DEEP SYSTEMS THINKING - Seeing the Cosmos as a Unified Whole @chasefukuoka61

Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

Hi. My name is Christopher Chase. This is an overview of how I've been teaching Systems Science and Thinking to young people for over 30 years, using science, art, stories, real world examples and meaningful visual images to help them understand how everyone and everything in our Universe cycles, changes and connects together as unified wholes.

Students have told me this highly visual way of thinking helps them to better understand patterns of chaos, imbalance and disorder in the world, and how by aligning with the creative wisdom and regenerative laws of Nature, humans can more effectively solve difficult problems, generating deeper peace, balance, harmony and happiness.

Imagination and love are key in this approach, so that as much as possible I have tried to simplify the language that I use and give visual examples that connect with our real lives, so young people can understand how they are deeply connected to everything. My background is in art, and so that is the approach that I take when teaching these ideas.

The Art of Systems Thinking - My drawings and illustrations
creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2021/12/29/the-art-of-systems-thinking-christopher-chase

I call this Deep Systems Thinking because the models and stories I share are rooted in Deep Ecology and Deep Time perspectives, as well as the Ecological wisdom of Indigenous people, Regenerative & Ecological systems ideas of Daniel Christian Wahl, Satish Kumar, Vandana Shiva, Jeremy Lent and Whole Systems approach of Joanna Macy, Fritjof Capra, Eric Jantsch, Ervin Laszlo, Albert Einstein, David Bohm, Alan Watts and others.

I also try to integrate wisdom from the arts, literature and spiritual traditions in my classes. For many years I taught these ideas as we studied the film "Back to the Future," which models these cosmic processes. Now I use "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, as a class text.

If you enjoyed this and want to go DEEPER, here are links to two other videos and to articles on my blog:

Paradigms are Made for Shifting
creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/paradigms-are-made-for-shifting

How the Arts Transform Consciousness
creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/how-the-arts-transform-consciousness

Education, Art & Systems Thinking - Christopher Chase & Daniel Wahl in conversation youtube.com/watch?v=wImvi0dlHl4

Imagination, Science & the Art of Systems Thinking (2021 ISSS Presentation)
youtube.com/watch?v=P0N1avBKjzM

DEEP SYSTEMS THINKING - Seeing the Cosmos as a Unified Whole

Love Knows What Ego Cannot - Ram Dass & Emmanuel

The Weight ☮ Grateful Dead, 1990 (Easy Rider)

$A Taoist Perspective on Trump - The Opportunity for Grassroots Action Some thoughts on how Trumps Victory can provide a window of opportunity, if those concerned about the future take a more taoist and ecological systems approach to our activism, education efforts and use of social media. This year our planet hit 1.5 degrees warming, and CO2 levels keep rising. I believe this is because very few people understand the complex nature of this problem, or how to take creative and meaningful action. In my opinion, Donald Trumps victory provides us with an opportunity to bring people together, to educate each other (especially Gen Z activists) about creative solutions which require deeper wisdom, community action and understanding. Our global economy needs to be redesigned at the grassroots level. And very few of our political and business leaders seem to understand that, or want that. In the video I mentioned how former president Obama lectured his own daughters and Gen Z activists, saying there is not much we can do to stop climate change. Here is that video, along with a clip of him bragging to oil industry executives how he increased gas drilling and fracking during his administration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgopX2V7ZL0 Economic localization, regenerative agriculture and a circular economy are examples of solutions that already exist, but need to be implemented at local levels, by communities and small businesses. Realize, that we cannot trust our so called leaders to solve these problems with electric cars or carbon capture machines. Where will the energy and materials come from for these technologies? Trump threw out the Paris Agreements, but the Net Zero 2050 solution adopted by corporate leaders after that is a disastrous approach. This New York Times Opinion piece does a good job explaining why: We Debunk the Latest Corporate Climate Lie | NYT Opinion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RilwnjDwTOc What few people realize is that we can solve current problems if millions and billions of humans stop supporting the global economic machine (dominated by multinational corporations) and shift to more local economics, learning to think more like Nature, ecologically and creatively. Which has not happened until now. Thanks for considering these ideas. Christopher Chase Fukuoka, Japan Link at the end of the video: https://www.co2levels.org About myself: Im an artist, blogger and educator with an interest in ecological science and systems thinking, currently teaching at Seinan Gakuin University and Kyushu University, in Fukuoka, Japan. I created, co-created and help to maintain a number of large pages and communities on Facebook, links below: Ecological Consciousness: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064821395990 Creative Systems Thinking https://www.facebook.com/CreativeSystemsThinking/ Tao & Zen: https://www.facebook.com/TaoZen2012/ Regenerative Consciousness Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/920150431523616 Artists of the New Cosmology https://www.facebook.com/groups/1047603009354392 Regenerative Action Network https://www.facebook.com/groups/2793451854049817 Systems Thinking Education Network https://www.facebook.com/groups/1439372523476595 Related essays on my blog: How Wisdom Grows: Educating Hearts & Minds https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2014/02/14/how-wisdom-grows-educating-hearts-and-minds/ The Art of Systems Thinking https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2021/12/29/the-art-of-systems-thinking-christopher-chase/ Zen & the Art of Living Deeply https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2016/05/15/zen-the-art-of-living-deeply/ Paradigms are Made for Shifting https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/paradigms-are-made-for-shifting/$

Bertha ☮ 5/7/77, Grateful Dead (Boston Garden)

Reuben & Cherise ☮ Joan Osborne w/ Phil & Friends, 2005

China Doll (Grateful Dead) ☮ Joan Osborne