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Soulful Sundays: Holism

Writer's picture: Blake  StoreyBlake Storey

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." -Aristotle



Holism is the philosophy that systems have emergent properties in addition to the properties of their individual parts. Holism stands in stark contrast to reductionism which holds that systems containing parts don't have unique properties beyond those parts. The truth lies somewhere in between these two polarities.


Reductionism became a dominant force during the Enlightenment, and its influence is ubiquitous throughout the Western world today. Consequently, our brains have been trained to break things down into their constituent elements in order to understand the whole. This habit is encoded in our language system, which is comprised of specific letters, words, and parts of speech. It is also present in our cultural focus on individual sovereignty and causality. However, reductionism is just one half of a much greater whole.


Holism focuses on how parts cooperate together to create a new quality that is not present in individual pieces. It is the norm in most Eastern cultures, which are attuned to seeing things in totality first and as separate parts secondarily (if at all). Eastern languages are based on pictures (rather than letters and words) which capture an essence of meaning rather than an exact interpretation. This focus on the whole being greater than the parts lies at the core of holism, but one important part is missing. The parts are also holograms of the entire system and must be understood as such.


A hologram is a representation of the whole. In blending the philosophies of holism and reductionism (East and West) the concept of the hologram is the essential link. When reducing systems to individual components it is essential to remember that those smaller parts are in themselves systems. A nation is comprised of groups of families, families are made up of people, people are systems of cells and tissues, cells contain organelles, organelles are made up of molecules, and molecules are constructed from atoms. At each strata there are emergent properties, the only thing that changes is the level of focus.


By adjusting the scale at which we view systems, we are able to see the connections that they all share. However, if we become overly committed to using one level as an explanation for them all, we can quickly spiral into misinterpretation. This has been the fatal flaw of Western medicine for at least the last hundred years. Instead of studying medicine at the level of people and communities, modern medicine has almost exclusively been zoomed into the level of cells and molecules. In doing so, some of the most important components of human health have been ignored, like the function of companionship, exercise, seasonal nutrition, and purpose. We are only now realizing their significance, after the microscopic revolution has created problems that it can no longer solve on its own.


We are called, then, as a modern people to use both current and traditional wisdom to guide us to better solutions. Yes, it is true that we live in uncharted and novel times, but it is also true that we have the ability to change the future as we learn from the past. We must not get fixated on one level of problem solving while forgetting all of the others that we have available. Instead, we must integrate at multiple levels in a hierarchical fashion.


Choosing the path that increases the emergent properties of the system, instead of the one that diminishes them.


Using science as a tool, not a religion.


Not forgetting the forest for the trees.

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