Holism and unity

Celebrating the 151st Anniversary of the birth of Jan Christian Smuts.

On 24th May we celebrate the birth in 1870 of Jan Smuts, a birthdate he shared with Queen Victoria in the heart of whose reign of the mighty British Empire he was born. His impact on the trajectory of not only British, but world history would be fundamental.

This is my on-line keynote address to members of the Smuts House Foundation on this occasion - https://www.smutshouse.co.za/

"It is an honour and a privilege to address you in this belated (owing to Covid) celebration of Jan Christian Smuts’ 150 anniversary. I’m entitling this brief address ‘Holism and unity’.

Luthuli

Although this celebration is about honouring Jan Smuts, I open with a quote by former ANC President, Chief Albert Luthuli.

What this shows is that this African Nobel Peace-prizewinner understood the holistic view. The record shows that he knew, and indeed personally met with, Jan Smuts. What is especially significant is that he seems to have embraced the important role of the holistic view in South Africa’s future. Already in 1962, he wrote:

 “From the beginning our history has been one of ascending unities, the breaking up of tribal, racial and creedal barriers... The past cannot hope to have a life sustained by itself, wrenched from the whole... There remains before us the building of a new land, a home for men who are black, white, brown, from the ruins of the old narrow groups - a synthesis of the rich cultural strains we have inherited.”  

I will focus on three of his ideas: ‘ascending unities’, ‘whole’, and ‘synthesis’.

Notice how he might just have picked those three ideas I have identified; ‘synthesis’, ‘wholeness’, ‘ascending unities’, from this explanation of holism that Smuts wrote for Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1929:

“Holism underlies the synthetic tendency in the universe, and it is the principle which makes for the origin and progress of wholes in the universe – the gradual development and stratification of a progressive series of wholes stretching from the inorganic beginnings to the higher levels of spiritual creation.”

Fuller understanding

For a slightly fuller understanding of holism if want to offer a layman’s view in six keywords; ‘action’, ‘pattern’, ‘structure’, ‘affinity’, ‘synthesis’ and ‘emergence’. I believe these will become increasingly critical concepts, both to understand and learn to apply, as we struggle to navigate the challenges of an increasingly complex and interconnected world.

Action

First let’s start with ‘action’: According to Smuts existence was not made up of ‘things’. That’s the old mechanistic and materialistic worldview. Existence was constituted of ‘activity’ - energetic action in space/time - as described by Einstein. Here we can consider, for example, the dynamical energetic activity of the ephemeral subatomic particles. They are not permanent things but manifestations of energetic activity.

Pattern

Second, we proceed to ‘pattern’: In Smuts holistic conception rhythmic patterns in that energetic activity organise, or modulate, energy into stable systems. We can consider hydrogen as an example of the first ‘pattern’ that represents a stable atomic structure.

Structure

Third then takes us to ‘structure’: Stable systems over time develop structures which indeed serve as the building blocks for greater systems. So, for example, looking at the celebrated periodic table of atomic weights, we can observe the early generative interaction between hydrogen and helium. That’s the main activity of our sun and the stars - the essential active stuff making up our manifest universe.

But how then does this come about?

Affinity

Well fourthly we can now look at ‘affinity’: Smuts saw that energetic resonances help synchronise systems into responsive relationship. Here we can consider the function of molecular bonding in building up the chemical world as we know it.

Synthesis

And fifthly, affinity leads to ‘synthesis’: These aforementioned responsive relationships enable synthesis - a co-operative ‘coming together’ in symbiosis, endosymbiosis and mutualism - especially manifest at the biological level. Now we can consider the evolution of complex cooperative ecosystems. These are greater complex ‘wholes’ - the progressive series Smuts referred to.

Emergence

And sixthly we come to ‘emergence’: These complex interactions can lead to fundamental ‘phase changes’ resulting in entire new orders of synchronised activity. Here we can revisit Aristotle’s observation, namely: “...the whole is greater than the sum of the parts”. We can even consider the emergence of sentience - or mind - our thought processes, in this light.   

Non-linearity

Note that these six characteristic are not organised linearly - they are creatively interdependent. These interactions progress from the inorganic chemical, to organic biological living systems, to individual psychical, social and finally human generated organisational systems.

At the heart of this case is that the holistic perspective helps us to observe, and understand, and make sense of, the complex interactions that constitute all of existence. And that’s why it is so crucial today.

In our complexifying world, the time has surely arrived to apply holistic thinking and we can now gratefully recognise Jan Smuts’ key contribution in preparing the way for such a required shift in human consciousness. 

The shift from ‘reductionistic materialism’ to ‘holistic organicism’ is a shift from understanding existence as made up of ‘hard things’ to a ‘phenomenal experience’ of dynamic energetic interaction.

And that cursory explanation is probably more than is required for this brief introduction.

Smuts the person

Now let’s turn from this fumbling attempt at a holistic ‘philosophy of science’ to his more human aspect.

We’ll briefly look at holism and Smuts’ historic record in the application of his philosophy. By his own admission he was far from perfect. Today we recognise that it did take Smuts a lifetime to come to terms with the racial question in South Africa. But he did indeed reconcile with the notion of a shared future of all races in South Africa.

Reconciliation

You see he described his recurring life theme in these words: “History has reconciliation written all over her.”

So ‘reconciliation’ was his keyword - and his life exemplified that. Reconciliation of Boer and Brit after the bitter Anglo-Boer War - reconciliation between the former British colonies and Boer Republics in South Africa culminating in the National Convention where he was the driving force. Reconciliation between the warring nations after the devastating First World War with his driving the establishment of the League of Nations. And reconciliation between all peoples in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which he drafted for the United Nations Organisation.

Smuts the husband

Now let’s turn to the more human side of Smuts - his relationship with his wife Isie. Alongside Smuts stood a powerful and independent-minded woman, Sybella Krige. We can only imagine what she must have endured as a young mother during the Anglo-Boer War where she lost her baby twins - and we can only marvel at her amazing fortitude.

What we do know is that theirs was a deep and binding love. Their union constituted a new whole. After Smuts met the brilliant and beautiful young Isie at Victoria College he wrote to her:

"People generally have but few chosen friends, so you needn't be surprised when I tell you I have only two on earth, you being one of them; and you are the only one to whom I feel myself drawn by every tie of sentiment and Nature. You are the only one in whose society I feel ... as if we two are one.. . I love you as my own soul. ."

It is interesting that Smuts wrote the word ‘Nature’ with a capital letter. Here his view would have resonated with Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis.

Poverty

Isie was a well-read and educated young woman, well-versed in the classics and poetry. She was also a fine linguist; fluent in French, German, Greek and Dutch, besides her home tongues of Afrikaans and English. Sadly the family's poverty prevented her from studying medicine. Her parents had a large family to educate, so there was no money for further studies. She had a photographic memory, able to quote long passages from the Bible and the classics all her life. On her husband’s 80th birthday her gift to Smuts was reciting the famous Corinthians chapter 13 in the original classical Greek.

Ouma

‘Ouma’, as she came to be known, was the mother of the nation in her time - particularly during the Second World War. For her indefatigable charity work for the troops, black as well as white, her efforts were recognised with an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Witwatersrand.

Caring

I like to think that in respect of her capacity to care for the greater South African family she shared something special with her husband. From early on she had to help look after her large family of siblings. This I think accounted for her willingness to demonstrate her deep caring for the nation. Was this not similar to Jan Smuts’ experience as a young boy where he herded sheep and cattle on the farm - the early requirement of taking responsibility? Surely this contributed to his, and Isie’s later quality of leadership.

South Africa’s future

Against this brief background we can now turn to the role of holism in South Africa’s future. Whereas the reconciliation of the South African National Convention of 1910 was between the two Boer Republics and the Cape and Natal Colonies, the reconciliation, and national reconstruction required in South Africa today is even more complex.

Racial policy

We are still endeavouring to overcome the devastation of decades of racial policy that focused on fragmentation rather than unification. And we are attempting to do that at a time in human history where nationalism is again on the rise in the world. Meanwhile the pandemic continues to keep people separated from each other, at a time where we desperately also need unification with Mother Earth herself.

Service

Surely Isie and Jan Smuts helped show the way with their deep commitment to selfless service of others. Their actions were informed by a fundamental view of the sacredness of the person, demonstrated by a frugality in their lifestyle, and their passion for nature.       

With this understanding we can now return to Albert Luthuli. As he said:

 “From the beginning our history has been one of ascending unities, the breaking up of tribal, racial and creedal barriers. The past cannot hope to have a life sustained by itself, wrenched from the whole. There remains before us the building of a new land, a home for men who are black, white, brown...from the ruins of the old narrow groups - a synthesis of the rich cultural strains we have inherited.”  

That is why the greatest honour that can be shown to Smuts today is to reconvene a national conference to initiate the holistic reconstruction of South Africa.

Future generations

With principled pragmatism it may not only, with Luthuli, be possible to attempt to draw on nature’s natural holistic tendency, as he put it, to synthesise the rich cultural strains inherited, but also to embrace all the inherited challenges. There might still be an opportunity to build a new sustainable and meaningful future for generations to come in South Africa.