A systems view of biological health

Section 1: Theory

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Being in a reductionist culture, the idea of fragmentation leads to extreme images of a piece of glass - shattering into disparate shards that must be glued back togther like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.

For Living systems, (what might be called) "Fragmentation" is usually much more subtle and gentle; and there is a seamless continuous spectrum between simple adaptations through severe and chronic structural fragmentation of the identity.

If you take a look at Varela's *Duality diagram, it shows a system that is self embedded, with a minor separation that is present because there is "not one", but that separation is not so great as to mean that there is "two".

Living systems are constantly adapting. As part of that adaptive process they modulate the degree of communication (and so naturally tend towards a higher degree of two-ness. So fragmentation in Living systems means a reduction in communication, or at most a (temporary) loss of communication at some levels (but not all levels/layers - because total loss of communication would mean physical death). This organically shifting balance is overlaid on top of Gordon Pask's principle of Amicity - the innate interest of all living organisms, organelles and systems on all scales in the signs of activity in all other aspects of their lived environment - both internal and external. Amicity allows the homeostatic balance between "not-one" and "not-two" to be constantly optimised according to demand.

Fragmentation is (therefore) also one of the underlying causes and processes behind dissociation - dissociation being a dis-association between mind, body, senses, self-presence and the clarity of the present moment.

Given this broad definition, Fragmentation can be seen as just one of two possible directions that might be taken away from an ideal homeostatic optimum. Fragmentation is a reduced level of communication, eventually (inevitably - when it passes a critical threshold) getting to the stage of causing difficulties and secondary effects because the loss of coherence and coordination between various processes. But similarly it is possible for communication (excitability) to increase above normal optimum homeostatic levels.

This is very familiar in concepts such as information overload, or hypersensitivity (including sensory hypersensitivity such as hyperacusis or the sensitivity to light during migraines), or an over-active immune system (e.g. cascading allergies), or central sensitisation (escalating pain). But in extreme forms it leads to death - because it also implies dissolution of the organism through excess permeability of membranes (e,g, cell membranes, blood vessels, the blood-brain-barrier). It also manifests in mental illness... Such as the inability to contain the subconscious - e.g. leakage of subconscious words and movements into parts of the motor system that should normally be under relatively stable control of the cognitive identity.

The progression from normal homeostatic range through to hypersensitivity (hyper-excitability), through to numbness (which induices and includes fragmentation) in chronic adaptive states was described by Russian physiologist AA Ukhtomsky. I have provided a discussion of Ukhtomsky's work as a PDF file in the appendices.

From this it should be clear that expedient adaptive contraction (withdrawal, tightening, switching off) accompanying fragmentation (reduction of communication) are - generally speaking - healthier and more stable adaptive options than hyper-communicative states resulting in dissipation and dissolution. This is really where I started this journey some 20 years ago, wondering how dissociation (and particularly the fragmentation of identity seen in DID [1]) could be an expression of Health...