What is Holism

Two ripples of a pond move along. One ripple bumps into another ripple and strikes up a conversation.
He asks :”Hey how big is this Pond? Can you see how fast are we moving in it?”
The other ripple replies: “I cant fully makes see it… You see: You, I and the pond, we and the pond… are actually part of one and another..

*

A ripple in the whole of a pond is always in a state of interaction with the pond.

A person observing and describing his environment is: always in a  active state,  where the two are influence one another.
The influences may be arbitrarily subtle to grand. But the interaction is always there.

If we are to observe a “person” in solely in a static form, or observe the Environment ignoring the person, we miss the the complex interaction between the two.
So in we treat to the two and the interaction as  person-environment holism.

In fact we can never fully break down a “pond”,environment..wave,  person or any field  into isolated parts without missing its interactions.

So from “holistic” point of view: we  describe ourselves and our present centers  situation in:

• person/environment  holism
• observer/field    in (theoretical physics)
• organism/environment  (in field theory based psychology).

If we we are to describe ourselves as  field or a single  gestalt we may make these descriptions:

• mind/body/environment
• mind/body/culture
• DNA code (body)/environment
• mind/body/spirit

…and so on, depending on how one describes themselves at the time.

We may create descriptive nouns such as as “mind” or “body” but we are to understand that they are never out of the influence of one and other… from a holistic point of view. One Cannot fully understand the “mind”  without the “body”,  for example.

Holism may also be used to describe our actions and behaviors.
example:
Values and action.  ( a value is statement one believes strongly to be important, truthful)

create a values–> stating a  Values—> Acting upon a Value.
This dynamic  description is in a “Cause-Effect” expression.

Holistically  we would call this “Valuing“– noting that:

• this is  active expression.
• each description of valuing is complexed
• changing environment influence valuing
• and that creating of other values is mixed in his process as well.

Holism is philosophical, but certainly not entirely unscientific. (The problems with Holism vs scientific empirical testing …i hope to explain in the next post.)

So a ripple of a pond can make observations and descriptions  about the pond he is in…about himself too. They can be very accurate ones. He has the power to make values and decisions.
However,but they will be more accurate as he realize his “objectivity” is always influenced by his ripple/pond holism and his actions always influence his ripple/pond relationship!