Holism is used in many different contexts, and of course since we all have our personal understanding of the concepts we use.
In short my understanding is about being aware of our self and our body as one entity, which is interconnected with other entities that mutually affect each other.
Even though we are interconnected, it is still in our own body, our sensations arise and change. So whatever we may meet out there, it is still our inner state of being and our own reactions we must deal with, also in relation to what we may choose to support us out there on our healing path to become more whole and healed.
If we look at humans as a phenomenon, a human being is an entity that is greater than the sum of the parts. In other words, we are more than our body and our body's parts. We are also the consciousness that is aware of our body and our body parts and our feelings and thoughts and more.
At the same time human beings are part of a larger entity, which in turn is part of an even greater entity and so it continues in infinity.
Holism is in this understanding open systems and not definitive environment nor a definite human body.
In my holistic perspective, the human body is a vibrating system, which constantly exchange with the environment to varying degrees. Even when we sleep, there is an exchange throughout the entire body ex. we breathe and move and dream.
Over time, we have divided and separated entities to explore and learn more about the world and ourselves. In some areas, we have also lost ourselves in the detail and thereby lost the overview and the contact to a greater entity of which we originate. Although we consist of the many parts we name with our words, everything is coherent. This is the realisation and wisdom we wake up to when we seek holism in ourselves and in the way we want to be and live.
In a sense, we separate ourselves from ourselves and each other through the words and concepts we use, and the way we chose to live. For example, we have separated the psyche from the body and elderly from young.
In order to describe how we are connected, we could begind with the small part we call an atom. Atoms are small units that can be combined with other atoms. An example of this is hydrogen and oxygen that together form the water molecule. Water constitutes a large part of man and, together with other molecules, which we call proteins and fat, they form the entity we call the cell. The cell could be called the building block of the human body. Cells which have the same function form organs such as the brain organ, the heart organ, the lungs, the skin organ, connective tissue, eyes, ears, intestines, genitals, kidneys, muscles, bones, glands and more. Together they form an entire human being, an entity. A human being consists of a lot of parts and at the same time humanity is an entity, which in turn is part of the larger entity from which the individual parts originate. It is all interconnected on a microscopic and macroscopic level and the parts are recycled on atomic plane in the widest sense.
All of these entities communicate together, even if we are not aware of it.
Thoughts we are thinking and receiving activate hormones in the brain that manifest themselves as sensations through a neuro-homonal response which vibrates throughout the entire body through nerves and vessels, and also as vibrations through connective tissue, muscle and fat. Everything is vibrating. Which body part that is vibrating primarily is completely individual and is also depending on the contexts of a human being. In silence, bodily vibration may decrease and increase since we are less disturbed by external sources of noise, and thus it is possible to become more aware of our sensations.
The different vibrations we become aware of, we tend to separate and delimitate with words and concepts like: " heat, cold, redness, short of breath, palpitations etc. " Some vibration or sensations we call symptoms. Everything is just reactions we sense and name, and the value we add to the words we chose may also affect our sensory system and may be sensed in the body as a vibration through the neuro-hormonal response. Words like "good, bad, dangerous, right and wrong" . Everything is coherent, on a subtle and often unconscious level.
The human also contains numerous different microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi that we mostly live together with in peaceful coexistence.
We accommodate small living creatures for a while until they, like the cells of the human body, changes and replaces on a regular basis. We also consume food and are influenced by various invisible energies and gases.
All in all, there is so much that constantly influences and interacts with our bodies in the greater context we are part of.
Other human beings, animals, trees, water, the air, the earth and everything we extract from the earth. All of these entities are interconnected in one way or another and interfere with each other's existence. Examples on this could be other people's feelings that affect us just as their words, and the trees which give us oxygen and receive our co2.
Obviously, we are not alone, though we still experience the world in our unique way and have our unique senses in our little entity of a human body. An existence that we share with many others, it is just our minds, our mental image of being limited and isolated from the outside world, that makes us feel outstanding as an individual and human race.
We are drops in the ocean, and each of us an indispensable one.