Every living system, regardless of scale, tends toward coherence rather than stability. Coherence refers to the dynamic compatibility between the elements of a system, their interactions, and the information they exchange. It implies neither permanent harmony, nor absence of conflict, nor frozen equilibrium.
A system can be stable while being incoherent. A coherent system is never frozen. It remains metastable, meaning capable of reconfiguring without losing its functional continuity.
This point aligns with a central insight from complex systems science: in far-from-equilibrium systems, order is not the opposite of instability — it can emerge from it, through feedback loops and regime transitions.