Transitions from a Systemic Perspective: Quantum Change and Liminality
摘要
This chapter focuses on the symbolic constructions of major transitions between distinct forms-of-process. Transformation processes are discussed under the umbrella term of quantum change. Humans with their dual environments form highly specific, complex adaptive systems, but the changes in these systems are often interpreted according to the simple rules of linear logic inherent in Newtonian physics, and not to those of systemic causation. Rites of transition have long served as the traditional frameworks for our systemic understandings of change. The birth experience as the prototype of major life transitions serves as a source domain for an important core conceptual metaphor of the changes. Explorations on Grof’s birth matrices contribute to our understandings on the embodied metaphorical conceptions of quantum change as moments of rebirth and re-creation. These ecstatically miracle moments stand out of the usual spatial, temporal, and relational frameworks coded in our symbolic universe.