Everything in life is made up of Pattern

Excert for the book “Finding Your Center”

Everything in the mind and body and indeed most things in the world are made up of the pattern. However, the universe itself is permanent and ever-changing. It is these two opposite forces that at once make up the diversity and wonder of life and also create the pain and confusion that envelops it. Subconscious thought is not so much something below your awareness as it is rather a collection of non-cognitive thoughts that require a different way of thinking to access them.

The secret to greater control over your environment and your life lies in your understanding of how patterns work.
Let us first begin with the body. The human body is made up entirely of patterns. The layout of the different parts of the body follows distinct patterns. The cells that make up the body are also arranged in somewhat uniform patterns. The atoms that make up the cells are in themselves organized and governed by patterns.
These patterns are all interrelated in complex ways. Each of the parts and aspects of the body is all made up of the same basic fundamental materials. The basic elements all function is a similar way.
Even within the individual, we can see how very distinct parts of the body share similar properties. For example, a person’s appendages will be of relative size in proportion to the others. The size of the index finger will be proportional to its complement on the foot.
Physiological and emotional properties of the brain tend to be related in some degree to the physical properties of the body. There exists in traditional Chinese medicine a study of facial features that can predict surprisingly accurately the character dispositions of a person by the relative features on their faces. I will not delve too deeply into this because for most of us it still is in the realm of pseudoscience or mysticism.
Suffice it to say that even physical aspects of the body are not developed in a vacuum. They themselves are made up of combinations of more fundamental properties and patterns.
Equally the physiological tendencies of the body and how it reacts to outside influences also follow distinct patterns. Our emotional habits and tendencies evolve into somewhat predictable patterns. Our eating habits; our desires; our bowel movements; the rhythm of our heart and our breath follow patterns. Some of these patterns are hereditary and some are acquired.

Patterns and the mind

The mind itself is made up of a collection of interwoven, interrelated patterns. Our personalities, our attitudes, and our habits are all derived from pattern. Two large degrees the basis of our whole cognitive reality is pattern-based. Contemporary neurological and cognitive theory tells us that the mind is a collection of mental patterns. Memory is stored in collections of neurons. Although there are specialty areas within the brain it is generally agreed by most in the field that neurological regions are flexible and highly adaptable. In fact, memories are very complex elements made up of a multiple of attributes stored in many different locations throughout the brain. Memories do not operate in a vacuum. They interact and overlap. For example, the simple perception of a ball in the corner of your room is in itself made up of a myriad of other memories. In its attempts to sort things out or perhaps save space, with each new experience the mind goes through the process of association. In looking at the ball we don’t only see a new Red Ball rather we see a shape that is associated with the many pre-existing circular shapes within our mind. We also see color and this is associated with the memories of color within our mind. Perceived distance, size, shadow, texture, and a myriad of other decisions and assumptions are made as I look at the object. Linked with these are also other more fundamental neurological patterns related to more fundamental aspects of our being. These may include our current state of mind, associated past experiences, biases and cultural values.  In a real sense the mind does not experience the ball it interprets it.