Cosmic Reflexivity: 1 Reflexive Possibility — When Potential Observes Itself

In the Topology of the Possible we explored the structure of relational potential, and in The Grammar of Potential we traced how that potential is patterned, modulated, and actualised. Now, at a higher, metaphenomenal scale, we consider what happens when potential becomes aware of itself: when relational fields acquire reflexive sensitivity through symbolic systems, myth, and science.

Potential as Self-Modulating System

Reflexivity occurs when a relational field monitors and adjusts its own configuration. This is not observation in the human sense, but a systemic capacity: potentials respond to emergent patterns, reweight valences, and reorganise alignments in light of their own operational history.

At this scale, reflexivity is cosmic: the field of possibility interprets its own operations, producing meta-patterns that are observable as symbolic or mythic structures.

Symbolic Sensitivity

Symbolic systems — language, mathematics, ritual, myth, and formal science — extend the reflexive capacity of relational potential. Each system acts as a semiotic amplifier, making the internal operations of potential legible, repeatable, and manipulable.

Through these systems, reflexive potential gains awareness of constraints, patterns, and tendencies, enabling the emergence of higher-order structuring and prediction.

Reflexivity as Relational Semantics

At the cosmic level, reflexivity is semantics in action. Feedback, alignment, and valence operate not merely within events, but across systems, producing patterns that are self-referential, interpretable, and generative. The relational field “understands” itself through the structures it produces, shaping subsequent potential in recursively meaningful ways.

Towards Myth and Science

Reflexive possibility lays the groundwork for myth as construal and science as symbolic articulation. Both are large-scale semiotic expressions of the field’s own dynamics: myth encodes relational patterns in culturally resonant narratives, while science formalises and systematises them.

In the next post, Myth as Construal, we will explore how myth functions as a large-scale, culturally embedded realisation of reflexive potential, making the operations of possibility interpretable and experientially meaningful across generations.