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CHAPTER 1
AN INTRODUCTION TO WHOLE SYSTEMS
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AN INTRODUCTION TO WHOLE SYSTEMS
the Re-discovery of Relationship
We begin by presenting a wholistic context or point of
view for organizing information and concepts relating
to the human body.
While its roots are ancient, our point of view has been
re-discovered by the physicists, who have brought it
into the main stream of scientific thought. An
important step was the publication by one of those
physicists, Frijtof Capra, of a book entitled THE TAO
OF PHYSICS. A subsequent book by the same author
entitled THE TURNING POINT describes how the
discoveries of the physicists affect every aspect of
our lives.
In his writings, Capra describes in lay terms the great
revolution in physics, and shows clearly how modern
discoveries coincide with ancient principles of Eastern
philosophy and religion.
The origin of the new paradigm in physics can be traced
to a specific moment at the turn of the century. On
December 14, 1900, Max Planck reluctantly presented to
the German Physical Society in Berlin his discoveries
about an obscure physical phenomenon known as black
body radiation. His hesitation came from an awareness
that his findings were totally contrary to the accepted
notions of the nature of matter. And these notions
were dearly held, for they were widely thought to be a
triumph of reason, a means to understand all of nature.
At the time of Planck's presentation all matter was
considered to be composed of "billiard-ball" atoms
moving about according to the laws of motion developed
by Sir Isaac Newton. Lord Rutherford had summarized
the physicist's self-confidence by stating that all of
science was divided into two branches: physics and
stamp collecting. Max Planck's upsetting presentation
is regarded as the birth of quantum physics, and the
end of an era of comfort in which physicists thought
they had the means to fathom all of the mysteries of
nature.
There arose from Planck's discoveries, and those that
soon followed, a painful awareness that our basic
concepts, our language, our whole way of thinking, were
inadequate to describe the world in which we live.
This was not only an intellectual problem, but an
emotional problem as well. For it went to the heart of
our conceptulization of the nature of our reality, of
what we are taught about the way the world works from
the first days of our lives.
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In the end the crisis in physics, the soul-searching
and bewilderment, was rewarded with deep and profound
insights that have meaning for all of us.
The basic discovery is that at the subatomic level no
particles exist except in relationship to others. What
we call OBJECTS are in fact points of correlation in
the interconnected network of events, motions,
relations, and energies. Subatomic particles, and all
matter made therefrom, including our cells, tissues,
and bodies, are in fact PATTERNS OF ACTIVITY rather
than THINGS. There is NO THING that exists by itself.
By studying the elementary forces of nature, physicists
have discerned that the universe is a dynamic web of
interrelated parts and processes. No fundamental unit
or most important part can be isolated. Einstein
stated it this way:
"A human being is a part of the whole
called by us 'universe,' a part limited
in time and space. He experiences
himself, his thoughts and feelings, as
something separated from the rest--a
kind of optical illusion of his
consciousness. This illusion is a kind
of prison for us, restricting us to our
personal desires and to affection for a
few persons nearest to us. Our task
must be to free ourselves from this
prison by widening our circle of
compassion to embrace all living
creatures and the whole of nature in
its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve
this completely, but the striving for
such achievement is in itself a part of
the liberation and a foundation for
inner security."
Another expression of this view comes from Rolfer
Jeffrey Maitland:
"Every system is composed of systems,
every system is a member of a system,
and the forces between systems are
themselves systems. To understand any
one system requires understanding the
living body as a whole, and to
understand the body as a whole requires
understanding each system ..... no one
part or system is more fundamental than
any other."
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Science is based on objective experimentation, on the
concept of the "detached observer" who is able to
discern the truth by unbiased observation. Quantum
mechanics revealed that there is no such thing as a
detached observer--the observer and the observed are
connected in countless ways. This led to a profound
upheval in science that continues today. Heisenberg
described it this way:
The violent reaction on the recent
development of modern physics can only
be understood when one realizes that
here the foundations of physics have
started moving: and that this motion
has caused the feeling that the ground
would be cut from science.
To deal with the dilemmas posed by new discoveries, the
leading physicists of the time met in Brussels, Belgium
in the autumn of 1927. During the gathering were held
famous debates between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein.
There emerged from this gathering what became known as
the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.
This was called the Copenhagen Interpretation because
of the successful arguments of the Danish physicist,
Niels Bohr. The Copenhagen Interpretation says, in
effect, that it does not matter what quantum mechanics
is about. The important thing is that it works. This
one of the most important statements in the history of
science. It began a monumental reunion of the rational
part of our psyche, typified by science, with our other
aspect which had been ignored since the 1700's, the
irrational. Physicists had realized that the mind can
only deal with ideas. It is not possible for the mind
to relate to anything other than ideas. Therefore, the
mind is unable to ponder reality directly, it is only
able to consider ideas about reality, which are not
reality itself. Physicists were, for the first time,
forced to acknowledge that a complete understanding of
reality lies beyond the capabilities of rational
thought.
The removal of the fundamental pillars of science,
logic and reason, left physicists in a very insecure,
uncomfortable position. Their search for
something to hang on to quickly led them to ancient
mystical traditions of Eastern philosophy. Capra cites
several prominent physicists:
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Julius Robert Oppenheimer:
The general notions about human
understanding ... which are illustrated
by discoveries in atomic physics are
not in the nature of things wholly
unfamiliar, wholly unheard of, or new.
Even in our own culture they have a
history, and in Buddhist and Hindu
thought a more considerable and central
place. What we shall find is an
exemplification, an encouragement, and
a refinement of old wisdom.
Niels Bohr:
For a parallel to the lesson of atomic
theory ... we must turn to those kinds of
epistemological problems with which
already thinkers like the Buddha and
Lao Tzu have been confronted, when
trying to haronize our position as
spectators and actors in the great
drama of existence.
Werner Heisenberg:
The great scientific contribution in
theoretical physics that has come from
Japan since the last war may be an
indication of a certain relationship
between philosophical ideas in the
tradition of the Far East and the
philosophical substance of quantum
theory.
For years physics had struggled with the wave-particle
duality. It was difficult to accept that light or
matter can be, at the same time, a particle--an entity
confined to a small volume--and a wave, which is spread
out over a large region of space. This contradiction
led physicists to accept various other paradoxical
aspects of reality as part of quantum mechanics.
Even deeper were the paradoxes of the relationships
between the mind and reality.
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The paradoxical nature of all things is a fundament of
Taoism. The essence of the Tao is contained in the
2,500 year old writings of Lao Tsu called the TAO TE
CHING, which has been one of the major underlying
influences in Chinese thought and culture. For
example:
Under heaven all can see beauty as
beauty only because there is ugliness.
All can know good as good only because
there is evil.
Therefore having and not having arise
together.
Difficult and easy complement each
other.
Long and short contrast each other;
High and low rest upon each other;
Voice and sound harmonize each other;
Front and back follow one another.
Therefore the sage goes about doing
nothing, teaching no-talking.
The ten thousand things rise and fall
without cease.
Creating, yet not possessing,
Working, yet not taking credit.
Work is done, then forgotten.
Therefore it lasts forever.
An even more ancient source for this philosophy is the
Qabalah:
The tree of life is the symbol of an
ancient and vast metaphysical system
known as the Qabalah. According to the
Qabalah, what we can see, touch, and
feel provides us with only a relative
reality. Beyond that which is
considered "real" by most people are
worlds of an even greater reality,
which every individual has the capacity
to explore. Enlightenment means
emergence from the darkness of our
limited sense-perceptions and thought
framework into a consciousness of the
greater reality. It is of that from
which we are born, and into this that
we shall return at the end of our brief
life cycle.
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Long and careful reflection on the Tree
and Qabalist principles opens one to a
state of consciousness that transcends
all viewpoints. it provides an
experience of inner truth. The Tree
describes the transition from God to
Man. The ten spheres, each called a
Sephira, are said to emanate from the
Creator's being. The spheres may be
likened to glass balls filled with pure
light. It is their archetypal pattern
that provides the transition from
nothingness to substance, and therefore
represents the inner workings of the
universe. It represents a state of
consciousness in which spirituality and
materialism, consciousness of self and
consciousness of others, and the inner
divinity and outer personality are in
perfect balance.
The Qabalah is a system claimed to have
been given to Adam by God, and to have
been the province of a few chosen
adepts. Until recently it has been an
oral tradition, forming an unrecognized
but profoundly significant sub-current
of western civilization. The Tree
divides the Universe into specific
categories, allowing for the
establishment of correspondences
between all things. It reveals the
perfect order which we all have the
capacity to perceive. There is no such
thing as an accident. For every
movement of every leaf on every tree
there is a reason, and every movement
of every thing is inter-related.
Separateness is a myth. We are all
part of one great unity. The Tree
guides us along a Path of Return. It
is a monumental and extraordinary work,
strong, simple, and enduring as the
architecture of the pyramids--a book
which is a summary of all sciences,
which can resolve all problems by its
infinite combinations, which speaks by
evoking thought, it is an inspirer and
moderator of all possible conceptions,
and the masterpiece perhaps of the
human mind. It is to be counted
unquestionably among the great gifts
bequeathed to us by antiquity.
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Physics is regarded as a "mature," "hard" science, in
contrast with psychology, biology, sociology, which
deal with interactions that are difficult to quantify
and predict. So the joining of physics with ancient
philosophy has unimaginable consequences for all lines
of inquiry into nature.
The principle of interconnectedness is everywhere
leading to profound insights and progress. All of
science can now be viewed as a systematic dissection of
aspects of the interconnectedness, of the lines of
force, the lines of communication, the lines of
interaction between objects in the universe. In fact,
all objects, including ourselves, are consequences of
these relations, rather than entities unto themselves.
I used to live on a pond. One day as I was washing the
dishes, I looked out the window and saw a turtle swim
past. As I added the detergent to the water to wash
the dishes, I experienced my intimate relationship with
the turtle. For the soap ultimately becomes part of
the turtle's environment, and has a direct influence
upon his life.
So what is the importance of one turtle to me? If the
turtle dies, if the pond dies because of the chemicals
the human community (me!) adds to the ground water, a
part of our planet is destroyed. i must be careful and
responsible for such things as these.
We have always assumed that what we pour down the sink,
put in our garbage, or flush down the toilet is gone
forever. Now we are being forced to recognize that
this is a costly illusion. The bad news is corning out
everywhere. Wells are contaminated from seepage from
dumps: our drinking water is contaminated from
residential and industrial waste. chemicals are
turning up everywhere, in the tissues of every organism
on the planet. No one wants a hazardous waste in
their town!
An experience of the interconnected world view is that
there is really no place we can dispose of anything.
There is no place we can throw where it is
permanently gone. For a while it appeared that the
consequences of our mistakes not have to be dealt
with until far into the future. burden would
on future generations. We now know this was not a
correct assumption. All of us are affected, right
Name any two objects, and we can show a myriad of
connections between them. Reality is like a road map
of the United States--there are many highways that
connect New York and San Francisco. There is an
infinite number of routes we can take between those two
cities.
Most people are aware that behavior is affected by the
phase of the moon, and behavioral science has confirmed
this. The concept that the moon is far away, and that
its influence on us is therefore very weak, has broken
down. This is but one example of how we have
artificially separated ourselves from the cosmos, and
from ourselves. The Chinese long ago recognized the
ways the rhythms of the celestial bodies influence our
own physiological rhythms.
Science has documented the road maps. Astronomy has
mapped the relations between the celestial objects.
Ecology has mapped the relations between organisms and
their environment. Physiology has mapped the relations
between parts and processes within the body.
Psychology maps the relations between individuals. But
the division of our inquiry into different areas can
create the illusion that the different parts and
processes of our reality are separate--that physiology
is distinct from psychology, cell biology is separate
from ecology. One road is called Route 151, another is
called Route 28, but these designations have no
inluence on the continuous flow of traffic along them.
We are now forced to recognized that each line of
inquiry follows but one of many paths, examines but one
of many parts of the interacting and interdependent
whole.
In THE TURNING POINT, Capra points out that our current
context is one of crisis. It takes only a brief look
at any newspaper to see that we are beset with
problems: terrorism, war, pollution, crime,
unemployment, crises in energy, health care, etc.
Capra suggests that all of these problems are facets of
one and the same crisis, a crisis of perception. Like
the crisis in physics that arose after Planck's
discoveries, our present crises derive from the fact
that we are applying concepts of an outdated world
view, ie. a mechanistic world view, to a reality that
can no longer be understood in those terms.
We live today in a globally interconnected world, in
which biological, psychological, social, and
environmental phenomena are all interrelated and
interdependent. While this has always been so, and was
recognized by the ancients, only recently has 20th
century man been forced through circumstances to
acknowledge his interdependence, his position as but
one component in the fabric of nature.
At the level of social structure, we are witnessing the
development of networks and networks of networks.
Computers are providing some of the communication links
that make this possible on a scale never before dreamed
of. General Systems Theory has become an exciting
field of research and All systems are seen to
be composed of systems. The forces between systems are
themselves systems. General systems theory examines
the behaviour of organizations, such as corporations.
It is a principle of systems theory, for example, that
all boundaries are porous. A corporation is now seen
to be an interactive system rather than an entity unto
itself. It interacts with the surrounding community,
and the community affects it. The cell membrane is not
a boundary separating the inside of the cell from the
outside, but is instead a porous boundary where these
two phases are connected. Similarly, my skin is not
really the boundary between what is me and what is my
environment. My body and my environment are mutually
pervasive. There is no sharp line of demarkation
separating that which is me from that which is not me.
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These ideas can have a significant effect upon our
study of physiology, of nature, of ourselves. They
represent not only an intellectual achievement, they
lead to an experience, to a way of life, to return to a
natural order for ourselves, for our environment, for
our relations.
Let us begin by looking at the language of
relationship. We will also examine how these ideas
have influenced the way science itself is conducted.
We will also look more closely at quantum mechanics.
We will do this so that we can do something that has
not been done elsewhere--we will build up a picture of
living matter from quantum mechanical principles. We
will then look at another unique picture of living
matter, based on energy. After we have these
perspectives under our belts, we will be able to more
fully appreciate what has been learned about the
interacting systems within ourselves.
REFERENCES CITED
1. Capra, F., 1975. THE TAO OF PHYSICS. Shambhala,
Boulder, 330 pps.
2. Capra, F., 1982. THE TURNING POINT: SCIENCE,
SOCIETY, AND THE RISING CULTURE. Simon & Schuster, New
York.
3. Planck, M., 1901. Uber das Gesetz der
Energieverteilung in Normalspektrum. Annalen der
Physick 4:553.
4. Maitland, J., 1980. A phenomenology of fascia.
Somatics, Autumn, 1980, pp. 15-21.