The symbol for holism

It takes a holistic approach to see, understand and interact with the world around us in a sustainable manner.

Since MOHK wants to work with these things, it is of course very fitting with a symbol representing holism.

But which examples of holism can we see in this symbol? The examples are so numerous that ”Holism” (as the symbol is named) got its own page.

The symbol represents:

The Milky Way (the spiral galaxy in which we live). The centered small circle is the sun, and the other four circles are orbiting planets. The surrounding colorful fields are stardust, and the ”gap” that divides the fields represent the galaxy’s spiral motion.

The five elements in our physical world: Earth, fire, air, water and ether. (The four fields + the surrounding empty space.)

The journey from three dimensional to five dimensional being and consciousness. (The four fields represent each their dimension, and the surrounding empty space is the fifth dimension.)

The four fields + the surrounding empty space represent the five categories of intelligence:

Rational, emotional, physical, spiritual and holistic (IQ, EQ, BQ, SQ, HQ).  In the rational category, we find intelligences such as linguistic, logical / mathematical, and spatial.

What the universe is made up of: Chemicals (the circles), Energy (the fields) and Consciousness (the void). These are of course integrated with each other in reality, and not separated as in the symbol. Energy i.e. constitute a large part of our physical world, as a large part of a chemical atom consists of ”empty space” which is mostly filled with energy.

Balance: Holism is balanced in design. Also, related to the classical YinYang symbol

originating in the early Taoism. Yin and Yang represents polarity, and only together they

bring balance. Interdependently where we can not have darkness without light or,

for example, valuing something as ”bad” without having any ”good” to compare with.

Universes dilating and constricting forces. Properties (humans or food, for example) can be divided into yin or yang, and thus we can more easily balance our lives. These methods are also used in Ayurveda.

Ayurveda is considered the world’s oldest and most proven health systems, and is probably also the most successful one. Unlike modern Western medicine it doesn’t focus on (or treat) symptoms – but rather try to find and treat the underlying causes. And it does not deal with synthetic drugs, but with many different natural methods to get a holistic approach. Ayurveda has health care as a basis – not sick care. One wants to stimulate the body’s self-healing properties, and find the well-being that is our natural state. To achieve this it requires a unique assessment of each individual, and one of the things to consider is which body types / doshas that dominate. There are three doshas (Vata, Pitta, Kapha), which in the Holism symbol is the red, blue and yellow field, but most individuals have a combination of doshas … and this combination is the violet field in the symbol.

Yoga means fusion or association (between body, mind and soul), and is a holistic philosophy of life that developed in parallel with Ayurveda about 6000 years ago. These teachings and others argue that the body’s energies have a number (traditionally seven) large energy hubs (chakras) that they flow through. These hubs or chakras have been assigned the colors that are represented in the symbol.

Yoga aims to create balance and raise awareness.

Oneness is a movement and teaching aiming for unity – unity to other people, to nature, to all life – to counteract the separation that lies behind some of the major challenges of modern societies. The colors in the symbol represents the rainbow (as one of the wonders of nature) and human equality and togetherness.

The circle of life: Life begins in the red color and finishes in indigo. The violet color / field represents the transition between the being and physical life.

The four fields also represents four phases of life, and the circle in the fields represents opportunities to develop / cultivate ourselves: Find and follow the flow of life. Everything is constantly changing

(and these things we need to recognize, accept and embrace).

The void that divide the colorful fields represent a swastika. This symbol is found in simple paintings that are about 10 000 years old, but it begins to be widely used as a conscious symbol within eg Buddhism in India for over 2,500 years ago. They call the symbol ”Svastikah” which in Sanskrit means to be successful, prosperous, wealthy. Some buddha schools use it also as ”Law Wheel” to symbolize the universe and the laws of energy (how things move and evolve). The symbol followed by Buddhism to China, and has since been incorporated in Falun Dafa’s own symbol ”The Falun Law Wheel” representing all parts, aspects and properties of the universe.

The swastika has been used by many civilizations for thousands of years (pictured), but most recognized is probably the use of the Nazis during the 1900s … which makes many people today associate the swastika with something bad. The swastika is part of the Holism symbol partly for the significance in Buddhism, partly because it is time to restore the swastika’s good reputation.

Sacred Geometry: Fundamental patterns that can be explained mathematically and

which are found in all living things and can explain time & place and the laws of the

universe. The circles in holismsymbol represents the creation patterns that go from

”Seed of Life” to the completed ”Flower of Life”. (Usually compared to cell division that

at completion is a developed organism – such as a human body.)

From the ”flower of life” comes the pattern – the ”golden ratio” – which with its sequence of numbers creates the golden spiral (also called the Fibonacci spiral). The swastika in holismsymbol has a bend based on this spiral (which is found in everything from small organisms to entire galaxies).

To discover and take into account different perspectives, and (if possible) to find a common denominator. In the symbol we find the spiral for the whole of our galaxy in the same plane as the structure of a microscopic cell (Flower of Life).

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All these things put together make up this special symbol of holism.

(From my hand-drawn sketches and explanations, the symbol has been materialized in pixels with the help of graphic designer Olov Källgarn at Pixelengine.).

What is holism?

”Holism” means to see whole-

ness, different perspectives, synergy, cross disciplinary science etc.

This is something that early developed civilisations lived by, though the word ”holism” came later.

The word derives from the greek  ”holos”, meaning ”the reality is made up of integrated systems whose properties can’t be reduced to the properties of the smaller units that make up the systems” (and the wholeness).