Attractor States

How Attractor States shape our social reality

The "Master's House" that Audre Lorde famously referenced functions as an attractor state. This resonant Attractor State that we shorthand as the Master's House is characterized by hierarchical power relations, separation, competition, and what scholars call "dominator predatory logic" – the operating principles of systems designed for extraction and exploitation rather than regeneration or mutual benefit. 

Attractors organize themselves not through external imposition but through internal geometric necessity. They form as energy systems seek stability through repetitive patterns—creating basins of probability where similar outcomes cluster.

These basins form through a process of dimensional folding:

1. First Fold: A line bends back upon itself, creating a circle of repetition
2. Second Fold: The circle twists into a figure-eight, creating two possible states
3. Third Fold: The figure-eight folds into itself, forming a strange attractor with infinite detail

Each fold increases complexity while paradoxically constraining possibilities. The more complex the attractor, the more it seems to offer infinite variation, yet the more tightly it constrains outcomes to its particular pattern.

This folding creates what topologists call a "manifold"—a space that locally resembles Euclidean space but globally may have entirely different properties. Within this manifold, the attractor forms valleys and basins where experience tends to collect, like water flowing downhill.

The Master's House maintains itself through several powerful mechanisms:

1. Self-reinforcing dynamics – ideological narratives that naturalize hierarchy, institutional structures that distribute resources unequally, and psychological conditioning that internalizes oppressive beliefs
2. Negative feedback loops that counteract changes and return the system to equilibrium when perturbed
3. Basin of attraction [Gravity Wells] that captures reform efforts and gradually pulls them back toward the system's stable configuration 
4. Co-optation where the system absorbs criticism through acknowledgment without fundamental action 

Understanding attractors not as fixed destinations but as dynamic processes—systems of energy constantly recreating themselves. The shift happens not through direct opposition to the current attractor (which often strengthens it) but through a dimensional transcendence:

1. Recognition: Becoming aware of the current attractor's organizing patterns
2. Resonance: Finding the frequency of an alternative attractor basin
3. Amplification: Strengthening that resonance until it becomes self-sustaining
4. Phase Transition: Allowing a quantum leap from one basin to another

This process resembles how water can change states—not by fighting its current state but by reaching a threshold where a phase transition becomes possible. The key lies not in forcing change but in creating conditions where change can emerge naturally.

The Bifurcation Point

Complex systems can exist in multiple possible Attractor States, with transitions between them occurring at critical thresholds or "bifurcation points." Our society faces what can be understood as a bifurcational choice between: 

1. the Master's House [Dominator predatory logic with Metric Domination ]– characterized by hierarchical power relations, extraction, exploitation, quantification of value, and separation
2. Alternative attractor states – based on different organizational principles, relationship patterns, and ways of knowing

This choice isn't simply between left and right political positions but between fundamentally different system configurations. What makes this choice "bifurcational" is that small changes in key parameters can trigger dramatic shifts in the entire system – what mathematicians call "catastrophic" or discontinuous changes. 

The cusp catastrophe model from mathematics illustrates how gradually increasing social tensions can appear stable for long periods, then suddenly erupt into transformation when a critical threshold is crossed. These mathematical models explain both why systems can appear resistant to change for extended periods and why they can transform rapidly once certain thresholds are crossed.

The necessity of Phase Transitions

For genuine transformation to occur, systems must undergo phase transitions ather than incremental changes within the existing attractor basin. In physical systems, phase transitions represent fundamental reorganizations of matter, as when water becomes ice or steam. Similarly, social phase transitions involve profound reorganization of social structures and relationships. 

Research in complexity science suggests these transitions share common features:

• Critical thresholds where systems become increasingly unstable before transformation 
• Increased fluctuations and variability as the system approaches transition points 
• New emergent properties that weren't predictable from the previous state
• Different organizational principles governing the new configuration 

Audre Lorde's insight that "the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house" corresponds precisely to the mathematical understanding that transformation requires escaping the current basin of attraction, not just making adjustments within it. As catastrophe theory demonstrates, once a system crosses a bifurcation point, returning to the previous state often requires more than simply reversing the changes that led to transformation – a property called hysteresis.

Alternative attractor states

What might alternative Attractor States look like? Research suggests several possibilities:

Non-dual consciousness 

Cynthia Bourgeault's work on non-dual consciousness offers one powerful alternative to the dualistic, separation-based consciousness that underlies Dominator Systems. Non-dual awareness [Stereographic Consciousness] represents a shift from the subject-object split that characterizes ordinary perception to a more unified field of awareness that recognizes fundamental interconnection. 

Neurological research shows that different states of consciousness correlate with different Attractor States in the brain. Conventional dualistic thinking operates from "fixed attractor states," characterized by rigid patterns of neural activity that reinforce separation and either/or thinking. Non-dual consciousness represents an alternative neural Attractor State with reduced anti-correlation between brain networks, greater integration across neural systems, and increased cognitive flexibility. 

This shift in consciousness creates the foundation for new social patterns based on:

• Recognition of interconnection rather than separation 
• Integration rather than fragmentation
• Synchronicity and holographic connection rather than linear causality
• Power-with rather than power-over

Partnership systems

Another alternative attractor state is what cultural historian Riane Eisler calls "partnership systems" as opposed to "Domination Systems" Partnership systems are characterized by:

• More egalitarian structures rather than rigid hierarchies
• Gender balance rather than male dominance
• Democratic processes rather than authoritarian control
• Emphasis on caring relationships rather than violence and control 

These systems operate according to different organizational principles and feedback loops than Dominator Systems, representing a distinct attractor state with its own basin of attraction. 

Emergent network structures

Complex systems research also points to the possibility of more distributed, self-organizing network structures as alternatives to hierarchical systems. These emergent networks:

• Distribute agency across the system rather than concentrating it
• Create resilience through diversity and redundancy
• Foster rapid adaptation to changing conditions
• Enable coordination without central control 

Such networks represent Attractor States with different stability properties and transformation pathways than hierarchical systems.

Conclusion

Complex systems theory, catastrophe mathematics, and non-dual consciousness research converge on a powerful insight: the "Master's House" functions as a resonant Attractor State that cannot be transformed using its own tools or operating within its basin of attraction.

Moderate approaches that don't fundamentally challenge this predatory Attractor State actually reinforce it, despite good intentions. 

 By understanding the Master's House as a complex Attractor State rather than fixed structures, we gain powerful insights into both why change is so difficult and how transformation might become possible.