Louis 'Lou' H. Kauffman, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1995

I am a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and have been a principle investigator of Mereon since 1995, and a member of the Mereon Scientific Advisory Board since 2004. My mathematical specialty is knot theoretic topology and more generally, the study of form, pattern, logic and cybernetics. The relevance and implications of Mereon for my personal research, my professional discipline, as well as my perspective on the BeLonging education project, and the business application, a whole system design model for organizations, are all based on my understanding of the Mereon model.

I first encountered the work with Mereon, then known as ‘the Pattern’ in an email inquiry from Lynnclaire Dennis in 1995. Her work with the geometry of the simplest knot (the trefoil knot) captured my imagination, and we eventually met and began discussing this geometry and its related structures. I discovered that the Mereon Knot is a higher energy structure of the trefoil knot that can undergo oscillation that moves it to a lower energy structure under perturbation. In the full Mereon structure, it appears that forces keep the Mereon Knot at its higher energy level. We are still investigating this aspect of Mereon, now with an extended understanding of the geometric context, this very much due to the extraordinary collaboration with Robert W. Gray who has been articulating the polyhedral architecture that lies behind this topology since 1998. From my point of view it is a deep question whether the polyhedral architecture or the topology are more fundamental. Together, they are a unity that projects both geometry and topology, and it is that unity that we call Mereon.

The work quickly branched out into a series of interdisciplinary seminars involving many people, a tradition that continues to this day. My role is to continue the direct topological research related to Mereon, and to interface this through seminars and direct contacts with other scientists.

The dynamic link between substance, symbol & process has long been sought. Gregory Bateson, one of the most respected social scientist of the Twentieth Century said, “The Pattern that connects is the Pattern of patterns.” The dynamic architecture rigorously mapped by the Mereon team generates and regenerates precisely such a Pattern. It is a universal energetic template that demonstrates the essential unity inherent in diverse bio-processes; it is inclusive of cultural symbols; and charts the formation of all forms of manifestation.  More than twenty years after its articulation and following a decade of strenuous interdisciplinary dialogue with focused investigation involving researchers from the fields of mathematics, physics and philosophy, Mereon is now providing dramatic new insights into the fundamental creative process of the universe, insight that is utterly coherent with theoretical and observational data. Universe = Uni + Versus: One turn; One appearance of the world; the Knowledge this structure is now showing us is generating exciting new possibilities in understanding both basic and applied sciences, a bond linking natural science with social science.

The profound impact that this knowledge will have on the social architecture of our global village —socially and scientifically— cannot to be minimized or ignored, and the research into Mereon and the applications of these principles must now accelerate to match the imperative.