♦

To commune with others integratively
we need to consider
that for every statement
there exists a domain
over which the statement may be said to be true,
and a domain over which it may be said to be false.

Integrative study focuses
on the domain
over which a statement is true.

♦

To think integratively
is to span
all space and time.

The living system
is revealed
through its history.

♦

The interactions
which bind together
the parts of any living system
are composed of circular (not linear)
chains of cause and effect

cycles.

Most cycles
stabilize the system;
but a certain few
called growth cycles
generate growth, transformation, innovation.

♦


♦

An information network
connects the elements
of the living system.

Within the living system
streams of information
control the flow
of matter, energy, people, money, information … .

♦

Each person
is a point
at which the universe
has become
conscious of itself;

thus, every person's life
is the story
of an awakening.

♦

Integration is life.

To live
is
to integrate.

Dis-integration
is
death.

♦
 

Excerpts from Part II
Chapter 2

Consider an ocean liner, a large seagoing vessel staffed by specialists of many kinds. Among them are navigators, carpenters, engineers, pursers, electricians, and cooks. These are fine, well trained individuals who enjoy their work, are good at their jobs, and arise every morning eager to get to work.

But even such an excellent crew is not enough. For the ship cannot function if everyone is left to their own devices. Numerous tasks must be performed if the ship is to function, and these tasks must be coordinated if they are to be productive. Some projects, for example, require carpentry; which of these should be the first to receive the attention of the carpenters? Supplies of various kinds must be requisitioned; what should these be, and how much of each should be purchased? What should be the tours of duty for various crew members? . . . And, of even greater significance, in what direction should the ship sail? And what should be the next port of call? And why?

Clearly, the numerous specialists on board can do their work and find meaning in it only because of some higher system which gives each of them direction. This "higher system" consists in part of a captain who sets certain policies, makes decisions, assigns tasks, and so on. But how does the captain know which course the ship should steer? Obviously there is a still higher system which gives him direction -- perhaps a corporate headquarters across the sea which determines the route the ship is to take, what goods it is to carry, and the policies which are to govern the internal workings of the ship.

This example has application to our lives. We sometimes see persons who are unhappy, who appear to be falling apart; they consume drugs and alcohol, have suicidal impulses, seem lost, depressed, and without direction. We look at them with wonder and do not understand how they can be so unhappy when they have "everything;" they are young, healthy, good looking, wealthy, talented, educated, intelligent. What we mean by "everything" is that they have all that we think necessary for life, for happiness: a healthy heart, a well stocked mind, money . . . yet there is no meaning or happiness to their lives. They are miserable, for they do not know in what direction they should be sailing. Either within them, or beyond them, some higher system has been shattered or lost.

As the example of the ocean liner shows: adequate parts alone do not a viable living system make. A crew cannot function without a captain; a captain cannot function when there is no higher system to which decisions can be referred. There must be some integrative matrix which binds a set of parts into a whole.

This brings us to the object of our impending journey: "Integrative Study." This is a search for an understanding of the integrations which lie at the heart of all forms of life -- beginning with the cell, progressing through higher levels of life, and ending with the life of the spirit …

We will depart from the ways of analysis and the specialized disciplines to face life in the universe (cells, multicellular organisms, societies, civilizations, etc.) and, with the aid of light cast by scientific, philosophic, religious and literary thought, enter upon the way of integration.

Chapter 3.

The language of integrative study is ordinary language, the language of everyday life. In this it differs from areas of specialization, each of which possesses a language of its own. Special languages greatly increase the efficiency of thought and communication within a given field and are indispensable to progress in complex fields, but have the effect of isolating practitioners in various fields from one another. It is difficult, and often almost impossible, for specialists from one field to communicate their results to those of another. The language of everyday life does not suffer from this limitation: all specialists share this language.

The language of everyday life is well fitted for the tasks of integrative study as it performs an integrative function in society and is the principal means by which individuals in a society are linked together. This language gradually developed over millennia precisely to meet these needs.


Integrating is not pasting pieces together.

To bring together, in the course of working on some problem, representatives of two or more disciplines such as psychology and biochemistry or literature and political science, or to convene a number of specialists from various fields and have them discuss some common problem from their different points of view, is integration, but it is not integrative study. …

When we try to merge fields of specialization we face toward them, rather than, as we are enjoined to do by the demands of integrative study, face toward life in its wholeness.

As one thus turns toward the full spectrum of living forms, one turns away from one's area of expertise (in fact, away from all areas of specialization) and brings one's whole life experience (rather than only one of its parts) to bear on the process of study.


Excerpts from Part III

♦

A living system
is a set of elements (parts)
together with the connections
between them.

The elements of every living system are coupled to one another by chains of cause and effect. This must not be understood in a trivial way; from a physical point of view every particle in the universe weakly interacts with and influences every other particle (via gravitation, electrical forces, quantum mechanical exchange forces, etc.). By contrast, the "connections" in a living system tend to be strong, directed interactions. They are strong in that they have profound effects upon their targets (as when a stream of nerve impulses originating from the brain cause a muscle to contract); they are directed in that the target is a specific part of the organism (as when a hormone molecule affects only a particular tissue). The channeling of streams of communication in all living systems (produced by nerve fibers, wires, walls, rules of privacy, codes, languages, etc.) cause the interactions within them to be directed.
A "policy" is the description of a connection in a social system. Every activity, every gesture in a traditional culture is symbolic and meaningful, and serves to bind the community together.
When a system is broken down into its parts, what is lost is the information regarding the connections. An automobile is a set of parts plus the information regarding their interconnection. Thus, the statement "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" is neither romantic nor mystical. The "more" refers to the connections. …

Imagine a box containing resistors, capacitors, transistors, wires, nuts and bolts, etc.; it contains parts, the elements of a system, yet it is not a system. A designer who connects the parts so as to form a television receiver is able to forge them into a unity capable of detecting delicate vibrations in the ether and converting these into sight and sound. The connections create the television receiver; with a different set of connections some of the same elements give rise to an electronic computer.

The collection of cells obtained by disaggregating a mouse is a collection of cells, not a mouse; a heap of parts is not a car; a mass of individuals is not necessarily a society, nor do several persons living in the same household necessarily constitute a family.

♦

The living system
Is a set of elements (parts)
together with the connections
between them.

The parts
of the defective system
can be perfect;
the parts
of the effective system
can be imperfect.

A single faulty connection can cause an entire electronic instrument to fail.