THE INTEGRITY OF THE BODY AND HOLISTIC CONSCIOUSNESS: A HARMONY OF EXISTENCE BEYOND MEDICAL SPECIALIZATION

Summary

This study examines how the holistic understanding of the human body has been fragmented by processes of medical specialization and the epistemic consequences of this fragmentation. In modern medicine, each organ and system is examined at the level of a phenomenon by its respective specialization, thus transforming the body into a fragmented realm of existence at the epistemic and institutional levels. Centering on the concept of holistic consciousness, the article argues that the human body is not merely a collection of organs but a single, uninterrupted flow of essence. Viewed through holistic consciousness, phenomena (organs, functions, pathologies) are not truth itself, but rather diverse manifestations of the unity within the essence. Therefore, a holistic orientation in medicine is possible not only through interdisciplinary integration but also through a reorganization of the source of knowledge.

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Entrance

Knowledge of the human body has historically taken both holistic and fragmented forms of interpretation. While ancient medicine considered the body together with the soul, modern medicine has progressed through analysis, separation, definition, and specialization of the body. What emerges today is that, along with a detailed scientific understanding of organs, the understanding of how these organs form a whole within a bodily consciousness has diminished.

This article centers on the fundamental question:

If the body is derived from a whole, why does medical knowledge lose the whole?

The answer lies in the fact that body knowledge is related to the orientation of consciousness.

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1.⁠ ⁠Fragmentation: The Dominance of Phenomenological Knowledge

In modern medicine, each specialty creates its own knowledge of the phenomena in its field:

Expertise Phenomenon Object Knowledge Type

Cardiology Heart Hemodynamic phenomenon knowledge

Nephrology Kidney Filtration and fluid balance phenomenon knowledge

Psychiatry Knowledge of mind-behavior psycho-emotional phenomena

Phenomenon information is correct in its own context, but when interpreted independently of each other, the body ceases to be a whole and turns into a "federation of organs".

The epistemological error here is this:

The phenomenon has been substituted for the essence.

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2.⁠ ⁠Essence: The Unified Consciousness Field of the Body

In the perspective of holistic consciousness, the body is not the sum of organs.

Body:

• A rhythm,

• A flow,

• It is a single-being order.

Organs are the phenomenal forms of this flow.

Holistic consciousness includes awareness of:

The organs are not connected to each other, they are continuations of each other.

Disconnection is in the nature of consciousness, unity is in the nature of the body.

Therefore, treatment is directed not only at the organ:

• The balance of the flow,

• Inner-spirit-nerve-hormone-emotion integrity,

• It should be directed towards the vital whole of existence.

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3.⁠ ⁠Consciousness Orientation: From Outside to Inside

The current orientation of medicine is based on external consciousness:

• The visible is examined,

• What is measurable is valued,

• Pathology is “localized”.

Whereas holistic consciousness:

• Feels the inner connection,

• Sees the phenomenon as a sign of the essence,

• Reads illness as the body's attempt to rebalance itself.

In this context:

Illness is not the body's fault, it is the body's way of speaking.

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4.⁠ ⁠The Change Required for Holistic Clinical Thinking

Partial Consciousness Medical Model Holistic Consciousness Medical Model

Organ-centered Body integrity-centered

Symptom relief System balance restoration

External observation Internal meaning relationship

Mechanism Unity and flow

Holistic consciousness does not reject expertise;

reconnects specializations.

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Conclusion

The body is whole, but knowledge is fragmented.

Overcoming this fragmentation:

• not with more data,

• not with more technology,

• It occurs when consciousness changes direction.

When medicine turns to self-awareness:

• Organs are not separate from each other, they are doors of wisdom that open to each other.

• The disease is not a disorder that needs to be treated, but a message that needs to be read.

• Body is not a modality, it is a unity.

As holistic consciousness rises, the body will once again appear in its own truth.

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Source

• Merleau-Ponty, M. Phenomenology of Perception.

• Engel, G. (1977).Biopsychosocial Model.

• Ibn Arabi. Conquests on the Unity of Existence.

• Turut, M. (2025). Philosophical Notes on Body and Essence, Edirne. Three