We first heard about fractals and social change from activist adrienne maree brown, who made it one of the cornerstones of her book Emergent Strategy: > “Emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions”—I will repeat these words from Nick Obolenksy throughout this book because they are the clearest articulation of emergence that I have come across. In the framework of emergence, the whole is a mirror of the parts. Existence is fractal—the health of the cell is the health of the species and the planet. > (p. 13). AK Press. Kindle Edition. > Small is good, small is all. (The large is a reflection of the small.) > (p. 41). AK Press. Kindle Edition. > A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. > (p. 51). AK Press. Kindle Edition. > In a fractal conception, I am a cell-sized unit of the human organism, and I have to use my life to leverage a shift in the system by how I am, as much as with the things I do. > (p. 54). AK Press. Kindle Edition. > We must create patterns that cycle upwards. We are microsystems. (We each hold contradictions—my shellac nails vs. my desire that no one do the toxic work of nail painting, my family travel vs. my desire not to use fossil fuels, etc.). Our friendships and relationships are systems. Our communities are systems. Let us practice upwards. > (pp. 59-60). AK Press. Kindle Edition. Here is a questionnaire that brown came up with to assess how well an individual or an organization is embodying fractal change: - Are you a perfect living realization of your values and beliefs? - Is your group a perfect living realization of your collective values and beliefs? - What are you embodying in your daily life? In your work? - Individual: Interview three people you trust in your extended community to give you feedback about how you show up in the world. Share you purpose/intention with each of them and ask them to hold that as they answer your questions. Sample questions: - What is my impact in the world? - In three words, what am I embodying? - Where do you think I could grow? - Organizational: - Interview three people in the community your group/organization serves to give you feedback based on how y’all show up in the world. Share with them what you think you are embodying and have a brief discussion on how much you are or are not embodying that. Can everyone in the organization state the vision and mission accurately, even passionately? (p. 185). AK Press. Kindle Edition. She also suggests the following tools for practicing fractal change in our personal lives: > We are always practicing something. Without intention, we are usually practicing what the dominant society wants us to practice—competing with each other to be cogs in a system that benefits the owning class, vaguely religious, vaguely patriotic. The invitation here is to “transform yourself to transform the world” inside your collective or group work. Name your personal practices to each other within your group. This may include practices around decolonizing your life; studying Black feminist thinkers; living a zero-waste existence; practices around mindfulness and spirit, body health, and exercise; focusing; organizing life, or practices around being present with friends, family. Make it so that the relationships and formations you are in are places to practice liberation. > (p. 256). AK Press. Kindle Edition. One of the reasons we like Sociocracy as a governance system is that it is fractal by design. Everyone in a Sociocracy is organized into circles, and each circle embodies the qualities of equivalence and effectiveness that are sought after. Circles are double-linked to their neighbours through overlapping membership, so that groups can scale up fractally.