The Seed of Story

How we can use nature’s flower of life and the principles of Holodynamics to create compelling stories and characters.

We all know it when we see it. A compelling script with a story world with more depth than we can digest in one viewing... A dynamic scene that draws out our emotion to the point of tears or anger... Characters so well crafted that they stay with us long after the credits roll...

While there is no magic formula to a great story; all great story imitates or informs great life. In our world there is a pattern, a design prevalent in all of physical life, including ourselves.   A framework that, if followed, will greatly enhance every story and fully realize every character.

It is the template that springs matter forth into expression and manifestation. I believe we can use this clue from nature to improve the quality of our storytelling.  It will fully inform the world of our story and organically generate the depth of our characters.  

THE FLOWER OF LIFE

The ‘Flower of Life’ is the most prevalent pattern in the natural world. It is found in everything from plants to galaxies. From it, the platonic solids that form all matter spring forth. It is the template of creation itself. Indeed,  it is the pattern that we ourselves are formed from.

The best example of the flower of life can be found in our own origin. From the moment of our creation this is the pattern at the heart of our origin. For those that don’t remember, here’s how we start...

An egg is fertilized by sperm to form a spherical whole. Here is the flower of life development side by side with our initial stages of life:


As you can see from the intial sphere we subdivide into two, then four cells and so on. To create the seed of life, you follow the same process...

Virtually all physical manifestation follows this simply pattern.  All platonic solids, which create all physical life can be formed from this pattern as well. Scientists have confirmed that this patterns is behind life in development from the quantum level to galaxy formation.

You can continue this pattern and extend it out by adding more circles and discover more detailed patterns by researching The Flower of Life. For our purposes we are going to stop at ‘The seed of life’ which is created by subdividing the first circle and adding a circle that shares the same radius with its neighbors a total of six times to arrive at this.
                               


Now that we have the pattern, lets use it to flesh out our characters and in doing so, our story world. We’re going to use this simple shape to completely define everything about our characters. To do so, we have to look to holograms.

HOLODYNAMICS

You can find the complete definition of how holograms are formed with lasers and plates, here Hologram. For our purposes, let’s move to what is possible with them and the effect they produce.

In a hologram, you can look at any small piece of it and see the whole.
If you break it apart, and shined a laser into it, it would retain the image of the whole. A similar concept is that you could take any cup of ocean water and within it, it contains the elements necessary to recreate the whole.  This principle can also be found inside our brain. The protein strings that store memory act in a holographic way.

In his book Holodynamics, V. Vernon Woolf, MD lays out a whole new approach to life, consciousness and self. Holodynamics views reality as a coherent, dynamic, living, holographic information system whose structure is intimately connected with human consciousness.

It’s a comprehensive system that combines everything from Information Systems to quantum physics to spirituality. More can be found on it here Holodynamics.

One of the most interesting aspects of holodynamics is the principle that there is a common order to the development of our mind and thus, our life. He has defined six stages of development in which we experience life. To better illustrate this, we’re going to use the pattern of creation, the seed of life...

Let’s draw the anchor center circle and call that the TOTAL SELF.


The First stage of development is the PHYSICAL STAGE. It is in this stage that we experience our physical surroundings. Our primal instincts arise and inform this aspect of our mind. Safety or fear, life or death, hungry or fed. Our senses rule this stage and its only imperative is to survive. We will call this the PRIMAL SELF.

So lets take add the first circle to the center one to represent this physical stage:



The Second stage of development is the PERSONAL STAGE. This stage reveals the mind’s perception of the self. Body image, self confidence, as well as the intentions behind thoughts and action. Fears and desires spring from this stage. Personal preferences inform the ego which rules this stage of development.

Let’s add another circle to our unfolding seed of life and call it personal. 


The Third stage of development is the RELATIONSHIP STAGE. In this stage we recognize “others” and enter into living relationship with them. These relationships provide contrast for the experience of duality to manifest. We utilize duality to create preference and prejudice. Interactions in this stage lead to self definition and external judgment.

Lets add a third circle to the unfolding design and we can start to see the model. 





The Fourth stage of development is the GROUP / SYSTEMS STAGE. In this stage we interact with group dynamics and concepts and form this aspect to our experience in our mind. These systems can be small, like a family system or large like a the church or race mind. Nationality springs from this stage.

Adding the circle of group systems to our design, can you see how the stages beginning to build on complexity? How all the spheres of mind inform one another?



The Fifth stage of development is the PRINCIPLE STAGE. From this stage we come to form our beliefs and understanding about our experience. Our relationship in contrast with others as well our participation in group dynamics leads us to catalog our experience into principles we feel govern life (or should).

Adding the principle circle to the design and we have just one circle left. 


The Sixth and last stage of development is the UNIVERSAL STAGE. In this stage, the self that has begins to take all the preceding stages and apply them to all people everywhere in love and understanding and allowance. We recognize the synchronistic and unity of all life everywhere.
It is here the notion and understanding of a higher power and in all its forms. God, Christ, Source.
The evolution of humanity has led us to this point throughout history. Our religions at their best have proclaimed it. Our science is beginning to discover it and our technology has unconsciously created it. We interact with and inform the whole while allowing being informed by it.


Adding this last circle to our model for storytelling and we can see now by using it, we can create fully informed stories with fully realized characters. Of course, not every character and every story is going to fully present itself in every circle of development. That’s the point, the lack or denial of one aspect of self often makes the best story or most vivid character.

You can start anywhere with any character or the greater story itself. Take the principle of love for example and you can work it from a larger story perspective work it through your main character. Does he love himself in the personal circle or is he mad at God in the universal circle because his wife, represented by the relationship circle died leading to the physical circle and so on.  

Sometimes whole genres center on only one circle. Much of the allure of horror films and stories is that the story stays focused on the physical stage. Life or death. Survival. On the other end of the spectrum is stories life Forrest Gump or Avatar that fully deal with all stages of development. All circles of life.

More importantly, working story in this way allows the storyteller a place to put the sometime overwhelming stream of ideas and observations. The greatest benefit with the Seed of Story is the inherent understanding that comes when you begin to become more aware of how this impacts your own life. And becoming and sharing more of ourselves is the imperative behind storytelling itself.