time and draw you from other activities.
Exercise
Using one of the system diagrams, look for one internal “seed” quality you can focus on developing and one external “soil” condition you can put in place. Then, see how these two conditions interact to form a closed-look system. What would that system look like? Does it have a name that you can use to refer to it? How would you know when this system came online and was adequately functioning? What does it create beyond itself in terms of the resources it will pull into itself and the output it will create?
Setemheb 