We can think of rhythms and fractals as excellent examples of the general semantics principle "relative invariance under transformation" (structural similarity) - a way of saying that "something or some activity "A" is somewhat like some other thing or activity "B"". We can also think of rhythms as supreme examples of "fractals". Fractals represent repeating forms, and activities that involve a range of scales extending from indefinitely tiny sub-atomic particle-waves, and possibly "strings" - through diverse aspects of our daily living, to the challenges of international relationships, to the infinitely large pulsating Universe of interacting energy systems. Structuring situations based on general semantics principles - including "rhythms" and "fractals", can be a very useful and self-conscious addition to our efforts to make sense of things; and how we can benefit from paying attention to the diversity and differences in our own rhythms, those of others, and those of the world around us.

If you are wondering what rhythms have to do with general semantics, think of Korzybski's premise:

If we accept the non-identity principle that: as far as we know, no structure is identical with itself from one instant of time to another - the notion of rhythms follows in terms of "patterns of structural change".

Rhythms involve times, change, movement, objects, processes, activities, and awareness. We can think of rhythms as "patterns of change, patterns of movement, patterns of activity, patterns of behavior", and so on. Some terms related to rhythms include "waves, frequency, vibration, variation, oscillation, pulsation, undulation, ups and downs, coming and going, pace, speed, routine, ritual, habit, how often, and others".

Korzybski made several predictions over 70 years ago. You might remember these two: "If we live in a modern world, but keep the 'emotional attitudes' of primitive bygone days, then naturally we are bound to be semantically unbalanced, and cannot be adjusted to a fundamentally primitive 'civilization' in the midst of great technical achievements."(Science And Sanity, page 727) And this one: " …it becomes obvious that mankind represents an interdependent time-binding class of life, and any group of people who posses physical means for destruction and still preserve infantile standards of evaluation become a menace to the culture of the whole race." (Science nd Sanity, page 557) (You might think of these two predictions the next time you have to be at an airport 2 hours before your flight, and have to remove your shoes, or other items of clothing, etc.)

Translating these two predictions in terms of rhythms, we might notice present, and past national and international conflicts, in the context of the increasing pace of technological developments (radio and television, cell phones, computers, global positioning systems, satellites, bombs, missiles, organ transplants, etc.), compared with the slow pace of improvements in managing our relationships with ourselves, and with others, near, and far. Our primitive emotional attitudes have hardly changed. With technological devices, a single individual can now do grave harm to many others. Developing a sensitivity to differences in rhythms provides us with a tool - a way of thinking about things - that we can use to improve our emotional attitudes and change a great deal of our self-destructive, and insane patterns of behavior. We might recall that the system-discipline "general semantics" was developed by Korzybski out of his concern for the sanity of the species -- increasingly threatened by the widening gap between technological improvements and efforts to improve the way we think about things.

Let's do some visualizing: There are over 6 billions of us…no two identical. Imagine the many diverse and habitual patterns of behavior that we label "culture": visualize different wants, interests, routines, attitudes, beliefs, values, standards, etc. that guide the different patterns of activities and behaviors among different cultures and individuals: Living in one increasingly interconnected human world --whether we are near to or far from each other, we can predict that from time-to time, we will 'step on each other's toes'…physically and metaphorically. The more of us, the more interactions, the more challenges and problems we can expect. We could theorize that increasing our sensitivity to our unavoidable difference in rhythms could help a great deal. Over the centuries, we have created rules, regulations, policies, laws, etc., to help us minimize potential clashes resulting from differences in our rhythms. But if the world is changing around us, and we do not re-visit old beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in the light of new information; if we remain insensitive to the diverse patterns of change, new developments and new demands of our modern world, many of our laws and rules, attitudes and behaviors will work against our best efforts, and sometimes, might even add to our problems.

Different structures express different rhythms. Inertia and momentum are physical principles that we can translate to "resistance to change in rhythms". It usually takes less time, less energy, less resources, to move a smaller thing than a bigger one. It is usually easier to locate (see, hear, smell, touch, etc.,) bigger structures than smaller one. It usually takes less time and less effort for a smaller structure to change directions, and to change directions more often, than it takes for a bigger structure. There is more resistance to change in the field of religion than there is in the field of science. A traditional army is massive compared with a single individual. It usually has a longer history of regulations, routines, ways to do things, patterns of behavior, etc. In terms of rhythms, a bigger army is less flexible in changing patterns of behavior and movements, than a lone individual.

Thinking in terms of rhythms, inertia, and momentum, we can make sense of challenges more traditional armies face when doing battle with less regulated, faster moving, sometimes 'invisible' lone individuals. From another point of viewing (still in terms of inertia, and momentum): Think of the difficulty each one of us experienced in changing a pattern of behavior, a routine, a habit -- even when we wanted to…then visualize trying to move millions of individuals to other ways of doing things? The rhythms of governments, administrations, regimes, etc., are not identical with the rhythms of the culture or the society. Changing a group in charge does not necessarily change the rhythms (routines, etc.) of a culture. On a broader scale: How often are we aware of the pace of improvements in developing instruments of war, compared with the pace of improvement, in understanding others, understanding ourselves, negotiation, and learning to compromise? How do we win a 'war on poverty' by ignoring the rhythm of population growth and technological innovations? (Please keep in mind: This is not about politics, but about human relationships in terms of differences in rhythms.)

For a change of pace: Imagine pushing a child in a swing. We will find it more effective, more efficient to push when the swing is in a certain position. In a world of change, it makes sense to think of "timing" - timely adjusting our patterns of behavior to better manage a familiar or unfamiliar situation. It makes sense to change our driving patterns in the winter months, making allowances for different road conditions, and stopping distance. In driving in general, it makes life saving sense to give other drivers time to adjust their driving rhythms when we change lanes, enter traffic, pull over, and so on? Our organisms have built in recuperating times. How often do we value this and give ourselves rest times to recover from the stress and strain of modern living? We could make sense of the increasing ill health of a society resulting from individual's insensitivity to their organism's rhythms. Some of us might have road maps in our cars that are over 10 years old. How often are we aware that we keep our 'maps' (language, meanings, ideas, opinions, beliefs, attitudes, feelings, standards, ways of 'seeing 'things, etc.,) relatively unchanged, while the happenings they are about have changed significantly, or might no longer even exist? Some of us are gifted talkers -some of us like to listen: How often do the gifted talkers give others a chance to express their views? We could make sense of some of the increasing confusion, anger, impatience, distress, and violence in the world, by relating this to rhythmic differences: Things usually change at a faster pace than the slower pace of change involving what we believe, or think we know and understand.

I invite you to visualize this: You are watering the lawn; the hose stretches across the driveway; someone drives up and stops the car on the hose; water stops flowing. Neurons, lungs, heart, digestive systems, etc., operate at their own rhythms. Applying the relative invariance under transformation principle - veins, capillaries, etc., like hoses, transport substances around our organisms. How often do we take time to think that the stress and strain (structural deformation due to application of a force) of daily living, block or harmfully increase the healthy rhythmic transport of substances in and out of our systems? Do we sometimes, insensitive to the differences in rhythms between our psychological processes (meeting deadlines, goals, objectives, etc.), ignore organismic patterns of change required to meet these demands?

There are differences in rhythms between conscious operations, self-conscious operations, and the special general semantics self-conscious operation we call "consciousness of abstracting". To improve anything we need to be aware that we are doing something, and what, and how we are doing whatever we happen to be doing. A way of 'measuring' for ourselves our internalization of, and the influence this principle (consciousness of abstracting) has on our living, could be formulated in terms of rhythms and the calculus: How often…with what frequency, are we aware that what we see, hear, understand, believe, know, and so on, does not include all? How often are we aware of the beliefs, values, standards, expectations, fears, etc., that determine our individual way of making sense of anything? If we are not so aware…How can we value other ways? How can we try other ways?

There are particular laws, rules, and regulations that can be considered out of date. They made sense and were useful at earlier times - but things change. They deserve to be abolished - or at least re-evaluated. Visualize this: All over the world, for one week, there are no laws, rules, police, or military forces. If you find this scenario somewhat overwhelming, let's fractally scale this down. Imagine what you might observe at traffic intersections, on the highways, in apartments where some individuals following their own rhythms, decide to play music at a disturbingly loud volume while others want to sleep? We can make sense of laws, rules, regulations, policies, etc., as attempts to preempt the chaos that would result from the diverse, and unregulated differences in individual rhythms.

This has been a brief overview of rhythms, differences in rhythms, and fractals, as analytic and integrating tools we can use to make sense of things. But to use a tool, one has to be aware of the tool, become familiar with the tool, and recognize opportunities to use the tool. In a Universe of rhythms, there are infinite numbers of ways to make sense. Different fields of activities represent different ways of making sense. We have our individual ways of making sense. Our anger, distress, disappointments, beliefs, expectations, knowledge, anxieties, frustrations, fears, hopes, joy, etc., depend on the way we make sense of things. The quality of our lives - including the degree of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, harmony and conflicts we experience in our diverse relationships with ourselves and others, in our homes, at work, among friends, etc., all have to do with our individual way of making sense. Unfortunately, we are usually not aware of how we contribute to the quality of our living, by the way we as individuals make sense of things.

General Semantics 'offers' one way: a way that takes into account patterns of change…natural and human made. We can, through awareness that we abstract, and through conscious abstracting (Visit "Conscious Abstracting" at endeavor to keep our maps (thoughts, beliefs, conclusions, theories, knowledge, fears, expectations, plans, etc.,) accurate, and up to date with respect to changing territories. Are you aware of your particular way of making sense? Are you aware of the standards, values, philosophy, beliefs, logic system, etc., that guide your way of making sense?