Chaos and Open Space - Chaos and Learning

Chaos represents the growth point in any system. Chaos creates the Open Space in which the new can emerge. Obviously there are no guarantees here, for chaos can equally mark the end - in fact is always does. The central question is not about the ending, but rather the possibility of new beginning. Chaos may therefore be the essential precondition for all that is the truly new. No chaos, nothing new.

Gregory Bateson teaches us that the perception of difference is the essence of learning. Or in hos words, learning occurs when we notice "differences that make a difference." This deceptively simple phrase takes us in interesting directions, for it suggests, in the present context, that the function of chaos is to create the conditions in which real learning can take place.

Chaos creates the differences that make a difference, through which we learn.

Source: Harrison Owen
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