Archetypal Patterns Part One. Reconciling the Challenge pattern to the Guide pattern

Half your brain sees a hierarchy.

Deductive reasoning is a product of this.

Vertical. Sequential. Objective. Scientific. Hard facts. Details.

“Be for what is.”

The other half sees connectedness.

Intuition is a direct result.

Horizontal. Chaotic. Subjective. Relevant. Relationships. Big picture.

“Recognize the pattern.”

Intuition is a form of pattern recognition. Wordlessly it whispers, “I’ve seen this behavior before. I know what happens next.”

We call these whispers “hunches,” “gut feelings”, “premonitions.”

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is what happens when these whispers get too loud.

We are pleased when a mystery is solved.

Another way of saying this is, “We are pleased when the Challenge pattern resolves into the Guide pattern.”

That’s when things come together and “make sense.”

The pieces of a jigsaw puzzle can be interlocked to form a rectangle. The correct assembly of these uniquely shaped pieces is the Challenge pattern.

The photograph on the front of the box is the Guide pattern. Consequently, the image fragment on the face of each puzzle piece gives us a clue where that piece belongs.

The challenge pattern is what we’re trying to solve.

The guide pattern tells us where things belong.

Imagine how much harder it would be to solve a jigsaw puzzle if you had never seen the completed picture on the box.

The choices you face each day are your Challenge pattern.

Your Guide pattern in life – the picture on the box – is your schema, your worldview, your expectations. Your Guide pattern is influenced by your culture and customs, training and religion. Your Guide pattern is influenced by what you read, how you play, and whom you admire.

As your life unfolds across the tapestry of time, your desires are simply your life’s attempt to satisfy the Guide pattern.

Change the guide pattern and you change your desires. Change the guide pattern and you change your life.

Here’s another example. In any scientific experiment, there's a Guide pattern called the “control” group. The challenge pattern is represented by the “experimental” group.

(I fear you won’t find much else written about Challenge patterns and Guide patterns because I made these terms up to explain some things in my mind.)

Challenge patterns and Guide patterns, the calm before the storm and the morning after, labyrinths and fractals are all expressions of Archetypal Patterns.

Archetypal patterns are the Guide patterns of every happy moment. Learn to employ these patterns and you'll have the ability to create greater and more frequent success. But beware. When an archetypal pattern becomes obvious, it becomes a cliché.

Next week I'll tell you how to discover archetypal patterns you can use as Guide patterns to launch yourself to new heights in business and the arts.

Roy H. Williams