Chapter 4;
Health as Coherent Order;
a holistic perspective
R.J.C.Wilding.
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Holistic
Science
"Consciousness is distributed about the
entire body, brain consciousness being embedded in
body consciousness."Mae Wan Ho
"At any instant our body is in our mind
and our mind is in our body".Candace Pert
Introduction
Why do some of us get sick and others seem to stay well? Epidemiologists agree that the
distribution of disease is not random. Something about how we live, either keeps us well or
makes us ill. Orthodox medicine is built on a fast and growing information base and exploits
technology to the full. Yet it costs huge amounts of money and still leaves many of the ill
and
suffering, unhealed and rejected, like motor cars with defective parts. The soul gets left out
and
the mind is marginalised. The alternatives to orthodox medicine are more humane but do not
offer the rigour of scientific method or plausible explanations for their claims to understand
illness. Yet without any pretence at science, there are healing practitioners who can reduce a
tumour and cure a back pain with nothing but their bare hands.
There are scientists willing to apply themselves to a fresh look at what it means to
be
alive, what
is special about the way living organism do what they do, and why might be going on when
they
get ill. During the last ten or so years, this fresh look, and new evidence , has done a great
deal to
reveal a broader understanding of illness, and in passing, how it is that traditional healers
help
patients to get better.
This essay attempts to bring together some developments in science which allow a
more
holistic
view of health and healing.
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Coherence as a requirement of
survival
The living organisms has many domains, from the molecular to the cellular and
beyond.
Across
these domains of scale are a diversity of behaviours, such as feeding, moving, avoiding,
communicating, growing , repairing. It is clear that these behaviours will require
coordination, so
moving may be required as a component of feeding but also of avoiding. Within such overall
co-ordination there must be some autonomy of the constituent components. Movement has to
retain
sufficient co-ordination within its own domain, to remain effective, even when part of a
larger
scale intention such as feeding. Coherence does not impose authority or uniformity, but it
does
imply a degree of coupling and keeping in step together.
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Coherence in organisms implies that there is
a
unity of intention. The assumption is made, that if
this intention is absent, the organism cannot function and will eventually die. It is thus a
starting
point, to enquire how it is that any living organisms stays alive.
Structural
coherence of cells
Living systems are pumped up by the energy they strip off incoming photons of light
from the
sun, or from taking compounds whose high energy has come indirectly from this process.
Life
catches this energy, and avoids entropy (loss of high level energy) by converting it into
dynamic
order (Ho, 1993). Schrödinger wrote "What an organisms feeds on, is negative
entropy".
A single E.coli 1 micron in volume has a string of DNA with
106 base pairs which code for 103
proteins (a few hundred copies of each), some 103 species of RNA, mostly
a few copies of each
plus membrane lipids, fats, carbohydrates, small cofactors and ions all inclosed in a cell wall
of
woven carbohydrate fibres. Schrödinger remarked that the order and regularity going
on inside
such a cell, cannot be merely statistical and must be guided by some mechanism (Ho, 1993).
The traditional view of the cytosol is of a soup of enzymes and substrate, whose
interaction is
controlled by lock and key structures which are specific for each reaction. Ho (1993)
suggests
that this is an unlikely mechanisms in view of the ceaseless wriggling of molecules. She
reminds
us, that the internal structure of a cell is far from the unstructured soup that is observed when
a
cell is macerated. The microtubules of the cell's internal skeleton provide a structure onto
which
chains of enzymes are attached. There is therefore a structural coherence in living cells
which
enables the dynamic coherence.
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A more likely mechanisms than a random lock and key process for controlling
specific
enzyme
reactions, is the possibility that recognition of matching enzyme and substrates occurs due
to
matching frequencies of vibration. [Pert(1997) comments that the lock
an key metaphor for the bonding of
peptides onto cell membrane ligands does not explain the specificity. Ligands are "dancing"
and their shape change,
has more to do with synchronous vibrations with the messenger molecule than its matching
configuration.] Mutual
resonance also would provide the energy to power the reaction. The physical alignment of
enzyme cascades, down structural pathways would assist in the rapid transfer of enzyme
products
down metabolic pathways. The orientation of membranes also allows coherent flows
of electrons down gradients caused by
heat, light or pressure. The cell membranes represent the structure used in semiconductors to
transform light energy into a stream of electrons. So from molecular scale, to a macro scale,
there are currents flowing in living cells, pumped along by light, heat or pressure and which
may
be transformed into any of those forms of energy.
Electrical currents
in living tissues
A direct current (DC) field is found in the body of all
organisms. It appears to have an essential
role in morphogenesis, wound healing and regeneration after injury. The current is not due
to
charged ions but depends on a mode of semi-conduction which is characteristic of solid state
systems. At low temperatures, molecular disorder (entropy)
disappears and molecules become
super-fluid, moving as one. They also conduct electricity with zero resistance. These
phenomena
happen at near absolute zero temperatures, How could living organisms replicate these
conditions
of a so called solid state?
Transitions from molecular disorder to macroscopic
order are found in the change of state from
liquid to solid. Here the type of order in the solid is static, and the system is in equilibrium.
In a
so called non-equilibrium system the transition is to a dynamic order where the system is in
coherent motion. The phase transition of a laser light, from random emission of photons to
oscillation in phase, when all the photons are emitted together, is a non-equilibrium phase
transition. It happens so rapidly as to resembles a quantum shift to another level of
order.
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Ho and Knight (1998) have recently proposed there is
a liquid crystalline continuum provided
by the network of collagen fibres in connective tissues. A liquid crystal, as the name implies,
is
something in between a liquid and a crystal. It is in fact an intermediary phase with some of
the
properties of both states. There is long range order in its molecules, characteristic of crystals,
though the order is not rigid but fluid and dynamic. Liquid crystal undergo rapid change in
state
in response to changes in temperatures or pressure, hence their wide use in touch sensitive
computer screens. A liquid crystal has birefringent properties
and can thus be detected by its
interference effect on polarised light. Ho (1993) developed an optical technique and which
has
since detected a liquid crystal continuum in all living organisms.
Rapid intercommunication throughout the body,
could
occur due to proton movement along this
continuum, provided by bound water layers on the collagen fibres. Under some conditions the
speed of communication in our body is much faster than can be accounted for by the speed of
nerve conduction. Ho (1997) sites as an example the coherence between brain and hands of a
concert pianist and the simultaneous oscillations in separate areas of the cortex.
Instantaneous
coordination of body function could therefore be mediated ,
not by the nervous system but by the
liquid crystal continuum.
The liquid crystal nature of the continuum enables it to function as a
distribution memory store.
The amount of bound water on the surface of proteins is altered by their conformational
state.
Proteins undergo a range of conformational states. Those states are very unstable and can be
easily triggered. The bound water is stable and resistance to change and thus may retain
tissue
memory of a previous experience. [ Some natural healers believe that the
memory of an injury can get retained
at the injury site. It then prevents healing until it is shifted, a process which may require the
energy of a healer but may
also be released by an emotional catharthis (Upledger 1997)] Ho (1997) writes
"Thus consciousness is
distributed about the entire body, brain consciousness being embedded in body
consciousness."
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Coherent light in
living organisms
Proteins, nucleic acids and cell membranes have large dipole charges and characteristic
oscillation frequencies. The molecules vibrate at various
frequencies but those whose frequencies
are similar may start to resonate and build up to either a collective mechanical oscillation
(sound
waves) or a collective electromagnetic oscillation (photons).
There may be a band of frequencies which are nevertheless coupled so that a
specific
frequency
energy can be communicated to other frequencies. Ho (1993) calls these suspected
oscillations,
the "music" of 73 octaves, referring to the band width spread of the frequencies. Some of
these
frequencies are in the visible light range. They are not responsible for the luminescence of
some
organisms which is a chemical process of photon emission. In contrast biophoton emission is
a
property of all living organisms and occurs at brightness far below that of the few
luminescent
organisms. Biophoton emission shares an unusual property with coherent (laser) light. It
decays
in a hyperbolic way, in contrast to the exponential decay of non-coherent light. This implies
that
biophotons are emitted like a very weak multi-mode laser.[ Some people
claim to be able to see this
emission as an aura around all living things. It has been reported by mystics over the ages,
that at death a flash of light
can be seen to leave the body.]
These "coherent excitations" as Frolich (in Ho , 1993)called them, can account for
many
of the
characteristics of living organisms.; long range order, efficient energy transfer and extreme
sensitivity to specific signals. Weak signals are received only when the system is in "tune"
with
them and by collective action amplifies them. Frolich proposed that biological membranes
are
particularly prone to collective vibrational modes. This could explain the extreme sensitivity
to
single message; a single receptor binding to a ligand could excite other membrane bound
receptors simultaneously as a first step in the amplification of an external signal. The rate of
decay of the signal would normally be inversely proportional to the cube route of the radius
from
the source ( 1/r3). Coherent excitations of a cell decrease this decay to 1/r . Cell activity may
therefore become coherent over large areas of the brain or entire body
> A Frolich-like state of excitation has been shown by Duffield (1998)
to be theoretically stable,
which indicates that a cell would tend to return to a state of coherent excitation when
disturbed.
The stable state of coherent excitation may be an attractor of a non-equilibrium system.
Goodwin
(1999) suggest that health may be a state which behaves as though it were a dynamic
attractor in a non-equilibrium
state.
The coherent emission of electromagnetic waves of different frequencies suggests
that
living
systems possess local domains of a coherence which have some autonomy. They are
nonetheless
coupled together so that energy can be de-localised from one domain to another. There may
be a
coherent electromagnetic field that underlies living organisation.
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Autocatalytic
reactions
Another possible factor which reduces the complexity of the
cellular function, is the order
which emerges from complex systems which are far from equilibrium. There is now evidence of
autocatalytic reactions which reduce the number of possible states of complex system.
Manfred
Eigen coined the term "molecular self organisation" to describe the behaviour of enzymes
which,
when far from equilibrium, may form self organising cycles in which each enzyme catalyses
each other's formation (Capra 1997). A link between several cycles, a hyper cycle, proved to
be
stable, to replicate itself, and able to correct replication errors. Eigen's work suggested that
these hyper cycles could be precursors of life.
Kauffman has developed this theme
and shows that order emerges from networks of agents
which interact with each other according to quite simple rules.
Evidence to support the existence of coherence in living
organisms
There is little hard evidence for coherence in living organisms but there are several
observable
phenomena which are strongly suggestive of coherence.
Synchronous
Rhythms
Frequency coupling is the harmonic relationships between biological rhythms. Examples
are the
relationship between heart beat and respiratory frequency and the high degree of coupling
between muscle fibres which occurs to enable extremely rapid oscillations of insect wing
beats.
Long range coherence is found in the simultaneous firing of neurons from widely separate
areas
of the brain at frequencies of 50 Hz.
Phase locking expresses the stability of a collection of independent oscillators when
they
have a
reciprocal effect on each other. Examples are the flashing of fireflies, the chirping of
crickets, the
pacemaker cells of the heart and the neurons of the circadian pacemakers. Similarly the
beating
of cilia in many organism occurs in synchronised quantal steps with little fluctuation.
Liquid crystal
properties
On the basis that coherent molecular patterns which were semi-crystalline would
produce optical
patterns, Ho (1993) looked at Drosophila larva with a polarised microscope using it in an
unconventional way. The parts of the larva appear in different colours revealing particular
birefringent properties of each part. These phenomena cease immediately the organisms dies.
They appear to provide the experimental support for Frolich's ideas of phase transitions to
dynamic order which is a characteristic of liquid crystal states.
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The response of
organisms to weak electromagnetic
fields.
There is evidence that organisms are sensitive to electric and magnetic fields. Nerve
cells
growing in culture will respond to electric field six orders of magnitude below the potential
difference that exists across cell membranes. The cells orientate themselves , the
cyto-skeleton
remodels and they move towards one or other of the poles. The earth's magnetic field
provides
information for migration and growth in a wide variety off organisms. Sometimes the
weakness
of the electromagnetic field requires amplification. The possibility that amplified signals can
be
re-transmitted to other cells or even other organisms has been suggested.
Physiological
coherence
There is no clear concept of how organisms behave as integrated units. The
individual systems
are well studied but do not of themselves suggest a whole. The nervous system, skeletal
system,
endocrine and the immune system are studied as part of a hierarchy of systems which
somehow
are put together to form the whole integrated organisms. The systems do integrate with each
other but traditionally there are well defined boundaries which serve to distinguish the
system
form others and in this act of distinction they are separated. One of the most well defined
separation is between the brain(body) and the mind.
The brain is the domain of neuro-physiologists but the
mind is the realm of psychology and
perhaps philosophy. This important realm of the brain /mind is therefore a very wide and
fragmented territory of knowledge. There is a fairly widespread acceptance that the state of
the
brain/ mind has something to do with the way the body copes with the stress, injury and
infection.
But there has been no scientific explanation for the apparent association between sadness
and
despair with a rapid decline in the bodies health. In the last few years there has emerged a
growing body of evidence , which not only points towards a close association between body
and
mind, but has some testable theories about how this association occurs.
The information peptides
A cell gets information about its environment through its
membrane. Some messengers, like the
fat based sex hormones, get straight through the lipid bi-layer, but other chemical messengers
have to dock into specific receptor molecules. They remain outside, but by docking cause a
change in motion of the ligand molecule which is picked up inside the cell. The response of a
macrophage, for example, to a local injury is mediated by the arrival on its surface
membrane of
molecules such as prostaglandins and serotonins which have been released by damaged
cells,
and to circulating antibodies. The macrophage then becomes "activated" and highly
destructive
to living tissue whether friend or foe.
Pharmacologists have known for some time that for a drug to be active, it has to find
be
able to
bind onto a specific cell membrane receptor. In 1987, Candace Pert found that morphine had
a
specific receptor on nerve cells. The endogenous morphine like substance was soon found,
and
since then nearly 200 peptides and their specific cell membrane receptors have been found.
These
peptides include many known to have profound mood altering capacities. They are found not
just
on a few specialized cells but on all the cells of the body, including those of the immune
system.
The opiate receptor is found on all vertebrates. On some cells there are many more
receptors, for
say the cannabis peptide than others and the sites in the brain where these receptors are
concentrated are being mapped. One of these peptides (Vaso-intestinal peptide) appears to
prevent the daily reduction of neuronal arborisation which is performed by glial cells
(monocytes) in the brain. There is an interesting distribution of VIP which coincides with the
positions of the Eastern energy chakras.
Pert (1998) believes that the emotions and the peptides associated with them are the
mind-body
link as they are the key organising principle in both realms.
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Psychoneuroimmunology
The evidence from neuroscience and immunology is beginning to reveal pathways
between the
information peptides and emotions, the state of the immune system and the endocrine
system.
Macrophages have cell membrane receptors for neuropeptides. The peptides such as
vasointestinal peptide(VIP), serotonin and endorphins may all mediate macrophage
perception of
tissue damage and the need to engulf and destroy tissue. The state of our emotions mediated
by
these neuropeptides may therefore have a direct influence on the state of the immune
system.
Furthermore these immune cells make their own neuropeptides. So macrophages can
produce
endorphins. The brain is not the only place where molecules of emotion are made and
influence
other cells
The peptide information is conveyed in body fluids by the circulation to all parts of
the
body,
and also carried by those cells of the immune system which move about the body. The
slowest
routes are along nerve axons but this route provides much of the information required by
healing
tissues. This distribution network makes any distinction of brain and body less and less
defensible.. The brain is full of immune and gut peptides and the body is full of
neuropetides.
And common to both systems are information peptides which are commonly described as
part of
the endocrine system.
The evidence for the ubiquitous presence of information peptides has come from
techniques
capable of identifying the receptors for these peptides on all cells of the body. The paper
which
Pert and Ruff wrote in 1985 was the forerunner of a now legitimate discipline of
psychoneuroimmunology. The existence of a body-wide communication system is strongly
suggestive of coherence.
The possibility of such a coherent system being in a non-equilibrium state and
capable of
quantum-like phase transitions would support a notion of health as a quantum state, rather
than
being merely the absence of disease.
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Electromagnetic coherence
Some evidence which might support the idea of whole body quantum states comes from
brain
studies. It has been argued that nerves do not convey information fast enough to integrate the
complex process of the mind. Some neurologists, are looking to chemical rather than neural
states of the brain as the main determinants of emotions and states of consciousness. But for
some physicists, this is too slow to explain the quantum like shift in brain state which
accompany
conscious processes of intentions.
Supersensitive SQUID magnetometers placed around the brain reveal coherent
patterns
of
activity sweeping across large domains of the brain in milliseconds. Scott Kelso and Fuchs
(1995) found that shift in a certain task related capacity caused a qualitative change in the
brain
patterns which they describe as a phase transition.
According to conventional biology, there is no organisation or structure which
would
allow for
the propagation and amplification of week external or internal signals. Such subtle
communication may be necessary, not just for the concert pianist but to allow the everyday
functions of our body to be coordinated. The capacity of a highly sensitive, widespread and
rapid
communication system may be a requirement, and thus also a reflection of an organism's
capacity to survive , or better, to be in good health.
If the electromagnetic properties of living organisms are due to the liquid crystal
nature
of
connective tissue collagen fibres, it would be expected that electricity would be
preferentially
conducted along the fibre length. Gaps in between fibres or where fibres are orientated at
right
angles to the skin might have poorer conductivity. Ho and Knight (1998) suggests that the
meridians described in acupuncture may have a physiological origin in the lateral
conductivity of
the skin due to the underlying orientation of collagen fibres. Acupuncture points have been
found to have a higher electrical resistance to the other skin areas. Altering the conductivity
at
these points by activating with a needle or light electrical current may well re-set the bodies
electromagnetic field into a healthy state.
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Coherence in communities
Some of the deepest mysteries of the living world are those which
have to do with coherent
behaviour of flocks of birds and shoals of fish. The speed with which information exchange
would have to occur seems beyond the known capacities of the sensory and motor systems in
these organisms. A less instantaneous co-operation is widespread in living organisms, and
an
essential quality of all social plants and animals.
Colonies of ants get into a working rhythm of activity so as to make
their tasks more effective.
This dynamic order appears to result from the very process of communal activity, as ants on
their
own, have no coherent rhythm of activity.(Sole, Miramontes and Goodwin, 1993).
The unusual health and well being of the Hanza tribe was recorded at the turn of
century.
Goodwin concludes that one of the most significant reasons was the care and responsibility
each
member of the tribe felt for others. The self became transcended into the larger whole,
although
each individual remained a free acting agent. There was no ruling class or person in
authority.
Yet the tribe, as Goodwin (1994) remarks, behaved as coherent unit.
There appear to be several indications that coherence in living organisms is
accessory to
survival
and hence health. It can be argued theoretically that coherence exploits energy to the
maximum,
it increases coordination of the components and that once reached it is a robust but flexible
state.
How does this view of health articulate with the human condition. Health Care is a major
budget
item in most governments and increasingly costly. We have, as a species, done without
Health
Care for a hundred thousand years, and so of course have all our ancestors for millions of
years.
Is Homo sapiens a particularly vulnerable animal?
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What does it mean to be
well.
Wellness is certainly more than the absence of disease. The Alma Ata Declaration
in
1978 gave
validity to happiness and fulfilment of potential as necessary qualities of good health. This is
a
perspective limited to human health, but it encourages a broader view of what it takes for a
living
organism, plant or animal to be well. The observer is in a poor position to define the wellness
in
another, though it does seem likely that we can trust to our senses, when we see a dog
chasing
butterflies or seals surfing on waves, that those others are well. Perhaps the exuberance, the
excess of behaviour to that which is required to stay alive, is one of the signatures that we
unconsciously pick up and interpret as wellness.
What keeps us well?
We do need to sustain the barrier between ourselves and the outside world. Without the
major
one, skin, we die of overwhelming infection and dehydration. If there is a breach in the gut
wall
and the contents spills into the body cavities we also die quickly. In the epithelium of the
skin,
gut and lungs are sentry cells (macrophages) of the immune system which notify
of
the presence of foreign proteins. The gut has a special process for tolerating food proteins but
sometimes that tolerance wears thin. In a reasonably clean environment the barriers which
keep
the outside out, are effective. However the world outside is far from clean. and we need to be
vigilant.
Lewis Thomas believes we are durable and do not become sick because we fail to
be
vigilant. As though if we were to take our attention for one moment from our teetering
system it
would stutter and flicker out (Thomas 1998). We do not need a "Health Industry" to keep us
all
alive. Conventional Western medicine is not that good at preventing the major diseases like
cancer and heart disease, although there are plenty of tests to administer. There is no general
agreement as to whether men over 50 should have regular tests to monitor levels of Prostate
Specific Antigen as an early warning system against prostrate cancer. Lewis Thomas (1988)
argues that if you interviewed young doctors, you would find that they and their families
have
few X rays and other tests, resists surgery and use little antibiotics. What they know, which
is not
part of Health Care Maintenance Policy, is that most things get better in the morning. On the
basis that a good legal system assumes we are innocent until proven guilty, a healthcare
system
should assume we are going to stay well. It should also be based on what doctors do for
themselves and their family. It is a sad reflection on the industry of dental health care, that
the
children of dentists have no dental decay (Ainamo and Holmberg (1974).
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What makes us unwell?
Environmental toxins
We get a disproportionate amount of illness from the three major organ systems which
provide a
barrier to the outside. The skin, lings and gut are our first line of defence, specialised for
dealing
with environmental toxins. They are also the organs most commonly affected by tumours.
Our headlong rush into the use of wonder chemicals has left behind a dirty trail of
poisonous and
carcinogenic substances. Some of these, like the parachlorobenzols accumulate in the food
chain
until they emerge in high enough concentrations to make polar bears infertile. We still have
to
discover where others are, which like land mines , have yet to explode in our face. Ruff
(1999)
believes that environmental toxins are "thugs" on the highway of inflammation. They cause
tissue damage(including damage to genes) and interfere with the repair process leading to
cancers.
Organisms as pathogens
We have an obsession with being attacked by germs and
readily take up the newest technological
invention that will keep our toilets and kitchen sinks free of invaders. But the vast majority
of
microorganisms bear us no ill will at all. In fact without the countless tons of bacteria living
in
the soil and in the guts of many mammals and insects, life would be hardly sustainable.
Bacteria
are browsers and do not number H. sapiens as one of their victims. There were times when it
was
crucial to avoid some bacteria, as illness was a mere cough away. Lobar pneumonia,
diphtheria,
enteric fevers and tuberculosis have, in the affluent parts of the world , mostly left us, thanks
to
antibiotics, plumbing and the absence of poverty. It is important to act on the evidence that
illness has a positive feedback effect. The poorer, more malnourished, over crowded, and,
we
must add emotionally and physically exhausted, the greater chance there is that our symbiotic
relationships with organisms will break down. The cholera outbreaks that health authorities
fear
will overtake the Kosovon refugees is a vicious consequence of war, not of vicious
bacteria.
Lewis Thomas(1988) points out that most bacterial causes of disease arise as a
freakish
misinterpretation of the borders of symbiosis. When we get diphtheria we are actually
suffering
the effect of an infection of the diphtheria bacillus by a virus. The uninfected bacillus is quite
harmless to us. We have, as Thomas suggests, "blundered into someone else's accident". For
those few bacteria which seem to have developed a long standing parasitic relation with
humans
such as the tubercule bacillus, and the cholera vibrio, it is not in their interest to kill the host
who
is their dissemination vehicle. It does suite their purpose to infect over crowded hosts who
will
infect one another readily. In those parts of the world where improvement in sanitation has
occurred the virulence of the cholera vibrio has decreased, so that, as it were, the host
remains fit
enough to carry the organism for some time before infecting another host (Rennie 1992).
The
walking infected are more useful than the buried dead..
As the spread of HIV is reduced by education and the use of
condoms, we can expect its
virulence to decrease, in order to extend the period during which the host is well enough to
transmit the virus.
Some hosts and their parasites have evolved a mutually
beneficial relationship. The symbiosis
between grazing animals and the bacteria which inhabit their gut, is an example. As primates
and
humans evolved, they also maintained a mutual relationship with their gut bacteria and their
oral
bacteria. It is not immediately obvious how the oral bacteria are beneficial, particularly in
view
of the fact that when their numbers increase, they cause dental caries and gingivitis. These
diseases are, however uncommon in wild animals and primitive man, where the oral bacteria
are
quite benign and may actually help to keep more aggressive and virulent bacteria out of the
mouth. Why do they cause disease in modern man? The answer seems to be, because our diet
contains a lot of sugar, which is also the most favoured nutrient of some oral bacteria,. whose
numbers then reach a destructive level. It appears that some strains of bacteria are
evolving,
which take the fullest advantage of a sugar-rich diet and are, as a result, particularly virulent
and
destructive. It may be possible to help our bodies defence against such virulent strains, by
re-introducing to the mouth, strains of bacteria which are slow to utilise sugar. But the most
effective protection is just to eat less sugar.
In epidemics of meningitis, the meningococcus bacteria is
to
found in the nose and pharynx of
healthy people. It is only in a few people that the lines of symbiosis are crossed and the
infection
spreads to the brain. Likewise, staphylococci live all over us, yet give us remarkably little
trouble,
except for the few of us who get boils, and then it is the excessive zeal of our own immune
cells
which does most of the damage. The tissue destruction caused by the an activated
macrophage is
devastating and far worse than that caused by the bacteria. Lewis Thomas writes "We live in
the
midst of explosive devices".The trigger for the most cataclysmic use of these destructive
weapons is information carried by the bacteria. Gram negative bacteria carry a lipo
-polysaccharide on their cell membrane which is called an endotoxin. But it is not in itself
toxic.
It does however set off a chain of highly destructive reactions which include turning lose the
"explosive devices" and causing necrosis, pain, fever, even shock. We are more vulnerable to
tearing ourselves to pieces than we are to any bacterial predator. We are as Thomas
concludes, at
the mercy of our own Pentagons, most of the time.
If we understand the evolutionary basis of parasitism it
may
help us to devise strategies to deal
with rogue varieties of some bacteria which have for many millions of years lived in peaceful
coexistence in our bodies. This is the strategy of so called "Darwinian Medicine" which
seeks to
support the bodies reactions such as fever, which have evolved over millions of years as a
defence against infection (Nesse and Williams 1994)
A balanced response in our relationship with bacteria is
healthy, and that might extend to the
occasional blessing for the benefit they are to all forms of life.. They are certainly not our natural
enemies.
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Autoimmune Disorders
With most infectious diseases under control we are left with a list of degenerative
diseases,
including chronic diseases of the brain and spinal cord, chronic nephritis, arthritic
arteriosclerosis
and disorders caused by poor blood supply (Thomas 1988). More and more of these
conditions
are being recognised to result from an intolerance of the immune system to its own cells.
Helper
T lymphocytes become activated against self proteins and the body, literally turns on itself.
The
list includes 24 disorders amongst them insulin dependent diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis,
multiple
sclerosis and hyperthyroidism, which in all affect more than 8 million Americans (Jacobson
et al
1997). There is no general agreement about the origin of autoimmune diseases and the risk
factors remain unclear (Van Noort and Amor , 1998). In general terms it can be described as
a
failure of the immune process to establish and maintain tolerance.
It has been known that food proteins are tolerated and usually go unchallenged by
the
immune
system. There is therefore some interest, in the possibility of
inducing tolerance to "self"
antigens by giving small amounts of the target protein by mouth.. Some encouraging animal
experiments have showed that autoimmune encephalomyelitis ( the animal equivalent of
multiple
sclerosis) could be suppressed by giving an oral dose of myelin based protein (Whitacre et al
1996).
Cancer
There is a strong association between autoimmune diseases and cancer, although at first
site the
two conditions seem mutually exclusive. Yet tumours are increasingly being found in
autoimmune diseases and features of autoimmunity appear in malignancy. (Tomer et al,
1998).
While the evidence grows that environmental toxins are the chief culprits, cancer remains a
phenomenon of the bodies response to rogue chemicals. Some individuals appear to be able
to
respond to carcinogenic agents in a way that does not include forming a tumour.
The small cell lung carcinoma is an example of an excessive response to a well
known
carcinogen, cigarette smoke. The lining of the lung contains macrophages which are there to
clean up dirt and dust. Ruff et al, (1984) discovered that the small cells of this rapidly fatal
cancer were not cells of the lung but immature macrophages.
They had got stuck in a phase of maturation that required rapid multiplication.
These
cells
secreted a peptide bombesin, which amongst other influences, acts as a growth factor. So a
positive feedback appeared to be working to produce an
explosive growth of the very cells
whose task it was to clear up the residues of the cigarette smoke. The response of the
macrophages seems to be stuck in "panic"mode. But it has to be added in fairness, that
cigarette
smoke is one of the most powerful carcinogens known, as it interferes directly with the
genetic
control of cell division.
The healthy body appears to be flexible enough, to tolerate some uncertainty about
the
information detected by the immune system, some of which may look more hostile than it is.
There is perhaps an element of "obsessive anxiety" in the excessive immune response to
foreign
antigens, environmental toxins and even to those of its own antigens which have not been
properly recognised as self. It is as if the attention of the mind/body was stuck in a low
dynamic
static, like a leaf, caught in an eddy at the edge of a stream.
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Chaotic rhythms as features of individual
order
A text book explanation of homeostasis, the internal regulation of the body, is that it
is
brought
about by feedback systems. The whole system settles down to a steady state if not perturbed
Any
fluctuations are the result of external influence. It is expected that disease arises because the
control is no longer ordered but has become chaotic and unstable. A very different view,
which
seems to be supported by increasing body of evidence, suggests that regulatory systems do
not
settle down to an ordered steady state; that fluctuations are constantly arising from within the
system due to internal feedback; and that disease or ageing decrease the degree of complexity
(Goldberger). Disease is not about the breaking down of order, but the loss of chaotic
dynamics.
Periodicity is a feature of severe illness including epilepsy, tremors and manic
depressive
oscillations. Periodic oscillations of white blood cells (which normally fluctuate chaotically)
occur in some cases of leukaemia. Complex variability is absent in EEG time series of
epileptics
and in the heart rate dynamics of the aged
Mean heart rate is a very good indicator of health. But if the intervals between each
beat
are
measured, it is clear that the beat is not exactly regular. A Fourier transform of a heart
recording
shows a main frequency but several others as well. Phase space maps reveal a strange
attractor
rather than a limit cycle which would be seen if the heart beat was regular. The origins of this
chaotic looking pulse may be the rich network of control factors including both sympathetic
and
parasympathetic nervous systems, the sinoatrial node and the fractal like structure of the
His-Purkinje system. Contraction signals propagate along the purkinje fibre system in a
coherent
wave of excitation. Damaged tissue can set up spiralling counter waves which disrupt the
pattern
of coherent contraction and the heart muscle fibrillates.
Goldberger found that the prelude to such fibrillation was the appearance of a
periodic
cycle in
the heart rhythm. The fluctuations in rhythm therefore seem to have a special property in
that
they provide flexibility in a rapidly changing environment. These fluctuations also have a
long
range correlation; that is as many steps up as down. A period during which the heart speeds
up, is
likely to be followed by a period in which it slows down. This process seems to require some
degree of memory which is lost in disease.
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Coherence in Healing
Tissue memory in injury and infection
Whatever the source of the inflammation, whether injury, or bacterial invasion, there
must be
resolution of the damaging process. The bacteria must be killed, toxic debris cleared away
before
healing can begin. Any poorly vascularised tissue heals poorly as the blood and lymph
systems
are the main transporters of nutrition and waste removal. Malnutrition has a profound effect
on
healing and reduces the response to bacteria and parasites of millions of undernourished
people
in the world. But healing of the local damage is not the end of the process. There is still the
memory of the injury or infection. The capacity of the memory lymphocytes to store away
information of an encounter with a foreign antigen is well known. Less obvious is the
memory of
emotions associated with the encounter. The peptides which evoke emotions are as we have
seen
on all cells all over the body and allow tissue memory of traumatic events.
John Upledger (1997) sites many examples of injuries
which have not been completely healed
due to the residual memory of the trauma in what he calls an Energy Cyst. This is literally a
ball
of residual energy left by the injury which the body has not been able to dissipate. It gets
walled
up to minimise the influence but still causes poor blood supply, pain and tissue degeneration.
Upledger's therapy is to allow this energy to dissipate out of the body by moving the body
into
the same position as that in which the injury occurred. In this way the body memory of the
injury
is recalled and an opportunity exists for the energy to flow out. Ho (1998) suggests that if
quantum coherence is a feature of the living organism then the conscious being will possess
something like a macroscopic wave function. One may remain entangled and delocalised
over
past experiences. Large scale non-local connections may be maintained over long time
scales.
A catharsis of emotional grief and anger is also effective in shifting
such stuck dynamic states.
There appears to be close coupling between emotional and physiological process of walling
in a
historical hurt , a somato-emotional cyst. A biochemical state could therefore be a recalled
emotional state. It suggests that by freeing either emotional or physiological stasis, resolution
could occur. The Bio-energetics movement of healing relies on the catharsis which shouting
and
groaning may have on a healing a resistant center of injury or cell damage.
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Healing and Emotions
Healing is certainly affected by emotional state. Recovery after heart surgery has been
found to
be faster in those who have a sense of optimism and religious or other faith system which is
supportive. Dr. Alan Bombard was a French doctor who was puzzled by the deaths of
castaways
during the second war. Men were found dead, on life rafts, long before they were critically
dehydrated. They had died, he suspects, of despair that they would ever be rescued. There is
anecdotal evidence of death due to witchcraft and voodu-like spells which supports the
power of
the mind in determining the response to healing.
There is a long list of so called stress related disorders. Stress is defined by the
sufferer.
It is a
perception and anxiety that we are unable to cope with daily life. It may be of interest that
the
stress-related disorders tend to be more common in the three major organ systems already
noted
as the main sites of cancer, that is the skin, respiratory system and the gastro-intestinal tract.
These organ systems share in common an interface or boundary with the outside world. The
anxiety felt by the mind, about events crowding in, which overload our capacity to cope, may
well be transferred to "anxiety" of those organs which are physically closest to the outside
world.
These associations between the emotional state and illness have provided a
rationale for
engaging both the body and mind in healing. Pert (et al 1998) writes that psycho-social
interventions emphasizing emotional expression or active coping have helped patients with
breast cancer. The authors suggest that emotional expression generates balance in the
neuropeptide-receptor network and a functional healing system.
In recent years the discovery of cell receptors to drugs known to influence emotion
such
as the
ubiquitous opiate receptors, support the idea of
bodymind
which has but a single coherent state. Pert (1997) writes "At any instant our body is in our
mind
and our mind is in our body".
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Extra-sensory perception of health
The emotional, biochemical and electromagnetic coherence of the healthy body have not
found a
place in orthodox western medical diagnosis. Psychic or traditional healers have not been
able
to convince medical scientists that they are able to make a reliable medical diagnosis. But to
apply such a "test", using the language of one tradition as a yardstick for another is unfair.
The
proper assessment of the traditional healers is by their results. Very little has been published
that
is convincing to medial science, but there are many reasons for that. The main problem is to
identify the process used by traditional or natural healers. At the moment this is obscure, but
there are indications that some healers are able to sense electrical and mechanical
oscillations
which are either "stuck" into one frequency or simply incoherent. The detection of aberrant
rhythms in affected parts of the body, and the influence on these rhythms of the stronger,
more
coherent rhythms of the healer may, be enough to push, or pump up the ailing body into a
more
coherent state. The anecdotal evidence of rapid changes in state, such as pain reduction,
which
can be achieved by natural healers is strongly suggestive of a quantum-like change in state of
the
body from dis-ease to ease.
Health and attitude
A traditional Chinese doctor expects his patient to pay attention to the state of her energy
fields.
The assumption is that without a personal effort and willingness to take responsibility for
getting
better, the doctor is powerless. Unfortunately, orthodox medicine has tended to marginalise
the
patient as an agent for restoring health. Medicines and surgery render the patient a passive
receiver. This rather arrogant approach whips around on the practitioner in the shape of
litigation
for failure to deliver the promised goods. But the worst consequence is that it denies the
capacity
of the mind/body to heal itself. When a new medicine is discovered it seems to suggest that
the
body
need this bit of corrective biochemistry. But all molecular agents which alter cell behaviour
have
to bind onto the cell membrane. And there are no cell membrane receptors that do not have
endogenous molecules to bind to them. So it could be said that the body has all the molecules
it
needs to stay healthy. Synthetic medicines may of course replace those which are missing,
but as
such they do not effect a cure but allow control of symptoms.
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A pathway in health
- We need to be watchful about the purity of the food we eat and the air we breath and
the water
we drink.
- We need to welcome the commensal bacteria we live with, as a legitimate parts of our
whole
body.
- We need to keep our minds calm and free of anxiety and bitterness..
- We need to make a choice of lifestyle which allows us to cope with life.
- We need to pursue joy, meaning and forgiveness.
- We need to take responsibility for keeping our mind/body energised and at peace using
exercise, meditation, play, song, dance and good measures of laughter.
- We need the take from, and contribute to the coherence of others. We cannot do
without each
other.
- We need to tune into the coherence of other living things, animals, birds, flowers,
forests and
rivers, that embrace us within the larger family of living things.
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Summary
This essay has presented a case that living organisms possess a level of coherence
which
is like a
quantum state. The integrity of the whole is maintained by the use of energy which avoids
entropy, the increasing decay of order. It is like a weak multi-modal laser, which is coherent
but
not at the price of a dominating authority over its components. A healthy organisms
depends on
a balance within its own organisation and with its environment. These balances are dynamic,
far
from equilibrium and yet robust to displacing influences. A spinning top will fall over only
when
the motion is halted. There is a tendency to see, particularly
the human body, as vulnerable to its
environment of bacteria, toxins and cold air. The human mind has been cast as an innocent
bystander. It seems that while there are dangers without, the one to take most care of, is the
danger within, and the mind may be the greatest threat of all. If we think and feel ill at ease,
our
body will get ill and at dis-ease.
Healing is about bringing back the isolated, stuck, repeating cycles into the
coherence
of the
whole body. It may require the physical influence of a healer to shift the fixation of immature
macrophages in the lung, from multiplying in panic, towards growing up, and moving into
mature adult cells who do not divide. It may require the tender but resolute determination of
a
healer, to shift the emotions of grief, anger and bitterness which hold the body in physical
illness.
It is the challenge of healers of whatever tradition, to help our bodymind back to a dynamic,
and
coherent whole person. But in the end, healing is an inside job.
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This page was
prepared by Robin Wilding and last updated on March 25th 2000. Write to RobWilding@eclipse.co.uk with comments or visit Moorland Dentistry