Winter

The seasons of the Periodic Table

Filled with ancient dogmatism and cranky refusal to consider anything which can be perceived as new, conservatism is the order of the day in Developmental Objects? during winter phases of The Pattern. Some perfectly valid changes may be rejected strictly for the sake of stodgy tradition.

Manifestions of Winter: characters, covenants, skills and traits

Winter characters are careful and intolerant even though their circumstances often require change. Winter souls are often cold as they face their own inadequacies head-on. Winter bodies tend to be stiff and unyielding. And winter minds are often bound to the very traditions which prevent them from solving their most vexing conundrums.

Winter Covenants are dogmatic (about their oaths in the case of Winter CreedHolds?; about their liturgies in the case of Winter ChapelHolds?; or about their governance in the case of Winter RectorHolds?) and loathe to change. Long-time members restrict the input of newer members. Decisions made long ago, however, force it to accept the internal dissent which will one day mean some of its members will start their own orders.

Winter skills embody the most fundamental flaws of their current balance. Winter traits are ready for change, but hard to make the actual change itself.

Eco-Relation

Winters are only associated with a single eco-relation:

• Synnecrotic Conflict (-,-) Because the problems of conflict and synnecrosis (mutually death-dealing ecological relations, think of it as the opposite of symbiosis) are well understood, most emergent entities recoil from development which leads to winter even when that is the thing which they most need.

Seasons of the Periods

There are four winters in the final two periods (the Institutional Balance and the Interindividual Balance) of the periodic table:

• The first and second winters are very internal and non-public in their crises
  • The first is interally political
  • The second is privately destructive
• The third and fourth winters are more open and public in their crises
  • The third is the minor crisis which forces answering questions internally (even though the crises have very public manifestations, they can only be resolved internally)
  • The fourth is the major crisis which can only be resolved by a shedding of the old "skin."

There are two winters in the middle two periods (the Imperial Balance and the Interpersonal Balance) of the periodic table:

• The first is the minor crisis which forces answering questions internally (even though the crises have very public manifestations, they can only be resolved internally)
• The second is the major crisis which can only be resolved by a shedding of the old "skin."

There is one winter in the early two periods (the Incorporative Balance and the Impulsive Balance) of the periodic table:

• A very public demonstration of the changes which are needed (even as they are rejected) constitutes the major crises of the first winters

There is one winter in the Prenatal Balance because, although the -1 period does not have a clear meaning for season, the first major crisis (helium) can be viewed in a sense as a longing for such a meaning.

See also Synnecrotic Conflict, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter Covenants.

— Scotus - 19 May 2001