Wendell Berry's solving for pattern

When I read the book Ecological Literacy several years back, I did not anticipate that Wendell Berry's essay on Solving for Pattern (free pdf download) would stick with me endlessly. It remains one of the most profound essays I have ever read. I took notes when I reread it the first time which I'll share with you here. This will serve as a preliminary to a praxis I'm evolving to facilitate solving for pattern using some of the insights from actor-network theory.

Wendell Berry tells us there are three kinds of solutions:

1. Bad Solutions that cause a ramifying set of new problems (like warming a wilderness clearing at night with a small campfire that starts a raging forest fire)
2. Bad Solutions that immediately worsen the immediate problem (like compounding the difficulty of moving forward by removing the wheels to lighten the load)
3. Good Solutions that function in harmony with larger patterns (like composting to generate nutrients enriched soil and reduce the mass of disposed waste)

He then details attributes of this third kind of "good solutions":

• The solution accepts given limits of the situation, rather than becoming far fetched or expansive
• The solution accepts the discipline involved rather than imposing foreign disciplines
• The solution improves balance and symmetries rather than pursuing singular improvements at the expense of other facets
• The solution solves more than one problem rather than tackling a complex situation in piecemeal fashion
• The solution satisfies a whole range of criteria rather than optimizing, idealizing or specializing what gets satisfied
• The solution makes a clear distinction between biological and mechanical order rather than perceiving natural dynamics as machines to fix
• The solution incorporates wide margins so the whole is not jeopardized by failure of one component, rather than setting up a cascading system failure
• The solution realizes a right proportion, rather than going for a maximum gain, overkill and heavy handed solutions
• The solution is affordable rather than making individuals rich and forcing others to overspend
• The solution occurs in place and at work within the organism rather than remotely, abstractly or ideally
• The solution understands the minds, bodies and environment as one organism rather than separate entities
• The solution is good for each part as well as for the whole, rather than exploiting weaknesses and vulnerabilities
• The solution is in harmony with good character rather than pursuing novelty, fashion, greed or pride

More than two year ago, I wrote a persistently popular post titled Solving for pattern which explores the cognitive obstacles to this praxis. Last week I realized that we make solving for pattern difficult for ourselves when we picture situations comprised of objects, people and other things. We effectively "black box" all those interactive interests which spawn invisible connections to the other "things". However, when we picture the assemblages of interests in flux, we've set ourselves up to solve for pattern easily. I explore this insight further in my next post.