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The Grab Bag - Pattern Integrity

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with New Paradigm Partners LLC EB #1326335

I want to do something a bit different for this edition of the Grab Bag, and that is to introduce you to a concept I ran across back in the 60's, one that has stayed with me and bemused me ever since.

 

It's the idea of Pattern Integrity, and it comes from the amazing mind of R. Buckminster Fuller, the genius philosopher and inventor who gave us geodesic domes*, the idea of Spaceship Earth, and the Dymaxion automobile and house designs - very 60's stuff.

 

Anyhow, Pattern Integrity. Here's Claire Evans, writing in ScienceBlogs in 2008, with a great description:

 

Pattern Integrity"Imagine you have a length of nylon rope, which you splice into a length of cotton rope, then into another length of hemp rope. If you tie an overhand knot in the rope, and push it down, through all three kinds of ropes, the knot remains a knot. The material is irrelevant, because the knot is just a pattern that has a specific set of guidelines for itself. Fuller wrote that “a pattern has an integrity independent of the medium by virtue of which you have received the information that it exists.” That is to say, if you push the knot all the way to the end of the rope, until it falls off the end, there’s no more knot, but the pattern integrity of “knot” remains the same.

People, Fuller argued, are the same way: our cells constantly regenerate, leaving us rarely made up of the same stuff from one moment to the next. Our pattern integrity — our identity, if you will, or our personhood — never changes, even if the material substrate does: “every human is a unique pattern integrity temporarily given shape by flesh.”

 

I have spent countless hours down this rabbit hole ever since I first read Fuller, and while I haven't come up with any answers to the really big questions - like "What are we, really?" - the concept of Pattern Integrity has provided an interesting tool for thought, as well as considerable astonishment at its ubiquity all around us. Once you start looking, you see it everywhere.

 

*In another strange case of real estate synchronicity, I'm showing a dome house this afternoon.

Posted by
Mary & Dick

Mary & Dick Greenberg
New Paradigm Partners LLC
2601 S. Lemay Ave. #41
Fort Collins, CO 80525
970-689-4663
www.maryanddick.com

 

Data Source: IRES MLS

Comments (22)

Sheila Anderson
Referral Group Incorporated - East Brunswick, NJ
The Real Estate Whisperer Who Listens 732-715-1133

Good morning Dick. I hadn't heard that name in many years but your post takes me back and is true too.

Jul 30, 2017 07:25 AM
Ron and Alexandra Seigel
Napa Consultants - Carpinteria, CA
Luxury Real Estate Branding, Marketing & Strategy

Dick,

I love this concept, and I will share your post with Ron when he comes back.  It will be up for discussion next time we get together.  I love the synchronicity or your showing a dome house.  A

Jul 30, 2017 07:46 AM
Michael Jacobs
Pasadena, CA
Pasadena And Southern California 818.516.4393

Hi Dick -- Rabbit Holes and Dome Houses --- was that a John Updike novel?   Or am I confused?  Two separate questions...or maybe not.  

Jul 30, 2017 08:28 AM
Susan Haughton
Long and Foster REALTORS (703) 470-4545 - Alexandria, VA
Susan & Mindy Team...Honesty. Integrity. Results.

Where would we be, if it were not for rabbit holes?

Jul 30, 2017 09:24 AM
Chris Ann Cleland
Long and Foster Real Estate - Gainesville, VA
Associate Broker, Bristow, VA

I've never heard of pattern integrity but I am also intrigued now.  If I show my husband this blog, he'll be down that rabbit hole all week.  He loves to reseach concepts.

Jul 30, 2017 09:30 AM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Dick- you should have warned me of this so I would have eaten more blueberries last night for the dendrites.  I have not heard the name Buckminster Fuller in many many years. Should you visit this area, you might want to sneak a peek at this home in Manalapan. 

Jul 30, 2017 09:37 AM
Belinda Spillman
Aspen Lane Real Estate Colorful Colorado - Aurora, CO
Colorado Living!

Rabbit Holes sounds a bit scary to me.  Thankfully there are smart dudes like you to ponder the many puzzles of the world.

Jul 30, 2017 10:49 AM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Dick, as I popped in to get my dose of Grab Bag it is not what I anticipated nor expected. So on to a little deep thinking but before I go let me just say one of my favorite quotes from him was about Integrity:))

"If humanity does not opt for integrity we are through completely. It is absolutely touch and go each one of us can make a difference..."

 

 

 

Jul 30, 2017 11:39 AM
George Souto
George Souto NMLS #65149 FHA, CHFA, VA Mortgages - Middletown, CT
Your Connecticut Mortgage Expert

Dick OK now that you have confused me, I am going to try to give my brain a rest :)

Jul 30, 2017 12:05 PM
Anna "Banana" Kruchten
HomeSmart Real Estate - Phoenix, AZ
602-380-4886

OMG Dick you're going down memory lane with this grab bag - love it! I actually think I get this - which is scary that it kind of makes sense to me. So how to dome showing go?  I sold one of that type of homes years ago....quite interesting place.

Jul 30, 2017 02:23 PM
Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

I'm going to need to read this post a second time.  While reading through, I was completely overwhelmed with memories from my days in the 60s, when I created copious amounts of macrame art accompanied by raku pottery.

Jul 30, 2017 02:50 PM
Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

CONGRATULATIONS Dick, on having this blog FEATURED in the Old Farts Club group!    

Jul 30, 2017 02:51 PM
Joe Pryor
The Virtual Real Estate Team - Oklahoma City, OK
REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties

I had the pleasure of hearing Bucky Fuller when I was a college student. All his ideas didn't necessarily last in our culture but challenged us to adjust our thinking.

Jul 30, 2017 03:27 PM
Scott Godzyk
Godzyk Real Estate Services - Manchester, NH
One of the Manchester NH's area Leading Agents

That is alot to think about, I would like to see a dome house, i can say never been in one Dick Greenberg 

Jul 30, 2017 03:37 PM
Susan Haughton
Long and Foster REALTORS (703) 470-4545 - Alexandria, VA
Susan & Mindy Team...Honesty. Integrity. Results.

Congratulations, you've been featured in Bananatude!

Jul 30, 2017 07:51 PM
Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate
John L Scott Market Center - Birkenfeld, OR
"Your Local Expert!" 503-739-3843

What an intricate web you weave! I can see why "Sensei Grasshopper" was the group you formed. My, but you are a complex guy. 

Jul 31, 2017 07:36 AM
Beth Atalay
Cam Realty and Property Management - Clermont, FL
Cam Realty of Clermont FL

Good morning Dick, my philosophy professor in college had a long discussion about this very subject, that was the last time I heard of Bucky Fuller till now. 

Jul 31, 2017 08:24 AM
Paul S. Henderson, REALTOR®, CRS
Fathom Realty Washington LLC - Tacoma, WA
South Puget Sound Washington Agent/Broker!

I had to change my whole thought process this morning while reading this blog post. What a refreshing way to look at things and I thoroughly enjoyed it Dick Greenberg 

Aug 01, 2017 04:50 AM
Grant Schneider
Performance Development Strategies - Armonk, NY
Your Coach Helping You Create Successful Outcomes

Good afternoon Dick - you gave us something to consider.  I guess I never spent much time on philosophy.

Aug 01, 2017 12:19 PM
Nina Hollander, Broker
Coldwell Banker Realty - Charlotte, NC
Your Greater Charlotte Realtor

Good morning, Dick... I really believe what you said here... fundamentally we don't change, we are who we are. We can change habits and even our physical appearance, but not our underlying personhood.

our identity, if you will, or our personhood — never changes, 

Aug 02, 2017 03:40 AM