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Differences In Linear And Holistic Thinking And Operating

A few months ago, Tom and I made a discovery. I am sure this knowledge is already out there, but I will share with you what we discovered nonetheless.

We live in a linear world. Everything needs to fit neatly in some sort of box, to be sorted and put under a certain “label” or other reference. Subjects of life and living are divided up and approached one by one, without any, or sometimes with very little, correlation. This already starts at a very young age, where the system puts children in a large physical box (a classroom) with children all the same age, and instructs them all on the same subjects. However, these subjects are divided.

A child may do painting first, then reading, adding, and then writing. Later in life things like biology, physics, science and other subjects may be added. After being boxed in at school we then get boxed in at work (offices etc) only to go home in a box on wheels (car) to another box (house). We identify ourselves as whatever label has been put on us (accountant, doctor, lawyer, builder, machine operator etc) and by location of these boxes we live and work in. Life these days is defined by boxes, labels, and things being segregated in point form. And then we wonder why we are so disconnected.

Do you find straight lines, squares or cubes in nature? Does nature divide and separate everything into different subjects? It cannot. Have you ever wondered why nature cannot divide things into neatly labeled, individualised items? Because in nature everything is connected. Everything is part of the whole. This is what holistic thinking is all about.

As a holistic thinker, you approach everything as a part of the whole. Nothing stands alone and nothing is linear in time or in space. This means that things can happen at the same time, alternating, never independently but always as a reaction to some form of stimulation which is all part of the whole. It also means that what happens in one spot can have an effect on something in a totally different unrelated spot. Holistic thinking is incredibly hard for us humans as we have been so indoctrinated into linear thinking. Holistic thinking has so many different aspects that it is completely mind blowing. This is also why holistic thinkers are usually misunderstood.

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People that live and practise permaculture on a daily basis become holistic thinkers over time. This then means that sometimes it is hard to understand how they think and how they approach things. They do not focus on just the one thing but assess the impact that one thing can have on all the systems around it. They cannot put this type of thinking in a linear format and still have the same impact, as the linear format can only function by constraining time and space.

We must understand that time and space are a concept put into place by humans to make sense of things. But there is no time and space. There are no days, months or years, there are just revolutions of the planets that cause differences in light and thus warmth reaching us, creating days and nights and the seasons. There are no kilometres or even metres, these have again just been put into our minds to make sense of space and to try and define them. Nature doesn’t care about that, she just adjusts to whatever revolution the planet is on.

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How can there be space when we have found that for example, mosquito spraying in swamps in South America causes mosquitoes on the other side of the planet to become immune to that particular pesticide? That it takes forever for someone to break a record (e.g. running), but once one person breaks that record, another will follow around the same time, and more will break that record soon after. And these people may not even know other people have broken the record!

One thing that I am very aware of is how little we know. We build our knowledge upon those who came before us, but still, we know nothing. Nature in its infinite wisdom is so far ahead of us, we are nothing but little specks of dust before her. We cannot put her in a box and stick a label on her! We cannot say: “Nature doesn’t know what she is doing, she is growing all these weeds here” and proceed to kill the weeds! For we have only been around for such a short time as a species, we do not understand what nature is trying to achieve as she stands outside of space and time. She will still be there long after we have gone.

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We are masters of trying to control our environment as humans, to the detriment of our species. We are so linear, we have removed ourselves completely from the natural environment and label everything. We need more holistic thinkers, more people that can see the whole picture and the amazing interaction between all the elements in a system. It is only by changing to holistic thinking that we can change our relationship with this amazing, beautiful and robust planet to one that is mutually beneficial, instead of taking it all and giving nothing (but toxic rubbish) back.

Permaculture is a wonderful method of achieving this, but as with all things permaculture, you will need patience. Slowly but surely you will start seeing the connections and the beautiful dance that is life all around us, and start to understand that this is not something you can describe in point form.

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Zaia Kendall grew up in a family of musicians in Holland and has a background in top sport and web development and design. She co-founded the PRI Luganville and PRI Sunshine Coast Inc with Tom Kendall, and runs all the background stuff, like finances, business administration, website design and maintenance, writes articles, records and edits videos and also organises the cooking and the kitchen on site. She has been researching and studying nutrition and health for 20+ years, has a certificate in Nutrition and continues to study by research, reading and daily observation. She is a certified member of the International Institute of Complementary Therapists and is a holistic food, health and lifestyle coach. She is also an active member of several musical projects and bands, involved in community music and runs occasional percussion workshops

For a wealth of great material, please head over to Toms and Zaias’ website https://diyfoodandhealth.com

Or to Toms and Zaias’ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/permaculturesunshinecoast

See original post: https://kendallpermaculture.com/2017/04/09/differences-in-linear-and-holistic-thinking-and-operating/

Zaia Kendall

Zaia grew up in a family of musicians in Holland, and has a background in top sport and web development and design. She co-founded the PRI Luganville and PRI Sunshine Coast Inc with Tom, and runs all the background stuff, like finances, business administration, website design and maintenance, writes articles, records and edits videos and also organises the cooking and the kitchen on site. She has been researching and studying nutrition and health for 20+ years, has a certificate in Nutrition and continues to study by research, reading and daily observation. She is a certified member of the International Institute of Complementary Therapists and is a holistic food, health and lifestyle coach. She is also an active member of several musical projects and bands, involved in community music and runs occasional percussion workshops. Visit Zaia's website at DIY Food and Health.

4 Comments

  1. Just read that Emilia Hazelip, toward the end of her life, acknowledged that she no longer payed attention to arbitrary planting dates, but looked to the signs of the seasonal changes in her environment.

    In my own small way, I recently built a compost pile. I began the pile with a consideration of the space into which I would turn it, but then began to wonder more. Why there? What effect would it have on the ground beneath, and what affect would the area around the pile have on it? I added some borrowed compost from a finished pile that came from the city. What microbes was I importing? How would they interact with those already present in my yard?

    The longer I thought about it, the more complex it became, and still it remained simple – simple ingredients, method, etc. with a complex and dynamic resultant material.

    Thanks for a thought-provoking article. Here’s to better holistic thinking.

  2. Thank you for good words to explain to people how my thinking works! I’ll definitely be sharing this article with some people… “Holistic thinkers are usually misunderstood” is putting it mildly! I have always thought holistically, although I can focus down on pieces when I need to, which makes communicating ideas, goals, and reasons with others very difficult. It’s hard to explain “I need it done this way so that in 5 years when this has grown like that and I expand this there is an anchor point ready for this thing I will build off of it.” I get the weirdest looks, and a lot of arguments.

    This is the way our minds were made to work! I didn’t get to this kind of thinking by getting into permaculture, I got into permaculture because this is how my mind works, and it’s how the world works, despite human attempts to fragment it into pieces for ease of understanding. I like learning in permaculture systems because it’s less likely to be just unrelated fragments with no context or connections. I have thought for quite a while that the main thing most people seem to get out of a PDC is learning to think a bit more holistically.

    Permaculture, as a system, is a good chunk of holistic thinking about the earth/dirt/life, but it is also turns out to be just a fragment of the world (although a good big one) and there’s a lot more that links to that once you learn to think this way.

  3. Lovely article. I would like to add a thought. Meditation is one way we can still the mind, and open our access to wholistic information. If one can sit quietly for extended periods of time, it seems that the whole of nature and all of its beings are always broadcasting, communicating, and organising. The wholistic receptor function can awaken and greatly enhance our experience and understanding.

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