A weblog with random thoughts and reflections on society and ecology.
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Sunday, November 28, 2004
Integral Approach to Change
There seems to be several dimensions to social change...
Individual vs. Structural Change
The individual approach to change is exemplified in the voluntary simplicity movement. It is powerful on the individual level, and has some impact on the social level to the extent it is adopted by the wider population. At it's best, it may be similar to mulching, preparing the ground for deeper and structural changes.
The structural change approach seek changes in how society functions, in the rules of the game. Democracy movements, women's suffragette, and neo-liberal globalization are some examples. Each have been successful in implementing laws and regulations that has a profound effect on how society functions.
Adversarial vs. Partnership
We see various manifestations of the adversarial approach in contemporary political systems. In the US, with its winner-takes-all/two-party system, it is stronger and more obvious than in some parlamentary systems: One political party takes over for a while, repeal policies instated by the other party, and then the other party takes over and do the same. It is a frustrating and not very efficient system. The adversarial approach is also typically used by those seeking social change. They want to implement their view and policies, to the exclusion of those of the "opponent".
A partnership approach to social change is one that seeks to go beyond the typical polarizations. It promotes an inclusive process, such as citizen's deliberative councils, where all voices are heard - and the process supports finding solutions beyond habitual views.
Integral Apprach
An integral approach combines several approaches to social change. Today, it seems that a partnership and structural change oriented approach is needed and may be effective. The specific strategies could range from public education (media, events), small-scale implementation (e.g. citizen counsils used on hot issues and publizised in the media), and institutionalization (citizen councils as part of the political process, first on a local level, then state and national levels).
11:16
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Saturday, November 27, 2004
Systems View on Health
Using a systems view on health, we find a very different perspective than what is still current in modern medicine.
Holarchies
The universe can be seen as a holarchy: a whole made up of nested systems. Everything is a whole in itself, and a part in a larger whole.
Applied to health, it means that the health and well-being of the individual is tied to the larger system (ecology and society) as well as smaller systems (body/mind and their subsystems). We need to use a comprehensive and systems view on health to bring about real changes. Focusing on just one aspect (which tends to be just a symptom of processes in the larger whole) may give relief for a while, but the larger system will tend to recreate the same or a similar symptom.
Partnership vs. Adversarial
Western medicine tends to use an adversarial approach, as reflected in the often used war terminology. Instead of supporting the self-healing processes in the body/mind, they try to eradicate the part that expresses the symptom (antibiotics, surgery etc). Western medicine is great for emergencies, but not so good for supporting deeper healing processes.
Hygiene
The area western medicine has had the most impact is probably hygiene and an understanding of how certain diseases are transmitted. It has created profound changes in the overall health of the population where hygiene is taken seriously (and where they have the ability to take it seriously).
Future
In the future, we may see a more integral approach to medicine - a systems view on health. The individual and facilitator (doctor) works in partnership with the self-healing processes intrinsic to all life. And we recognize that these self-healing processes are typically more powerful and precise than what we can come up with on our own.
Integral Medicine - essay by Ken Wilber
15:12
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