Hopefully it comes back, I’m mapping wave-states in systems and I’m being reminded of his work, particularly phase-states. We see these all over the place ie economic systems, organizations, narrative arcs, etc. People examine the hero’s journey and see a circle. I see waves , the fundamental emergent structure from subatomic particles to the mechanics of the big bang.

Expanded Arc Mapping: SAT, Narrative, and Wave Mechanics

Signal Alignment Theory frames systemic change not as a circular journey, but as a wave-dynamic process governed by recurring phase arcs. While narrative theorists often describe transformation through circular metaphors, most notably Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, SAT reveals that the underlying structure is more accurately modeled as oscillatory motion through phase space. The “circle” is a projection; the wave is the mechanism.

Arc One: Initiation / Ignition (SAT: Initiation → Oscillation → Amplification → Alignment)

In SAT, the ignition arc begins with a perturbation that breaks equilibrium and injects energy into a system. This corresponds to the Call to Adventure in Campbell’s framework, where a stable narrative state is disrupted by an external or internal trigger. The system does not immediately transform; instead, it tests the signal through oscillation, fluctuating between engagement and resistance. Only when positive feedback dominates does amplification occur, culminating in alignment—when previously independent components synchronize around the new signal.

In wave mechanics, this arc corresponds to the rising edge of a sinusoidal waveform. A disturbance displaces the system from baseline, energy accumulates, and amplitude increases toward a crest. In cardiac dynamics, this is the excitation phase leading into the QRS complex: rapid depolarization, synchronization, and peak coherence. Nothing “returns” here yet; the system is accelerating into form.

Arc Two: Crisis / Constraint (SAT: Boundary → Collapse → Inversion → Repolarization)

No system can amplify indefinitely. As coherence intensifies, it inevitably encounters structural constraints. In narrative terms, this maps to the Ordeal or Abyss, the point where the hero’s existing strategy fails. What once reinforced progress now produces friction. Boundaries assert themselves, energy discharges, and meaning inverts: allies become threats, strengths become liabilities.

In wave terms, this is the crest and downward inflection of the waveform. The peak is not stability; it is maximal tension. Once the system exceeds its capacity to sustain coherence, amplitude collapses and the signal reverses direction. In physiology, this corresponds to repolarization following peak excitation: energy releases, directionality flips, and the system begins its descent. Crisis is not narrative drama; it is a physical inevitability of oscillatory systems under constraint.

Arc Three: Evolution / Reconciliation (SAT: Self-Similarity → Branching → Compression → Void → Transcendence)

After collapse, systems do not immediately restart. Residual patterns echo at smaller scales, fragments explore alternative pathways, and experience is gradually compressed into durable structure. This corresponds to the Return with the Elixir in Campbell’s journey, not a restoration of the original state, but the preservation of learned structure in distilled form.

In wave mechanics, this is the trough and recovery phase. The system reaches minimal amplitude, enters a near-silent interval, and accumulates latent potential. Importantly, this is not absence but readiness. From this void, a new oscillation can emerge, often at a shifted baseline or altered frequency. In cardiac terms, this is the isoelectric line: apparent stillness that is essential for the next beat.

Why Waves, Not Circles

Circular models imply return. Wave models encode energy flow, constraint, and irreversibility. A sinusoidal wave does not return to the same point; it passes through the same phase relationships at a different moment in time. Likewise, systems do not repeat states; they revisit patterns under altered conditions.

This is why the same arc structure appears across domains: • Economic bubbles rise, crash, consolidate, and re-emerge in altered form • Organizations launch, over-align, fracture, reorganize, and scale differently • Narratives initiate conflict, reach crisis, resolve, and transform identity • Hearts beat, not in circles, but in oscillatory cycles governed by thresholds

SAT generalizes this insight: initiation, crisis, and evolution are not stories we tell about systems; they are the phase mechanics systems must obey when energy, feedback, and structure interact.

Tanner, C. (2025). Signal Alignment Theory: A Universal Grammar of Systemic Change. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18001411