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Introduction   |   Theory   |   Summary   |   Practical   |   Audio   |   Appendices

A systems view of biological health

Section 1: Introduction

6 : Its an Elephant

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There are several ways to describe a fact that ought to be obvious, but is actually not so obvious on our scientific culture. Just as a Hawaiian Huna ("shaman") said a couple of hundred years ago "do not think all wisdom resides in any one school" – we have the more familiar parable of the blind men and the elephant, originating at least 2500 years ago in India. The lens through which I have chosen to view the principle of health in these descriptions - is primarily biological and from a "Systems" point of view, whilst also taking into account everyday experience of living in and "using" a body-mind. That would perhaps be like a blind man accidentally stumbling against the elephant’s hind leg and tail – rather than its trunk or ear or body.

A "Systems" approach looks at the whole by starting with a very wide perspective and then making sense of the detail within that wide angle. If I were to describe the broad swathe of geological time and historical time that has shaped the British Isles as a context for the various landscapes we see today, that would be a similar approach. You don’t actually need to know anything about Cretaceous geology or Bronze-age settlements to appreciate the beauty of the Chalk downs of southern England. But with just a small taste of their presence and effect on what we see today the whole landscape can come alive and be understood more fully – than if I just named the towns and rivers and catalogues a few details of the modern landscape with no context. Similarly, if I were to take you on a walk through the landscape describing what was around us, that would also bring more depth of appreciation than just describing it in a book.

So this "Systems" viewpoint also necessarily includes experiential biology – how we experience and integrate this organic body (i.e. how you inhabit your body), its biological intelligence and our "monkey mind" cognitive intellect. You can think of that as a navigational map. Your experience moving around your own inner landscape every day gives you some appreciation of its contents. I am going to act like a guide who helps you to understand how footpaths you know about already might possibly join together and open whole new areas of that somatic landscape - and new ways of seeing it, enjoying it and making the most of it. There may be more useful ways to navigate it that can help you find the more beautiful pathways and also "come home" more easily.

Neither biology nor experience of being in a body (or a "Systems" approach) are the only ways to look at health or the totality of Life, or even the specific features that make up a human being. It is very difficult to isolate one lens from all others for a Living organism - the elephant is alive (and not lying dismembered on the floor). So although this is "just" one viewpoint, it will necessarily include glimpses of many other ways of seeing, describing, thinking about how the human body and mind are linked together.


 
Introduction   |   Theory   |   Summary   |   Practical   |   Audio   |   Appendices
     
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