We Are Not Machines

Can we operate from a living systems approach to... everything?

The age of treating ourselves and each other like machines is ending. 

It’s up to us to create a better way.

If you’re reading this, I expect that I don’t need to explain to you the impact of living in a mechanistic worldview—the one where we’re all expected to operate with the precision and consistency of machines. But it’s worth considering how deeply this mindset affects us, and why it’s time to shift towards a more life-affirming approach.

Let’s look at this from three perspectives: internal, interpersonal, and institutional.

Internally, many of us push ourselves relentlessly, expecting our bodies and minds to produce consistent energy and output, day in and day out. I have struggled with this my entire life as I’ve had chronic fatigue and chronic pain since I was a child. It’s only in retrospect, after years of systematizing my life and working with my nervous system, that I can see the unique way my life has been shaped by these challenges. I no longer suffer from chronic fatigue, but I realize now how harsh and judgmental I have been toward myself for not being able to function like a machine, as so many people around me seemed to. The gift of that struggle, however, is that I learned—slowly, intensely—how to live as if I’m alive. How to structure my life, my business, and my world to work like a living system.

Interpersonally, we often extend these mechanistic expectations to others—whether it’s colleagues, friends, or family. We can get frustrated when people don’t respond immediately, or don’t perform as we expect, and in doing so, we objectify them, treating them more like cogs in a machine than like the living beings they are.

Institutionally, we see this mindset play out in the larger systems we interact with daily. Social media, for example, thrives on our constant input—our attention, our content—and it feeds off of us like a machine. The same can be said for the economy, which many of us dream of transforming into something more equitable and humane. Yet, we often feel disempowered, unsure how to start creating alternative models that align with our values.

So, what if instead of trying to operate like machines, we embraced the idea of living systems—systems that flow, evolve, and regenerate? This is how The Living World is, and it takes continuous practice to remember that we are not separate from The Living World.

In my life, a combination of circumstances—including over a decade of deep study of living systems dynamics, my love for the living world, and my experience with chronic pain and fatigue—has required me to proactively innovate my life’s systems to work and flow like a true living system, like a healthy garden. I’ve used technology and machines, soft skills and rituals, and the power of relationships and proactive team dynamics to help myself, my family, my colleagues, and my clients thrive.

I’ve done this so successfully, contributing to significant and deep shifts in the lives and work of my partners, colleagues, and clients, that I’ve been urged to make this an explicit service I’m introducing to the world, called Systems for Flow. Through this service, I provide support to help you identify points of friction, sluggishness, and frustration in your life and work, and create elegant solutions and dynamic systems that move your life closer to what you truly want it to be.

Unlike the rigid, linear models we’ve been taught to follow, life-flowing systems align with how energy naturally flows, how our priorities shift, and how our bodies and minds need to rest and renew. They honor the rhythms of life, and in doing so, they allow us to thrive.

At the heart of life-flowing systems is the principle of regeneration—the life-death-life cycle that all living systems must go through. Just as a forest must experience death and decay to make way for new growth, our systems, too, must be willing to let go, to compost old ways of being, so that new, more vital ways can emerge. This isn’t just about making things more efficient; it’s about actualizing potential and living in a way that honors the full cycle of life.

The beauty of this approach is that it’s grounded in living systems theory, a field of study that I’ve been immersed in for over a decade. The principles that make living systems thrive—such as diversity, interdependence, and resilience—are universal, and they can be applied dynamically to everything, because everything is a whole system, nested within other systems.

Now, you might wonder how technology fits into this picture. After all, technology often feels like the epitome of the mechanistic world. But here’s the thing: technology itself is created by us—living systems—and increasingly, it can operate in service of life-flowing systems. When used with intention, tools like scheduling software, project management software, personal finance tools, and AI can absolutely enhance our ability to live in alignment with our natural rhythms and priorities.

The key is to ensure that technology supports us, rather than we becoming enslaved to it. Our use of technology should increase our ability to be present with what matters most—whether that’s spending time with loved ones, tending to our own well-being, or connecting with the ecosystems and communities we belong to. It should support us in living fully, not drain our energy or distract us from what’s truly important.

This is where my new service offering, Systems for Flow, comes in. I’ve developed this service to help you identify where in your life and work you’re experiencing friction and frustration, and to support you in developing bespoke systems that align with your unique energy flows and priorities. The outcomes? More ease, greater flow, and a deeper sense of alignment with what truly matters to you.

If this resonates with you, I invite you to stay tuned for the upcoming essays in this series, where I’ll explore practical applications of life-flowing systems in more detail. 

A photo from my second trimester of pregnancy, with one of the oak trees in my home. The wisdom of these trees are a source of constant guidance and wisdom, as is the spiralic strange embodied journey of parenthood. Photo by Thais Aquino