All posts by Gina Jarasitis

Dissipative Structures in the Fractal Universe

Being,

Emergence Through Instability
Living systems, creative processes, and even conversations are rarely in equilibrium. They are open, dynamic, and constantly exchanging energy and information with their surroundings. They are unstable, but productively so. In the Fractal Universe, instability isn’t a breakdown. It’s a gateway to emergence.

What Is a Dissipative Structure?
Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine studied how systems far from equilibrium can spontaneously organize into new, more complex forms. These emergent patterns are called dissipative structures, and they:

  • Require continuous energy flow to exist
  • Arise only in far-from-equilibrium conditions
  • Cannot be predicted by analyzing their parts in isolation
  • Often emerge through bifurcations, moments of instability that lead to transformation

From chemical reactions to ecosystems to societies, these structures show that order can arise from flow.

The Sparksphere as a Dissipative Structure
The Sparksphere, the basic fractal unit of the Fractal Universe, is a dissipative structure. Defined by its inner core and outer boundary, it operates recursively across scales and is inherently far from equilibrium.

It remains open to influence and exchange, responding not just to energy, but to emotion, attention, and meaning. Instability doesn’t break it, it animates it.

In motion, the Sparksphere metabolizes tension, reorganizes its internal geometry, and expresses new coherence across nested layers. A person under pressure, a community in flux, or a mind wrestling with paradox are all living Sparkspheres, transforming through instability.

Apply & Observe: You Are a Dissipative Structure
Nature’s most dynamic systems aren’t static. They pulse with tension, transform through chaos, and generate coherence through flow. This includes you.

Prigogine’s dissipative structures are not confined to chemistry or climate. They live in: organisms, households, relationships, creative breakthroughs, emotional turning points

  • When have you felt far from equilibrium—emotionally, mentally, socially?
  • What new pattern or insight emerged from that instability?
  • Can you sense how tension reorganized your internal geometry?

You are not a closed system. You are a Sparksphere in motion, alive with the potential to transform.

Where Instability Becomes Intelligence

Being, Reflection

Far From Equilibrium

Most people think of balance as the goal, equilibrium as the ideal. But what if the most creative systems in the universe are the ones that aren’t balanced?

In the Fractal Universe, far from equilibrium doesn’t mean broken. It means alive. It describes systems where the inside and outside conditions don’t match, where energy flows, change happens, and new patterns emerge.

Your body is one such system. On a freezing winter day, it maintains warmth. It metabolizes, adapts, and evolves, not because it’s in equilibrium, but because it’s far from it.

What Makes a System Far From Equilibrium?

These systems are:

•            Open to energy and matter exchange

•            Dynamic, constantly adapting

•            Driven by flows—heat, chemicals, emotion, information

•            Capable of spontaneous organization into new structures

They don’t resist change; they use it. Instability becomes a springboard for emergence.

Why It Matters

Far-from-equilibrium systems are everywhere:

•            A forest responding to drought

•            A conversation that shifts your worldview

•            A city adapting to migration

•            A person growing through grief

These systems don’t seek stasis. They seek coherence through motion.

Apply & Observe: Your Inner Weather

Think of a moment when your inner state didn’t match your outer environment.

•            Were you calm in chaos?

•            Overwhelmed in stillness?

•            Inspired in uncertainty?

What emerged from that tension? What new pattern began to form?