The two Chilean scientists strongly delimited the organization of the processes of production of components from the structural relations of the components. The structure is made by actualized rules of organization between components. The organization of the living system refers to the organization of processes that take place in the system. The system’s organization is independent of the properties of its components, so that a given organization can be embodied in different manners by different kinds of components. While structure deals with measurable and comparable units (i.e. with quantity), mapping the patterns of a network involves abstract organization of qualities. The human mind can be described as a network of abstract organization of functions of components, which in turn are themselves networks.

If we translate this differentiation from autopoiesis to the concept of living systems as networks, they can be presented in a form of patterns. A living system can be mapped as a configuration of relationship patterns, which express the two autopoietic aspects: the organization of transformation processes and the structural relations between its components. The human mind is the process of coordination between the organization of processes of transformation (production) and the organization of structural relations between components.

The vague distinction between the conscious and the unconscious can be mapped over the autopoietic model: if the unconscious is the organization of the processes of psychological production, consciousness is made of the structural relations. Following the Santiago theory, none of them is stable but they are both continuously in a process of change, responding to embody the overall coordination of the mind.

Together with the organization and the structure, the third component of a living system is the process between these two. The process is what connects the pattern of a living system with its structure. This, Maturana and Varela say, is the process of life: the activity of the continual embodiment (structuralization) of the system’s pattern of organization. The two scientists established these three criteria – pattern, structure, and process, to distinguish the evasive limit between living and nonliving systems. All three aspects are mutually interdependent. The pattern of organization can be recognized only when actualized in a physical structure. The structure needs to continuously re-organize itself in order to respond to its environment and survive. The process of embodiment of patterns is that which connects them. In living systems this is a continuous process, and when the process of embodiment ceases, life ceases.

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