Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

36 Philosophical Foundations of Health Education
From review of related health education literature and examination of Smuts ’
work Holism and Evolution , five categories were identified that served as the framework
for the comparative analysis. The categories were (1) the nature of the universe, (2) the
nature of man, (3) the relation of mind to body, (4) the view of human personality, and
(5) the view of cause and effect.
Criteria for the selection of writings of health educators were established. The
published articles and research of Jesse F. Williams (1886 – 1966), Delbert Oberteuffer
(1901 – 1981), and Howard Hoyman (1902 – 1993) were identified as having a holistic
perspective and were examined within one or more of the five categories.
Juxtaposition and comparison were used to determine the consensus, consistency,
and overall significance between Smuts ’ philosophy of holism and the holistic perspective
of Williams, Oberteuffer, and Hoyman.
THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE
Smuts held the position that our view of reality and the nature of the universe was in
the process of fundamental change: a change which would, in the end, affect every
sphere of human thought and conduct. He believed that the 1859 publication of
Darwin ’ s Origin of Species stood out boldly as the inauguration of this change. The
Judeo - Christian tradition of American education is based upon the premise that God
created the universe, the world, and humankind. Yet it was within this context that
Williams and Hoyman published articles that affirmed the theory of evolution as the
operative principle in the universe and human nature.
Smuts considered that the viewpoint of creative evolution provided the best explanation
of the whole - making tendency in the universe. According to Smuts, holism was
the creative principle evolution of new forms. He identified five fundamental phases of
progressive holistic synthesis in the universe: (1) physical mixture, (2) chemical compounds,
(3) organisms, (4) minds, and (5) personality. These phases were arranged in a
hierarchy and conceived by Smuts as stepping stones where lower phases served as the
basis for the higher ones. From this perspective, mere physical mixture evolved into
chemical compounds, that served as the basis for organisms which evolved minds,
finally culminating in the emergence of human personality. Smuts (1926) considered
that the transition from matter (chemical compound) to life (organism) occurred by
way of a mutation, a quantum leap forward between Kingdoms. He writes that in the
transition
between the chemical compound and the cell, we have found . . . only a mutation —
the greatest mutation of all undoubtedly in the whole range of science, but essentially
nothing more than a mutation. (p. 57)
This served as the premise from which Smuts advocated that matter, life, mind,
and personality were linked through the evolutionary whole - making tendency of the
universe. This aspect of Smuts ’ holistic perspective of the universe is similar to