THINGS WORK WHEN WE ARE MINDFUL OF HOW PARTS FUNCTION AND RELATE AS A WHOLE
The core of a functional approach is computation—evaluating the functions of all parts.
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Key traits:
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Uses immutability (functions can’t change once created).
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Relies on pure functions (same input always gives the same output).
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Emphasizes pathways. Scenarios are planned in advance. A situation is read, a response is calculated, and a function is selected to execute it.
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It’s easy to focus only on function. Yet even fully functioning parts can fragment when they lose sight of the whole.
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Emergence: When parts combine, they create new functions that do not exist in the individual parts.
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Nonlinearity: Small changes in the beginning can lead to massive, completely unexpected results later. This is called the butterfly effect.
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Complex Interactions: As the number of connections between parts grows, the total system becomes too difficult to calculate fully.
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Information Limits: We never have exact data on every single starting condition or outside force.
Examples
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Water Molecules: Knowing how a single H₂O molecule acts does not let you predict the exact shape of a splashing wave or ice crystals without seeing the whole system.
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The Brain: You can study a single neuron, but you cannot predict a specific human thought or memory just from that piece.
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Weather: We understand air and heat, but tracking every wind current to predict rain weeks away is impossible.
The ability to anticipate comes from reading the relationships between the parts of the whole, not from knowing how individual parts function.
Insight comes from the relationship of the whole, not from a reduction to the parts.
The whole is not the sum
of its parts. It's the
relationship
between them.
Be mindful of how functional parts relate as a whole.
Feel how all parts of the body connect as a whole. Add awareness of everything around you. Let go of any conditioned reliance on what you know functions. Relax into an alert awareness of connection. Without thought, anticipate mini adjustments for a dance, a contest of anticipation.
Less about basketball - adult series (15)
Wed 29 Jan
|Loreto College - St Albans
Adults without really knowing how to play basketball play to feel more human than machine.
Time & Location
29 Jan 2025, 18:00 – 19:00
Loreto College - St Albans, Hatfield Rd, St Albans AL1 3RQ, UK
Guests
About the event
@6 - 7pm Loreto College (St Albans)
Please use the gate off Upper Lattimore Road. https://maps.app.goo.gl/SRSj5V2hyjrAbDeE8
Sports have historically been at the center of a cultural clash between individualistic, maverick, frills players who resist control and those who adhere to efficient, attritional, system-based, functional styles. With a growing emphasis on player welfare and the desire to generate more "Wow" moments for social media, many sports are adjusting their rules to diminish the success of attritional functional approaches. A new playing style is emerging, where players time their movement in relation to each other to open and close space. This approach not only lowers the risk of severe injuries and minimizes the likelihood of fouling out, but it also encourages those thrilling "Wow" moments that engage and captivate audiences.
Coaching relational teams demands a distinctly different strategy. Most sports coaches are trained to deconstruct their sport into specific, measurable functions, to…
SkillsofWow.org is the governing body for those who coach the skills of Wow.