Evidence for the Philosophy of Holism in Eastern Medicine
Panpsychism holds that that all parts of matter involve mind or, alternatively, that the whole universe is an organism that possesses a mind. Therefore, according to Panpsychism, all objects of experience are also subjects (i.e. plants and minerals have subjective experiences, albeit very different from the consciousness of humans). 1 Gottfried Leibniz (1646 - 1716), a German philosopher, mathematician and scientist constructed a view of this kind of Idealism.
In the “Monadologie” of 1714, Leibniz proposed his theory of monads: “the ultimate elements of the universe, Monads are eternal, immaterial, indecomposable, individual, non-interacting, subject to their own laws and each reflects the entire universe in a pre-established harmony effectively “programmed” in advance by God whom he called the “Central Monad”, to harmonize with each other.”2 Leibniz hypothesized that everything we see in the material world are only appearances or by-products of the real world, which is an infinite array of monads. This suggests the idea that the universe is composed solely of energy and that our collective consciousness gives rise to all things material.
A related branch of panpsychist philosophy, holism, is the idea that systems and their properties should be viewed as wholes, not just as a collection of parts. The principle of Holism (which comes from the Greek "holos" meaning "all" or "total") was concisely summarized by Aristotle in his "Metaphysics": "The whole is more than the sum of its parts". However, the term "holism" was only introduced into the language by the South African statesman, Jan Smuts, as recently as 1926 “Holism and Evolution”.
Looking at Eastern medicine, one can apply the philosophy of holism in that the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone, but the system as a whole determines in an important way how the parts behave. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory is based on both material and dialectical aspects. In the Material aspect, it is believed the human body is made of Qi, in-between earth and heaven. The world is made of matter and is such according to the Yin and Yang interaction. Qi is energy that moves, and everything in the universe is the result of this qi movement. It presupposes the existence of a vital energy, that is essential to life and that flows throughout the body. Qi flows through the body in conduits called meridians and these meridians represent a large network of superficial and deep pathways that enable a connection between the inner and outer aspects of our bodies.
TCM uses several modalities in which to activate qi in the body: Acupuncture, Ba Guan Zi, Pi Fu Zhen and Tui Na. Acupuncture, the most commonly used of the four in Western Medicine, is a unique therapeutic method that enables us to influence and treat the interior by using a synergy of points on the exterior aspect of our bodies. Thin needles are inserted into the body on an array of these points (and based on the physical problem) in order to manipulate the energy flow through the meridians. The selection and method of stimulation of these points are determined by the acupuncturist and based on Traditional Chinese Medicine energy and pattern diagnosis. By selecting a combination of points, the treatment will have an effect on one or more bodily organs, areas or functions, and therefore act on a set of varied symptoms related to the initial cause of the imbalance.
The dialectical aspect of Chinese medicine is expressed as the theory of Yin-Yang. Yin and Yang are two topographical terms designating the shady and sunny sides of a hill, and because everything has two sides, yin and yang represent those two opposites. The essence of the theory of yin-yang is the law of unity of opposites, which means keeping a dynamic balance in Qi. Acupuncture practitioners believe that when qi or life force cannot flow freely through the body, it creates illness. A physical symptom of an energy blockage: matter directed by consciousness. The essential tenets of Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture conforms to a holistic view of panpsychist philosophy and to the idea that TCM and acupuncture support a hypothesis that consciousness is primary, preceding and gives rise to our physical form. “Qi served as a symbol for the original material that was thought to constitute the universe. It was believed to be invisible, taking the form of particles, constantly moving and changing, and giving rise to energy and activities. According to ancient Chinese philosophy, the universe originates from Taiji, a synonym for original or primitive qi. Its essential part, or essential qi, was thought to be the basic element out of which the universe is composed, and everything in the world is produced through the movement and changes of qi.”3 Simply put, everything of tangible physical substance is resultant of consciousness.
In the book The Edinburgh Companion to the Critical Medical Humanities written by Volker Scheid, he cites an important correlation of Chinese medicine to holism: “In 1959, only four years after his still somewhat defensive paper on yin/yang thinking, Qin Bowei wrote a textbook entitled Introduction to Chinese Medicine that placed holism at the very core of Chinese medicine. Qin’s textbook, was aimed at ‘the increasing number of people who in the course of recent years have expressed their wish to study Chinese medicine’. The young Chinese students Qin was referring to needed a method whereby they could make sense of ancient knowledge from within their modern intellectual habitus. Qin’s Introduction thus does not begin with yin/yang or the human body as explored in Classical texts. Instead, it opens up with a discussion of ‘holism’ and ‘pattern differentiation’ as the defining characteristics of Chinese medicine.”4 These critical interpretations were facilitated by commonalities between the concept of holism in the dialectic materialist writings and long-established modes of thinking within China.
I would like to remark briefly on the ‘Shen’ in Chinese medicine as I feel it has significance to this topic. While a somewhat difficult concept, Shen refers to the function of processing all incoming sensory and intuitive information and supervising the mind/body reaction to it associated with the heart. The best comparison is that the Shen is equivalent to the soul or spirit, while encompassing the mind. Shen describes our consciousness and it is seen to be the at the center of all of our mental and physical activities. The concept of Shen reinforces the holistic foundation of Chinese medicine.
The beliefs found in Chinese medicine differ greatly from those of the average Western medical doctor or practitioner. The materialist view that the universe, and therefore as an extension, the body, is a machine with individual parts which interact to produce a physical result, is directly in opposition to the idea that consciousness precedes and directs all matter into form: good or bad.
In a peer-reviewed paper entitled Splits In Western Consciousness – An Acupuncture Perspective, Michael T. Greenwood, (MB, BChir, CCFP, CAFCI, FRSA) notes that “modern Western man is very much defined by his separate identity, which he vigorously preserves and protects, so he usually feels anything but connected. The price of valuing ourselves as separate individuals it seems, is that we have to feel the separation. Or to put it another way: the down-side of self-consciousness - as pointed out in Genesis - is a feeling of alienation, a feeling that that we have been tossed out, and not allowed back in, and there-in lies the source of our Western angst.”5 This explains our current medical model in the West perfectly: We are separate, therefore our body systems are separate, our organs are separate, etc. so we test, diagnose and treat an illness as though it were mold growing in a tub of yogurt whereby you just scrape off the bad part and the rest is good.
In contrast, the holistic view expressed through Chinese medicine sees man taking the place of the primal Qi which serves to mediate between Yin and Yang allowing the smooth flow of the energies and ultimately connects him to the unlimited energy of the universe. Man is connected to all things and the importance of the individual is substantially less emphasized. “Life energy resisted feels like anxiety, while the same energy allowed to flow, feels like bliss.”6
Albert Einstein told us that "everything is energy" and that "a human being is a part of the whole called by us, The Universe". The model of “we are one”, that there is a single, intelligent consciousness that pervades the entire Universe whereby “everything is energy, and energy is inseparable from consiousness”7 inherently provides all living things an interconnectedness that is the essence to sustaining life. We are indeed inseparable from the universal energy field and everything we need is already available in this field. Once we fully understand and are able to tap into this great well of energy and knowledge, humanity will more closely mirror that of the Universe, respecting all living and non-living things that are energetically interconnected. As we embrace the new paradigm, we will say good-bye to materialist ways of thinking and embrace this “oneness”. The result will be that our physical bodies, our planet, and our existence in our universe will shift, giving rise to an entirely new philosophy.