Five Stages of Creation — Current Definition

The five stages at a glance

"Situation" and "Sea image" are two sequences in which pjdhiro restated the five stages (stability, change, collision, integration, new stability; sea, wave, between the waves, vortex, ocean current). "Integration" here does not mean mixing until the difference disappears. It means that the two stay distinguishable and yet can no longer be separated (see the notes on Vortex).

Layer 1: pjdhiro's felt sense (provisional definition)

This layer is the provisional definition written from pjdhiro's felt sense. For each stage, the sentence in bold is the definition, and the text below it adds to it.

Field (場)

A stable state, like the sea before waves rise. A starting point in theory.

In reality, something is always moving. The field is the stable look of things when that movement is stopped for a moment, like a still image. It describes a stable environment, situation, or world in the language of space, and does not include time. "Nothing" in the Structure column does not mean that nothing is there. It is the theoretical picture of the sea when it is thought of apart from its waves, and it refers to being hard to perceive, as if nothing were there.

Wave (波)

Differences arise in the field and rise as a sway. The situation changes; the differences part and face each other.

A wave is a change in the situation. There is no sea without any waves at all, so field and wave cannot be separated. Where the differences that face each other collide is described in the next stage, Edge.

Edge (縁)

The border where different things meet and collide. New relations and rules arise there.

What collides is not only what is good. Unpleasant things, bad things, and unwanted things are also included and carried along, not set outside. Forms in which something new arises without passing through opposition or collision do not resemble these five stages. The English word Edge is a different term from the "edge of chaos" of complex systems.

Vortex (渦)

Rises as one whole. The two remain distinguishable, yet it is as if they were one.

It is not that things mix and the difference disappears. A vortex in the sea can be told apart by the eye, yet it cannot be separated and taken out of the sea. In the same way, the two stay distinguishable and become inseparable. "Integration" in the Situation column is used in this sense. Edge and Vortex happen almost at the same time.

Bundle (束)

Vortices affect one another and remain together as a new form. It becomes the next field.

A bundle has two sides, and both hold. One is the side that remains as a product with an outline. The other is the side that has a direction and a gathering, and supports the next field. A bundle becomes a new stability and then the next field, so the five stages form a loop.

Sentences for all five stages

• The five stages do not always proceed in order. They run at the same time and enter into one another.
• Edge and Vortex happen almost at the same time. Because of this the field sways, and afterwards it becomes a new stability. Even when it seems to happen in an instant, it began when the field started to sway.
• It can also end without reaching integration. One side may win and it ends there, or it may return to the field while still swaying and wait for the next opposition.

Layer 2: Cases where other theories describe it differently (candidates to discuss)

Features reported in the survey of 30 fields, to be discussed alongside Layer 1. They are not closed by adopting or discarding them; they are discussed and built into the definition to strengthen it.

The candidates listed here were taken from an aggregate (April 2026) of reports across fields, made before the theories in each field were re-checked against their original sources. The numbers of fields and the confidence levels in parentheses are copied from that aggregate as they are, and have not yet been checked. They will be recounted from the re-checked records of each field, and then discussed one by one. "Hypothesis" refers to the five hypotheses drawn from that aggregate; the number is its index.

Field

• There are two kinds of field: the first field, and the field made by a bundle (the field that has come round the loop) (aggregate: 10 fields. In the evaluation of hypothesis 5, "potential of the field", the field that has come round the loop looks adoptable; whether to set up the first field separately is on hold)
• A field has conditions, layers, and qualities (aggregate: 6 fields). It is seen not as a passive premise but as a structure with potential (aggregate: 8 fields. Confidence of hypothesis 5: medium)
• Read it as "not yet in focus" rather than "nothing yet divided" (aggregate: 4 fields)
• It is the base condition of all the stages (aggregate: 3 fields)

Wave

• A wave may arise from within or come from outside (aggregate: 8 fields)
• Differences arise from many kinds of sources (aggregate: 5 fields)
• Few works discuss the wave on its own (aggregate: 4 fields)

Edge

• An edge is not one form but a family with many types (a type that crosses a value, a type that touches across a surface, a type that spreads, and so on) (aggregate: 20-odd fields. Confidence of hypothesis 2, "the edge as a family of concepts": high, 28 fields)
• The border is not a thin line but has a width like a band. Within it there is a point where, once a value is crossed, things shift all at once (confidence of hypothesis 3, "threshold within a band": medium, 11 fields, leaning toward the natural sciences)
• Edges come in two lines: a type that balances and a type that branches (aggregate: 6 fields)
• The amount of relation and the quality of contact decide what follows (aggregate: 5 fields)
• There are paths that reach the edge but do not reach a vortex (aggregate: 4 fields)

Vortex

• Vortices go in two directions: those that create something new and those that destroy (aggregate: 8 fields)
• There are also systems and paths in which no vortex arises (aggregate: 5 fields)
• The core is coming together without a purpose (self-organization) (aggregate: 4 fields)

Bundle

• A bundle becomes the seed of the next field and does not return to the same place (not a loop but a spiral) (aggregate: 15-odd fields. Confidence of hypothesis 1, "spiraling": high, 22 fields)
• There are many types of stability (aggregate: 8 fields)
• A bundle is open and can be overwritten depending on conditions (aggregate: 5 fields)
• There are forms like illnesses of the bundle: hardening too much, or failing to come together (aggregate: 3 fields)

All five stages

• Each stage has its own forms of not reaching the next (confidence of hypothesis 4, "failure modes built in": high, 13 + 11 fields)

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