The world was a soup and thought was generally a fork
Harry Mulisch, The Discovery of Heaven

What if the whole is greater than the sum of its parts? Then analysis alone is not enough and we also need synthesis.

Don’t get us wrong, an analytical or reductionist approach is important and often indispensable. However, so much literature has already been published on these methods. And the fact that statistics is equated with the villain Procrustes (Chapter 8) is, of course, an exaggeration. A mythical figure is an enlargement of reality.

We are advocates of research, and we also want to focus on coherence.  Because we do not live in a laboratory where all one-to-one causes and effects can be uncovered with an analytical approach. We are not part of a theoretical model that can be used to calculate and predict everything, nor do we dwell in a closed system where environmental influences have no effect. We live in a world that is marked by irregularities and dynamics, and where probability and chance, i.e. surprise, have an important role to play. Stability is transient at best. And only on these islands of predictability is it possible to work with models and protocols. The fascinating thing is that we live in a time and age where on the one hand the limits of analysis and reductionism become visible, while on the other hand we discover coherence. The philosophy of science offers a conceptual framework with the synthesis paradigm and systems thinking. Quantum physics has recently provided the first evidence for quantum entanglement and, with it, evidence for coherence.

We described that emergence is a concept that shows how new things can come into existence: more is different. A cause-and-effect model with one-to-one and step-by-step changes does not apply here. There is another factor from the environment that contributes together-and-at the same time to the outcome. This creates something new that was not there before, with properties not contained in the basic elements. Quantum information theory provide us with the language and images that show how changes occur together-and-simultaneously. Emergence is the product of both upward and downward causality. This fits with the view of physicists who argue that information is not just an imaginary, incorporeal, mathematical quantity, but a physical factor. It is this factor that makes a whole different from the sum of its parts. As a result, calculating with 0’s or 1’s is not (always) sufficient.

Part 1, The Discovery of Coherence, arrives at a relationship between emergence and the concepts of superposition and entropy. Part 2, The Discovery of Coherence. Paradoxes? Superposition and entropy make the difference, will take it up a notch. The concepts are given a central role in a different way of thinking and are used to discuss well-known paradoxes. Perhaps we may then conclude that some of these will no longer be paradoxes….

With our story we don’t intend to merely raise questions and problems. We also want to think about the answers. A consequence of unpredictability is that constant adjustment is necessary with the help of continuous feedback. There are always risks and opportunities. Working methods are already available for this. As practice-oriented healthcare professionals, we like to work with the solution-focused approach. This is a pragmatic method, which is designed to cope with complex and dynamic circumstances and which can also be combined with knowledge that has been derived from analytical scientific research. The solution-focused approach is not a trick, nor is it the latest fashion in psychotherapy. It’s more than just a sympathetic approach, it is fundamentally different from the traditional biomedical (analytical) model and has already been developed into a mature form that offers language and structure to many everyday issues.

Combining analysis and synthesis
An approach that combines the two complementary visions of analysis and synthesis contains the following elements:

• Operate from the perspective of the protagonist(s) (for example, a patient, a group, a country).
• When an objective reality does not apply because the circumstances seen from different positions are different, then it makes sense to work from the position of the protagonist(s). They are the experts of their own context.
• Operate from the preferred future. When many causes play a role in a problem that can no longer be unraveled or solved, then it makes no sense to start working from that problem. Which problem? Starting with the preferred outcome or future is a better choice. Remember that a changing world needs a functional purpose (a function, strength, ability, skill, ‘a new and better life’). A static goal (norm, number) is less meaningful, because suppose you have reached your static goal, but the world has changed….
• Adapt the position of ‘not knowing’. Let new things arise. Allow a process of self-organization and keep your focus on the preferred future, with ‘everything that works’ and not only with indicators. Indicators are always determined by other people, after all. The coherence of things creates a new balance, new functions. This is the synthesis, the surprise, the creative process. An ongoing selection, with information from feedback, determines what continues and what is allowed to fade away.
• Make use of everything that works: competences, circumstances, resources. What works for this person(s), at this moment, in this context? This concerns their strengths, opportunities and resources. You don’t have to know everything about what can’t be done to know what can be done. When looking for possibilities one can use experience (noticing exceptions to the problem and pieces of the preferred future) and knowledge from research.
• Ask feedback. What changes during the process? What works? What else? This feedback is based on posing open-ended questions. Closed-ended questions (decision trees) only test the hypothesis of the professional or researcher. Rather follow the protagonist’s perspective
• A changing world is an ongoing process. Ask yourself what the destination is and adjust your course accordingly. What will be the next sign of progress?

The great problems of our time require experts in the field of emergence and self-organization, curious people who are looking for coherence. They are the adventurous people who allow new things to grow organically. You may consider this a call for collaboration.

To combine an analytical approach with a solution-focused approach, the aforementioned metaphor of the sailor finding his course comes in handy:

A sailor trusts on nautical charts, GPS or even the stars to calculate his course and navigate his vessel to its destination; he relies on the stable elements. But his course needs constant adjustments due to unpredictable currents and wind directions.

We hope that our story offers ideas for change in education, research and policy questions, shifting attention to different approaches in order to deal with dynamic topics. The first steps in pivoting from thinking in terms of manufacturability to organic thinking. We hope you will join us on this journey to adjust in the best possible way to unpredictable currents and wind directions.