Holism and Holistic Management®
Holism
What does holistic mean? South African statesman Jan Smuts first coined the term holistic in 1926. It comes from the Greek word holos meaning all and everything. In his book “Holism and Evolution” he made the following observations about how ecosystems function:
Nature
only functions in whole within wholes;
Nature has no parts;
The whole is greater than the sum;
Nature will never be understood by studying its parts.
Smuts argued there are no boundaries separating the individual parts of nature. For example, take the colours in this circle. We can identify the individual colours but not isolate the exact boundary where one becomes the next. With this insight Smuts stated the natural world functions as wholes within wholes; whole atoms, whole cells, whole organisms, whole ecosystem. Smuts believed humans would never understand nature by studying the parts within it but only by studying the trends and patterns that emerged from observing wholes.
The global environmental problems currently facing humans provide a modern example of Smuts understanding. Scientists talk about desertification, loss of biodiversity and global climate change as three separate issues. Yet from a holistic perspective these problems are three sides of the same coin. The existence of one means all three are happening simultaneously.
Holistic Management®
From a practical perspective, holism embraces the idea that everything is influenced by everything else. No person, family, farm, business, community or nation can operate in isolation from any other. Lets say this grey dot represents your farm, family or business. Other farms, businesses or families – a neighbourhood, surround it. In turn these entities are also surrounded creating a community. |
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Any decision about a family, farm or community, whether involving the environment, money or people, has an impact in the larger whole that surrounds it. The health of your land, family and bank account influences the overall health of the community in general.
From a Holistic Management® point of view, this means that business and lifestyle decisions are important. As members of a wider community we need to be responsible and accountable for the decisions we make. We can only do this if we have a clear understanding of the greater whole in which we are doing business or living our lives. After all it is the greater whole that sustains humans, not the other way round.
