Inseparability Of Living Systems From Their Environment

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Inseparability Of Living Systems From Their Environment

Inseparability of living systems from their environment claimed by autopoietic theory expresses the unity of universe and this unity is at the core of any spiritual doctrine and experience. To see and grasp the unity of life is the ultimate drive of any spiritual endeavor.

In the stream of spiritual writing the idea of inseparability is usually extended to encompass not only species in relation to their environment bit also species in relation to each other. For this reason, spirituality resists Darwinian biology where evolution is considered as a chronic, bloody competition (struggle for survival) among individuals and species. The new biology rooted in Complexity Science (and autopoiesis is in this biology) alters this view of evolution. Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking. Life forms multiplied and grew more complex by co-opting others, not just by killing them.

For example, bacteria - the only inhabitants in the first two billion years of life on Earth, continuously transformed the planet's surface and atmosphere and invented all life's essential, miniaturized chemical systems. Their ancient biotechnology led to fermentation, photosynthesis, oxygen breathing, and the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen into proteins. Bacteria can routinely transfer their genes to bacteria very different from themselves. The receiving bacterium can use the visiting, accessory DNA (the cell's genetic material) to perform functions that its own genes cannot mandate. Bacteria can exchange genes quickly and reversibly. All the world's bacteria have access to a single gene pool and hence to the chemical prowess of the entire bacterial kingdom. This extreme genetic fluidity illustrates bacteria's inseparability. All scientific attempts to organize bacteria into separated phylogenetic groups or family trees proved to be invariably difficult and unsatisfactory. Of course, with the increase of biological complexity, inseparability between species takes much more subtle forms of manifestation.

http://members.tripod.com/~Vlad_3_6_7/Autopoiesis.html#mama1

Do you agree with the above statement (in bold)? If not what are some other spiritual drives?

Yes, it is essentially Jung's concept of 'wholeness', simply restated for the author's own purposes.

Hey Uriah. Good to see you. How've you been?

Good, thanks. Hope everything is going well for you and your family.