metapattern

is a pattern so wide-flung that it appears throughout the spectrum of reality: In clouds, rivers, and planets... in cells, organisms, and ecosystems... in art and architecture, and politics.

Gregory Bateson coined the term Metapattern described by environmental scientist Tyler Volk in Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind. Metapatterns are, loosely, patterns of patterns. In other words, a pattern so wide-flung that it appears throughout the spectrum of reality: in clouds, rivers, and planets... in cells, organisms, and ecosystems... in art and architecture, and politics. They are functional universals for forms in space, processes in time, and concepts in mind. Volk describes ten such patterns: Spheres, Sheets/Tubes, Borders, Binaries, Centers, Layers, Calendars, Arrows, Breaks, and Cycles.' (wikipedia)Patterns of Patterns (Bateson, 1979)

metapattern, n.All

metapattern