Self-Organizing Systems:

As a system departs from equilibrium it becomes increasingly metastable and passes through a series of bifurcation points. At these junction points symmetry is broken and non-linear, chaotic processes amplify small events, which become "frozen accidents". The resulting system is highly dependent upon the initial conditions that existed at the bifurcation point.

 As the system becomes increasingly non-eqilibrium in character, there are greater broken symmetries, greater metastability, and increasingly powerful "strange attractors" driving it.

A necessary condition for self-organization is openness to the environment. Pilgrimage systems have that quality of openness and consequently are dynamic, unpredictable, and highly individualistic. The classical "cosmic" city established as a copy of the macrocosm by a strong central authority is generally a closed system with little opportunity for innovation and surprise.