The fundamental ontology of a social organism is composed through the syntax or logic of living systems grammar. Like all organisms, social organisms have a life cycle where they are conceived, develop, mature and evolve, before decomposing and reconstituting again in an evolutionary feedback loop. Considerations regarding each of the ontological elements will be unique at each stage in the social organism’s life cycle, but holistic consideration of each element at each stage of development is necessary. Additionally, the relational contexts provided by the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab offer critical relational lenses that are crucial throughout the lifecycle as mechanisms to understand the nested and interpenetrating relationships that inform the internal and external contexts of a social organism. The purpose of this living systems grammar is to clearly define the underlying processes that make an organism truly _alive_. While there are several academic approaches to living systems theory, commonalities between all of them are autopoiesis, negentropic metabolic processes, self-repair, and reproduction. Autopoesis implies that they are “self-creating” in the sense that they exhibit a form of collective agency that perpetually recreates and reaffirms its own existence. Negentropic metabolic processes imply that they consume resources and transform those resources into coherent outputs. Self-repair and reproduction imply that they are able to dynamically relate to their environment to respond to injury and are able to continue their lineage by engaging in proactive reproduction. These organismic processes occur throughout the lifecycle of a social organism as it forms, contributes to its ecology, and dies. The decomposition and reconstitution of social organisms is an important distinction between social organisms and traditional institutions. Akin to Thomas Jefferson’s precinct warnings during the founding of the United States of America, “the earth belongs to the living.” > “Between society and society, or generation and generation there is… no umpire but the law of nature. We seem not to have perceived that, by the law of nature, one generation is to another as one independent nation to another… On similar ground it may be proved that no society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation… Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force and not of right.” – **Thomas Jefferson** As truly living organisms, composed of human agents just as organs are composed of cells, social organisms play a role in their ecological context, make certain contributions to the overall vitality of their environment, and decompose to offer their learnings and component parts as evolutionary inputs to the next generation of social organisms. The processes defined below are intended to provide an initial scaffolding for the complex interactions and relationships that occur within and between living systems. Further inputs from traditional indigenous wisdom sources as well as ecologists and social scientists is needed. #### **Conception** Conception is the initial phase of generating and formulating new ideas, visions, or plans. This stage emanates from the felt sensing of an individual or group of agents related to a critical social need. This inspiration may take the form of a key insight to a missing social service or function or a curiosity around an alternative method for improving the provisioning of that core civilizational need. At the conception stage of a social organism’s lifecycle, individual agents are responsible for instigating the seed of a social organism’s DNA, the underlying framework of mission, vision, and values as well as an initial set of cultural agreements. While these patterns will likely evolve as the organism forms and develops, they represent the first membrane of the social organism and provide a participatory pathway for agents to consensually cross the threshold if they align with the initial vision and wish to step forward to help shape its further development and maturation. #### **Gestation** Gestation is the period during which ideas, plans, or initiatives are developed, refined, and prepared for implementation. This stage involves nurturing, organizing, and iterating on the initial concept, ensuring it matures and evolves into a viable and actionable form that can contribute effectively to the social ecology. The gestation process involves further sense-making and mapping of community needs, testing the hypothesis of the initial conception period, and developing the internal membranes, roles, and flows necessary for the organism to begin to fulfill its ecological purpose. As roles are defined and additional agents are included in the development process, governance mechanisms are needed to support initial decision making processes and establish the nested functions and flows that will support the organism in achieving its purpose as it matures. #### **Maturation** Maturation is the phase of development in which the social organism is fully fulfilling its ecological purpose. In this stage, internal membranes, roles, functions, culture and flows are well established and can begin generating value as an output to their ecology. Arriving at a state of maturity, the organism is effectively able to metabolize inputs into outputs while nourishing and sustaining itself. While this stage is primarily defined by the contribution the organism is making to its ecology, it is also an important phase for internal development, mutually reinforcing behavioral and cultural patterns and processes, as well as the internal flows of information and resources between the internal functional membranes. A mature organism also begins to consider its own reproduction and begin the transition process into a rising generation of emerging leaders. The maturation process can #### **Decomposition** Once the social organism has reached the peak of its maturity, it begins the process of decomposition and death. This phase of the lifecycle is focused on integrating the evolutionary learnings of the dying generation into the core DNA of the rising one. The decomposition process includes contributing the constituent parts of the organism back to the commons where they can be re-composed into new life as well as the evolutionary process of maintaining whatever aspect of the organism’s iterative experimentation was life-affirming. This process of natural selection, applied to social organisms, supports the ongoing evolutionary feedback process of iterative development, improvement, and refinement.