Constitutive networks, together with flexible networks, form the layered representation of our system’s organisation, and supply us with a symbolic model through which we are able to experience and share our world in a consistent way. In bio-analysis, constitutive networks refer to those dimensions in the layered model of our self-definition which tend to be structural explanations, as opposed to flexible networks which depend more upon interaction and energy exchange.
For practical purposes, we name the constitutive networks body, mind and spirit. Body is the field observable as physical matter, mind is the organisational structure according to which our identity is maintained, and spirit is an entity which defines what is unknown or unknowable and is beyond the influence of our individual identity. These three ‘structural fields’ are interconnected through the activity of two ‘functional fields’. The field between body and mind utilises emotional energy to inspire ego-activity. This field is thus equal to the ego or what we consciously interpret as being ‘I’. The field between mind utilises and spirit utilises feeling to encourage interaction between our coherent identity and the unknown; to see ourselves as a total self in communication with an independent unknown. Ego and soulare thus more ‘individual’ and adjustable than body, mind and spirit, and can be seen as flexible networks. Ego and soul are therefore more easily influenced by inner and outer variation.
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