The Play of Worlds — Toward a Plural Ontology of Relation: 6 Ecology of Worlds — Coexistence and Interdependence

Plurality is not simply a matter of counting worlds; it is a dynamic ecology in which relational fields sustain, constrain, and shape one another. Each world — scientific, mythical, aesthetic, ecological, digital — emerges through the actualisation of potential within particular relational configurations. Yet no world exists in isolation: the possibilities it can instantiate are co-constituted by the presence of others. The relational ecology of worlds, therefore, is a networked field of co-dependence.

This interdependence is not symmetrical. Some worlds are more dominant, more expansive, more institutionally or technologically supported. Others are marginal, emergent, or fragile. Yet each contributes to the structural integrity of the whole. An ecological perspective recognises that the suppression or extinction of even a minor world impoverishes the entire field of potential. The dynamics of coexistence — feedback, resonance, inhibition — determine which possibilities can manifest and which remain latent.

Worlds communicate through resonance and interference rather than direct translation. The shifts in one world create ripples across others, opening or closing pathways for action, imagination, and knowledge. For example, ecological understanding may reshape technological development; aesthetic sensibilities can influence scientific framing; digital infrastructures redefine social and cognitive practices. Each world’s patterning is thus both a constraint and an enabler for others, forming a metabolism of potential where action, perception, and imagination circulate.

Relational ecology also highlights the temporal interweaving of worlds. Stability is achieved through iterative adjustment: traditions, routines, and institutions maintain coherence, while ongoing interaction and adaptation introduce variation. Coexistence is not static harmony but a processual negotiation: a balance of alignment and tension, repetition and innovation.

Practising world-care in this context involves cultivating attention to interdependence. It requires sensitivity to the ways one world’s expansion might constrain another, and an ethical commitment to sustain plural fields of potential. Knowledge, art, ritual, and practice all become interventions in this ecology: modulations of energy, attention, and relational possibility.

In this sense, an ecology of worlds is both descriptive and normative. It maps how worlds actually interrelate, while also guiding action toward coexistence that preserves the richness of potential. By thinking ecologically, we shift from questions of domination or assimilation to questions of sustainability, resonance, and mutual flourishing.