Living beings have a remarkable ability to repair themselves and thus regain their anatomical and physiological integrity. This capacity for spontaneous healing is a part of life itself and a prerequisite for the evolution and continuity of life. It is something we take for granted in practical medicine. If wounds would not heal and the organism had no capacity to restore itself after acute illnesses, no medical therapy could work.

This capacity for spontaneous healing is, however, only relative. We are all the time exposed to factors detrimental to our health. Chronic diseases arise when our ability to self-repair and spontaneous healing fails, causing a chronic failure in the functional integrity of the organism. The crucial medical question of disease or not, is thus as much a question of the relative capacity of the organism to heal itself, as it is a question of pathogenic factors. In biomedicine we have, however, no adequate, scientific theory to explain the healing processes all the time occurring in the live body.

Healing processes are highly complex biological processes. A theory of healing processes must account for three basic features of organic self-repair:
From the point of view of analytical science healing processes are immensely complex. From a biological point of view, however, they serve a single purpose: that of restoring organic integrity. It is this apparent paradox of immense complexity and wholistic simplicity – of manifold and unity – that makes a scientific explanation so difficult.

Healing is spontaneous. Healing processes proceed spontaneously when an organism has been damaged.

Healing processes serve to restore anatomical and functional integrity. They imply that information relating to the structure and function of the whole organism is translated into the repair work at the local level of cells, tissues and organs.

Healing processes are immensely complex, involving a large number of physiological, biophysical and biochemical reactions that are coordinated in time and space to serve an optimal restoration of the whole organism.

My own approach to this problem has been through a study of the bioholographic methods of complementary medicine. These methods are used to stimulate the healing system on the basis of a bioholographic principle. They offer strong empirical evidence for a bioholographic structuring of the living organism.

Bioholographic Therapies and the ECIWO Theory

Several such bioholographic methods are known in acupuncture and alternative medicine: ear acupuncture, nose acupuncture, foot and hand reflexology, Yamamoto’s new scalp acupuncture, Su Jok therapy and some others. They are all based on the same principle: the whole organism with its different organs and parts is found projected as a zone system in a circumscribed part of the body. These zone systems can be used for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

A general biological theory, the ECIWO theory, has been proposed (Zhang 1991) to explain these bioholographic zone systems. The E in ECIWO stands for ‘Embryo’, the C for ‘Containing’, the I for ‘Information’, the W for ‘Whole’ and the O for ‘Organism’. The idea is that the living organism is structured as a multilevel mosaic where each part has an embryological potential and contains relevant information of the whole organism. A living cell contains in its nucleus the genetic information of the whole organism. And, as we know from cloning experiments, it has the generative potential to turn into a real embryo, developing into a new individual of the same kind. The ECIWO theory can be regarded as an expansion of cell theory, postulating similar properties at higher organic levels.

It is easy to illustrate the ECIWO principle in plants. If we place a branch of a tree into the earth, it may develop roots and grow into a new tree. The same applies to a twig, or a leaf, or even a part of a leaf. Given favourable conditions they may turn into seedlings, growing into new trees of the same kind. The branch, the twig, the leaf and the part of the leaf are all ECIWOs at different levels, containing information of the whole organism and having an embryological potential to generate a new tree.

In higher animals and humans the embryological potential of the different ECIWOs has partly been lost due to differentiation and specialization of the different parts. But it still remains as a regenerative potential and is thus significant for self-repair, regeneration and healing processes. This explains why we can use these bioholographic zone systems to stimulate healing processes in the body.

Such bioholographic methods are in extensive use all over the world. A large amount of clinical experience has been gathered. An impressive scientific documentation of the medical effect of bioholographic acupuncture has been presented at three international congresses of ECIWO biology: in Singapore 1990, in Oslo 1992 and in Los Angeles 1996. This material comprises clinical experience from the treatment of more than one million patients, some experimental studies and several large clinical studies. The main method used in these studies is bioholographic acupuncture of the second metacarpal system, a microsystem of acupuncture that has proved very practical and therapeutically effective in clinical use. (Zhang 90, 92 and 96. Schjelderup 98). This is a simple, repeatable method which is relatively easy to verify scientifically. I shall here present a few of these studies, documenting the effect of this method in prolonged diarrhea and pneumonia in children, in diabetes and in coronary heart disease.

Clinical Studies on ECIWO Acupuncture

Prolonged diarrhea in children:

400 cases of diarrhea of a duration of 15-60 days in children of age 6 months to 6 years were divided into two groups:

ECIWO-group: 200 cases. These were treated with acupuncture of the 2. metacarpal system for 5 days.
Control group: 200 cases, which were treated with Western medicines for 5 days.

(Huang 1992)

Prolonged pneumonia in children:

200 cases of pneumonia of 15-60 days duration in children of age 6 months to 6 years were divided into two groups:

ECIWO group: 100 cases treated with acupuncture of the second metacarpal system for 5 days.
Control group: 100 cases treated with Western medicines for 5 days.

(Huang 1992)

Diabetes:

288 patients suffering from diabetes were divided into three groups:

ECIWO group: 128 cases (48 diabetes-I and 82 diabetes-II)
Insulin group: 80 cases (55 diabetes-I and 25 diabetes-II)
DMBG group: 80 cases (29 diabetes-I and 51 diabetes-II)

ECIWO group: treated with daily acupuncture of pancreas point in the second metacarpal system of both hands. After 3-4 days a decrease in blood sugar was observed in most cases. 2 courses of 7 treatments were given in all.
Insulin group: treated with injections of insulin.
DMBG group: treated with oral anti-diabetic medication.

The patients in the ECIWO group were tested with an insulin radio-immunity test after 2 weeks of treatment. The insulin level had increased. 6 other tests were done to determine blood rheology and the peripheral circulation of blood. All of these showed significant improvement. Measurements with a cerebro-electric activity topography unit made in China also showed improvement in cerebral electric activity, indicating improved cerebral function.
(Zhang Manhua 1992)

Coronary heart disease:

236 patients suffering from coronary heart disease were treated with acupuncture of the heart point in the second metacarpal system. One month after the completion of the treatment the results were evaluated:

119 cases were both free from their angina and had marked improvement in ECG.
109 cases were either much improved or free from their angina, but had no significant improvement in their ECG.
In 8 cases the treatment was a failure. (Yang 1996)

In another study by Professor Chen 130 cases of coronary heart disease were divided into two groups:

ECIWO group: 100 cases were treated by acupuncture of the heart point in the second metacarpal system. 1 course = 7 treatments.
Control group: 30 cases were treated with acupuncture of the point Neiguan (Pericardium-6) which is a commonly used point for treating coronary heart disease in traditional acupuncture. 1 course = 7 treatments.

Significantly better results were found for the ECIWO group than for the control group, both as regards improvements in clinical symptoms and in the function of the left ventricle of the heart as measured by several cardiological parameters. (Chen 1992)

The Living Organism as a Biocybernetic Unity

Clinical experience, supported by the research so far, indicates that these methods have a homeostatic effect, and that they stimulate healing processes according to a bioholographic principle. We may explain this on the basis of cybernetics.

The two main parameters used in bioholographic therapy to identify affected zones in an ECIWO, reflecting a disorder in the corresponding part of the whole organism, are increased sensitivity to pressure and increased electrical conductivity of the skin.

To illustrate how the increased sensitivity to pressure of affected zones in an ECIWO may serve a biological purpose, let us have a look at foot reflexology. When we walk the zones of foot reflexology will be continuously exposed to pressure. Walking thus gives a kind of natural foot reflexology. Due to the increased sensitivity of affected zones, the main effect will be on the corresponding, ailing organs. We thus get a natural feed back mechanism, serving to strengthen those parts and organs of the body that are weakened.

The other ECIWOs, or bioholographic systems of the body, will also from time to time be exposed to pressure and strain due to the activities of the body and its contacts with the surroundings. These also will have a cybernetic function, serving to re-establish homeostasis and stimulate regenerative processes where these are needed in the body.

The increased electrical conductivity of affected, bioholographic points may serve a similar cybernetic function. An internal electrical system may exchange electrons with the surroundings through these points. Such an electrical system, based on semiconductor electricity and involved in regenerative and healing processes, has been discovered through the work of Robert Becker and Björn Nordenström. (Becker 1985, Nordenström 1983)

The increased sensitivity to pressure and the increased electrical conductivity of affected zones apparently serve biocybernetic functions. This will apply to all the different ECIWOs of the body. The total effect, which may also include other physical modalities, will amount to the sum, or integral of all these effects. In ECIWO biology this is called the pancybernetic effect of the ECIWOs. In agreement with clinical experience this integral effect will promote self-regulation, serve to restore homeostasis and stimulate regenerative processes where these are needed in the body.

The pancybernetic effect of the ECIWOs is a dynamic effect due to the activity of the organism and its interplay with the external world. Erwin Schrödinger, the co-creator of the quantum theory, once formulated the paradox of life in view of the second law of thermodynamics thus: “The art by which an organism is able to stay at a rather high level of order, does in reality depend on a capacity continuously to suck order out of the surroundings.” (Schrödinger 1945) Part of this capacity may be due to the structuring of the organism in ECIWOs at different levels, each of these reflecting the whole organism holographically.

The Healing System

Healing processes take place at all levels of biological organization from the biomolecular level to the level of the whole organism. Andrew Weil has raised the question of the healing system, taking as his starting point the self-repair at the biomolecular level of the DNA, a level which is common to all living organisms (Weil 1995: pp. 71-87). On the basis of the research that has been done, Weil draws some general conclusions which he believes also apply to the work of the healing system at higher organic levels:

• Healing is an inherent capacity of all life. DNA has within it all the information needed to manufacture enzymes to repair itself.
• The healing system operates continuously and is always at call.
• The healing system has a diagnostic capability; it can recognize damage.
• The healing system can remove damaged structures and replace it with normal structure.
• The healing system not only acts to neutralize the effects of serious injury (as in the SOS-response of E. Coli) it also directs the ordinary moment-to-moment corrections that maintain normal structure and function (as in the proofreading and editing activity of DNA-polymerase-I).
• Healing is spontaneous. It is a natural tendency arising from the internal structure of DNA. The occurrence of a lesion (such as a kink created by misbonding as a result of a hit by UV radiation automatically activates the process of its repair.”

(Weil 1995:75)

Looking at the pancybernetic system of the ECIWOs, we see that this indeed is such a continuously working, automatic system with a diagnostic capability, and that it serves to direct the “moment-to-moment corrections that maintain normal structure and function”. It is therefore reason to regard the pancybernetic system of ECIWOs as part of the healing system, operating above the cellular level in multicellular organisms.

The Healing System and the Biophoton Theory

As regards the capability for self-repair at the biomolecular level of DNA, there are indications that this may be explained on a biophysical basis. The phenomenon of photo-repair, for example, has been known since the 1930’s. This phenomenon, where the self-repair of DNA is stimulated by specific wave-lengths of light, is probably a part of normal physiology.

Such an explanation is in agreement with the biophoton theory of Popp and Li. According to this theory, DNA acts like a highly coherent, broad band laser system that plays an essential role in all cellular processes. It has an enormous information capacity, equal to the task of regulating physiological processes and self-repair at the biomolecular and cellular level. (Li 1983)

Due to the very high degree of coherence of the biophoton field, it will have a holographic structure. Every part of the coherent biophoton field of the DNA thus contains the information of the whole. Basic physiological information, such as the information needed for self-repair of the DNA, will be stored in the field as holographic memory.

According to the model of Popp and Li, the biophoton field in those parts of the DNA chains where there is a high degree of periodicity of the nucleotide segments will tend to be above the laser threshold. Here we have a high degree of coherence; the wave field will dominate and we get non-local effects that are not clearly defined in space. This implies holography and a communicative correspondence with photon fields in other parts of the organism. In those parts of the DNA, however, where the genes are located, we will not find such a high degree of periodicity. Here the field may tend to be below the laser threshold; the particle structure will tend to dominate, and the field looses its coherence and becomes chaotic due to thermal disorder.

Great significance is attached to the state of the biophoton field at the laser threshold. Here we may get a special quantum physical state, first described by Erwin Schrödinger. In this state the particles and waves combine into a new stable unity, called a wave-packet, signifying a coupling of a coherent and a chaotic unity. These wave-packets are relatively stable. That means they do not change their structure when in motion, or when they emit photons. And the Heisenberg relation of uncertainity is minimized. (Popp 1984: 145-146)

Looking for a physical basis for the high degree of order characterizing the self-repair of DNA, it is tempting to associate this with the very special quantum physical state at the laser threshold. This state permits physical changes by the emission of photons while the coherence of the wave field is preserved. The holographic information of the coherent biophoton field may thus theoretically order the energetic interactions initiating the process of self-repair.

In this model the degree of coherence of the biophoton field is of crucial significance. Different factors which tend to increase the coherence of the biophoton field may serve to raise the parts of the biophoton field, corresponding to genetic segments of the DNA, to the laser threshold and eventually initiate processes of self-repair. There are indeed a whole range of medical therapies that may act this way.

A Holonomic Theory of the Healing System

According to the biophoton theory, the coherent biophoton field is the carrier of the information necessary for self-repair. This information is stored in the biophoton field as holographic memory. If we look at this from the point of view of David Bohm’s theory of the implicate order (Bohm 1980), we may say that the information is present in the biophoton field as an implicate order that may be explicated in the process of self-repair.

On this basis it may be possible to formulate a holonomic theory of the healing system in agreement with Bohm’s theory. Such a theory would account for the processes of self-repair at the biomolecular and cellular level, and it might be extended also to account for the processes of self-repair and healing at higher organic levels. The bioholographic structuring of the ECIWOs may in this context be explained on the basis of holomovements taking place during embryological morphogenesis.

In a biological sense healing and morphogenesis are intimately related. Healing means a restoration of what has been developed through morphogenesis. It is reason to assume that both morphogenesis and healing basically proceed according to the same blueprint. The ECIWO concept applies to both of them, to generation as well as regeneration, indicating that a bioholographic structure is inherent in the morphogenetic field.

The Whole and the Part

The theory of morphogenetic fields is a modern theory to explain biological organisms on a physical basis. Trying to solve this problem we ultimately have to face the basic problem of biology: How a living being, that is something composite which can be dissected and analysed into ever smaller parts, at the same time is an individual in the sense of being a unity and a subject in its dealings with the external world.

Our understanding of this fundamental problem of the relation between the whole and its parts in biology has hardly made any progress since the time of the ancient Greek philosophers. The young Plato formulated his theory of ideas. Aristotle criticized this early theory of Plato and introduced form as a causal factor, making morphology the basis of biology. The problem of Aristotelian science is, however, that it can not be given a mathematical foundation.

Later, Plato in his dialogue ‘Parmenides’ gives another solution to this fundamental problem, which is in agreement with ECIWO biology and, therefore, relevant to our discussion.

In ‘Parmenides’ Plato first raises a similar criticism to his early theory of ideas as Aristotle does. He then lets Parmenides proceed to develop an elementary theory, giving the basic logical conditions for a more explicit scientific theory. (Johansen 1984) The different hypotheses that are discussed give the basic logical conditions for the different spheres of reality. From the 2.nd hypothesis “If the one is, can it be and not partake of being” it turns out that if being is added to unity, something composite arises. And, as it is composite, it can be divided, each part in its turn having both unity and being (or existence). Such a reality, defined by the 2.nd hypothesis, Plato shows, must have a mathematical structure and be extended in space and time. And this is exactly the conditions of physical reality as we have learned to know in physical science.

Plato’s exposition of the 2.nd hypothesis in ‘Parmenides’ corresponds to something fundamental in our understanding of reality. The concept of unity is a precondition for all logical thought, for all mathematics, yes, indeed, for all concepts of order. Without the idea of ‘unity’ there would be no possibility for an idea of an ordered universe. Existence would not be possible, for how could something exist, if it could not be a something.

Just as the 2.nd hypothesis defines the logical conditions for physical reality, we may regard the 4.th hypothesis: “What must happen to the things other than the one, if one exists?” as the precondition for biological reality. This is indeed highly meaningful. In our concept of a living being, we imply that it is an individual, facing the external world in a dialectical relationship, as something ‘other’. Plato gives here the logical precondition for the relative autonomy of living beings. This does not contradict the conditions of physical reality, but brings in something new, something ‘other’ than purely physical existence.

In his exposition of this hypothesis Plato shows its implications for the relationship between the whole and its parts. We do use the term ‘whole’ in two different meanings: either as the sum of all the parts; but also in the sense of something more and different from just the sum of the parts. It is the term ‘whole’ in this last sense which is relevant here.

Where can we localize this whole which is something different from just the sum of its parts? Plato raises this question already in his discussion of physical reality according to the 2.nd hypothesis: “not being in one or several of all its parts, it must be in something else ….. and one must be both in itself and other.” In the physical world the whole can not be found in its parts. We must look for it in something else, and this is later related to the concept of ‘the other’. In the 4.th hypothesis he returns to this theme.

First it is made clear that ‘the Other’ must have parts because it is not ‘the One’. And having parts it must be a whole. And this wholeness must mirror a unity or oneness. Here Plato formulates his theory of the whole:

“Then the part is a part, not of the many nor of all, but of a single form and a single concept which we call a whole, a perfect unity created out of all, this it is of which a part is a part.”

This implies that ‘the other than the one’ necessarily must be “a whole, a perfect unity created out of all” its parts. And, reasons Plato further, this must also apply to all its parts:

“And the same reasoning applies to each part; for the part must partake of the one. For if each of the parts is a part, the word ‘each’ implies that it is one, separated from the rest, and existing by itself; otherwise it will not be ‘each’ ….. But its participation in the one clearly implies that it is other than the one, for if not, it would not partake of the one, but would actually be one ….”

The part must accordingly also partake of ‘the one’ and thereby mirror the whole. The whole is therefore present in each of its parts and will be mirrored in each of these. This is actually what is called ‘the holomeric principle’ whereby each part is structured according to the meaning of the whole. (Wyller 1981: 222-231) And this is essentially also in agreement with the principle for the whole/part relationship in ECIWO biology.

It has been said that Plato in the Parmenides dialogue disproves the whole/part axiom in the geometry of Euclid. According to this axiom, a part can never be equal to the whole of which it is a part. In mathematics the absolute validity of this axiom was disproved by the German mathematician Cantor at the end of the 19th century. Cantor is the creator of the modern theory of sets. A transfinite set can have parts that are also transfinite, or unlimited, and for such transfinite sets the whole/part axiom of Euclid is no more valid.

If we apply this to biology, we may define the whole as a transfinite set. In the ECIWO theory the organism may be described as a transfinite set and each of its parts as a transfinite subset. In physics an aggregation of particles can never make up a transfinite set. A physical field, however, can be defined as a transfinite set. We may, therefore, conclude that the whole in biology can not be localized in physical particles, like molecules, atoms or elementary particles. It must, as Plato states, be looked for in ‘something else’, or, according to modern physics, in physical fields.

Conclusion

The clinical research gives strong evidence that bioholographic methods may stimulate the healing system according to a bioholographic principle. The pancybernetic effect of ECIWO biology acts on the super-cellular level of tissues and organs. On the basis of recent advances in biophysical research this may, however, be expanded into a more general, holonomic theory of the healing system that may account for the work of the healing system also at the biomolecular and cellular level. In view of the very positive results that have been documented for these bioholographic methods in the treatment of a great variety of medical problems, we may now safely conclude that they can be applied in clinical medicine on a sound scientific basis.