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Understanding Systems: The Flux of Wholes and Parts

Understanding Systems: The Flux of Wholes and Parts

December 19, 2024

Understanding Systems: The Flux of Wholes and Parts

Discover How Everything Connects!


Introduction to Systems Thinking

Why Systems Thinking?

We often see the world in parts: the tree, the leaf, the river. But what if we told you that every part is also a whole, and every whole is made of parts? This is the essence of systems thinking - understanding how everything we see, do, and experience is interconnected.

Key Points:
Everything is a System: From your body to your community, everything operates as a system where all parts influence each other.
Interdependence: Actions in one area can have unexpected effects elsewhere.



Wholes and Parts

The Dance of Wholes and Parts

Wholes: Each individual entity, like you or a tree, is a complete system in itself with its own functions and purposes.
Parts: Yet, these wholes are made up of parts - cells in your body, leaves on a tree - which contribute to the function of the whole.
Paradox? Or just how it is? Every part you see is also a whole to something smaller, and every whole is a part of something larger.

Key Points:
Nested Systems: Systems within systems, like Russian dolls.
Feedback Loops: How parts and wholes influence each other continuously.



Practical Applications

Systems Thinking in Action

Understanding the interplay between wholes and parts can change how we solve problems, make decisions, and plan for the future.

Examples:
Environmental Conservation: How protecting one species can maintain an entire ecosystem.
Public Health: Seeing health not just as individual but as community-wide.
Business: How a change in one department affects the entire company.


How to Start Thinking in Systems

Your Journey to Systems Thinking

Here's how you can start seeing the world through the lens of wholes and parts:

Tips:
Observe Connections: Look for how things are linked in your daily life.
Ask 'What If': Consider how one change might ripple through a system.
Think Long-term: Understand that immediate solutions might have long-term effects.

Call to Action:
Join workshops, read more about systems theory, or start with simple mind mapping of your daily activities to see the systems at play.




"The whole is more than the sum of its parts." - Aristotle
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○

BODY

The Living Boundary

Your body is not one boundary. It’s boundaries all the way down.

○ is body as interface. It’s the place where inside meets outside, where you open and close, where you breathe in air, take in food, receive touch, absorb experience. It is not a wall. It’s a selective membrane—alive, responsive, and always in motion.

Try This

Close your eyes and feel where your body ends and the air begins. Notice how many tiny sensations are being woven into that one felt “edge.”

Explore: Φ Mind • Soul ⊙ The Whole
Φ

MIND

The Field Between

Φ is mind as field—the living medium between center (•) and boundary (○). It’s the whole relational space where signals from the body come in, where awareness from the center flows out, and where the two blend into conscious experience.

Try This

Notice your body breathing by itself. That’s ○. Now notice that you’re noticing. That reflective awareness is flowing from •. Then feel the space in which both are happening. That’s Φ.

Explore: ○ Body • Soul ⊙ The Whole
•

SOUL

The Aware Center

• is soul as center—not a substance lurking somewhere inside you, but the point of view from which everything is seen. It is the structural center of the whole circumpunct.

Bodies change completely over a lifetime. Memories blur, identities shift. And yet, there’s a sense that the one who was there then is the same one who is here now.

Try This

Close your eyes. Notice your breath. Then, gently, turn attention back toward that awareness itself—not the objects in it, but the fact that knowing is happening. That’s •.

Explore: ○ Body Φ Mind ⊙ The Whole
⊙

CIRCUMPUNCT

The Whole You

⊙ is the circumpunct: a circle with a point at the center. The circle is the boundary that holds everything that is “you” as a single system. The point is centeredness—the soul that experiences from within.

Instead of thinking, “I have a body, I have a mind, I have a soul,” you can think, “I am ⊙: a whole being whose body, mind, and soul are three faces of the same process.”

Try This

Feel your body as one shape (○). Notice the space of awareness in which thoughts arise (Φ). Sense the quiet center that’s aware of all of this (•). Then soften your attention to hold all three at once. That’s ⊙.

You are not on your way to being ⊙. You are ⊙, right now.

Explore: ○ Body Φ Mind • Soul