HOLISTIC SCIENCE

A Tapestry of Essays
by
Robin Wilding

Introduction
Carl Jung described that part of our personality which is hidden from us, as our shadow. It
shelters some of our darker aspects, which although inconspicuous, influence much of our
behavior. Its origins are in our past, both ancient and cultural, but also from our recent and
personal history. Thomas Kuhn reminds us that the history of science has a great influence on
how we practice science today. In the following essays I will review some of those historical
forces which have become the unseen shadows of science. It is not only our western history
that provides useful insights into science. William Powell explains it this way. In the medieval
centuries Buddhist teaching was spreading into China from the Middle east and India. The
texts, called sutras, had to be translated, but even then were not widely accessible, as the
population was largely illiterate. The task of studying these texts and teaching others fell to the
few scholars. These scholars held great authority as they possessed important knowledge and
access to the sources of knowledge. They were held in high esteem and given great power
within strongly bureaucratic organisations. The texts which emerged from these Chinese
monasteries were not free of conflicting advice and offered different pathways to salvation.
Some scholars became specialists in certain styles of dogma. There was such a great supply of
writings and teachings to grasp that there were no shortage of niches in which scholars could
develop expertise. While there were experts of many sorts it was increasingly difficult to grasp
the essentials and to live by a simple yet meaningful set of ideals. The confused public were
treated with scorn and even abuse if they pointed out discrepancies in the teachings of the
scholars. The knowledge held by scholars began to exist outside of the human experience and
was pursued for its intellectual rewards rather than living it out as a way of life. So although
scholars held great knowledge their personal lives were not good examples of wisdom or
enlightened perceptions.
In the 7th century of the modern era, an alternative Buddhist movement arose which built on
the methods of meditation, visualisation and exercise which we can recognise today as

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Qigong. These techniques were augmented by reading of the old scripture texts, so the new
movement was not without the fundamental philosophies of Buddhism. But the pursuit of
knowledge for its own sake and the power which was attached to the old style was left out of
the new movements. It was called “Chan” (meditative) Buddhism in China and “Zen” where
it crossed to Japan.
I am struck by the way this description of the evolution of Zen Buddhism by Powell, so well
mirrors the rather congested dynamic of western science at the end of the second millennium.
The pursuit of science encourages disciplining of the senses, fragmentation of knowledge,
which is held by experts and specialists, who do not always agree with each other. It is
increasing hard for anyone, scholar or layman, to grasp an overall picture of the way physics,
psychology, biology and mathematics all interconnect. An example is our understanding of
consciousness. Science offers us no coherent view which is useful to live with.
Western science has become separated from the human spirit. It exists outside the human
experience. This has not happened by accident but is the result of our history. The historical
forces at work can be identified in the collective “shadow” which influences science today. If
we can reveal the dark bits, and add some missing ingredients, we could move on enriched by
the exercise, like the Zen Buddhists did.
If we remain entrenched, we may find that the rising tide of discontent with science swamps
not only the bad stuff but takes the good out along with it.

List of Essasy with a Short Description of Each

1 The Shadow of Science

The Church has sustained a maternal influence on science and although it has lost
some battles over details of the Bible, it has not lost the entire crusade. A religious
world view is still strong though well hidden in those scientists who long to find,
purity, perfection, beauty and solid ground. Science is soaked in religion yet fiercely
denies it. To believe that we can exclude religion from our perception is an illusion. To
know ones weaknesses is to be able to start to deal with them.

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2 The Wound of Science
The relationship between Christian philosophy and science and their meeting places is
discussed, in particular the relationship of religion with physics, social science and
biology are examined. The proximity between religious faith and the purity of
scientific truth is suggested. Western science and Buddhism have their closest links in
concepts such as complexity, networks and quantum mechanics. A feature of the
distance between them is a loss of compassion by orthodox science, part of its
heritage from the separation of mind/soul and body. Mattieu Ricard describes this loss
of values as a "wound" of western civilisation.

3 The Wood or the Trees

The struggle for reason over dogma, for evidence over hearsay and for detached
observation instead of intuition has been worthwhile and largely successful. Inductive
reason is appealing but does not always work in practice. Reduction is not always
sensible as it may loose the wood for the trees. There are some scientists in the field of
complexity who have expanded the traditional methods of science. They are not
mystics or superstitious but they look for a broader picture, larger systems in which
there are greater interconnections, more dynamic change, less certainty but better
understanding.

4 Mystery or Mysticism
There are mysterious phenomena associated with the human mind. But we are not
alone. Our sensitivity to changes in the electromagnetic field around us connect us
with the mystery of animal navigation. The trout’s compass is less of a mystery than it
was ten years ago, but we did not deny that trout can navigate. We are suspicious of
the extra sensory or paranormal. Our human consciousness looks as though it may
emerge as an extension of a wider network of living organisms and perhaps even
wider still, to all material things. A Bhuddist might well quip “what took you so long!”

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5. How we Know what we Know
Maturana and Varrela coined the term autopoieisis to describes the internal autonomy
of a living system and its dialogue and influence on and by its environment. The
environment may include other organisms with which the individual cooperates,
sometimes to the extent of losing its own identity. Merleau Ponty believed that there is
no concrete reality but only that which is as a setting for our thoughts and perceptions.
This view leaves reality dependent on perception, confined only by the extent of
internal illusions.

6. Sources of Order
Is there a natural order in our world or do we construct order so as to make sense of
what we know? For example the system we use to classify organisms appears to make
sense of the huge diversity of life but we continue to fiddle with the details and debate
about those organisms which do not quite fit our framework. D'Arcy Thompson
speculated about whether the unity found in organisms could be due to intrinsic order;
for example, as the snail shell grows in size, its shape remains similar. The spiral is
logarithmic. Some scientists believe there is intrinsic order in dynamic systems, like a
sand pile, stock market prices and extinction patterns. They are deterministic but not
predictable. These two descriptors describe systems which display chaotic behaviour.

7 Order at a Global Level

“Viewed from the distance of the moon, the astonishing thing about the earth,
catching the breath, is that it is alive.” Lewis Thomas. In no part of the conventional
story of evolution does life create its own environment; organism adapt to their gievn
surroundings. Yet it is obvious that bacterial aggregates in biofilms, whether on rocks
around a sulphur geyser or in the gut of a termite control the crucial variables such as
Ph, oxygen tension, diffusion rates, macro architecture and many more features to suit
their lifestyle. Scale these observations up to ecosystems and the biosphere and we
can ask a reasonable question, is life on earth a controlling or contributing factor in
establishing a global, self regulating order?

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8 Why do we get Sick
Why do some of us get sick and others seem to stay well? Epidemiologists agree that
the distribution of disease is not random. Something about how or where we live
influences the chances of staying well. Orthodox medicine is built on a fast and
growing information base and exploits technology to the full. Yet it costs huge
amounts of money and still leaves many of the ill and suffering, unhealed and
rejected, like motor cars with defective parts. The alternatives to orthodox medicine
may be more soul centred but do not provide enough assurance that alternatives
therapies have been rigorously tested. We need to seek a better understanding of
some fringe activities like psychoneuroimmunology, do the basic science and, and if
its robust enough, improve our strategies for staying well.

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