The materialist view of reality continues to be the dominant one. In this view complex phenomena like this flower can be understood by breaking them down into smaller and smaller units. Starting with the whole plant we can focus on just the flower, then just the petals, then the cells which live together in the plant, just the cells in the petals, then the various “organelles” inside each cell, right down to the DNA. Now we find the essence of the plant, say the geneticists. But wait we go further down to the molecules in the DNA, then the atoms which constitue the molecules. But still we don’t find “life”. Still we don’t find the essence of this little plant. So, then we look at the atoms which the molecules are made of. Surely now we’ve reached the essence, the solid bedrock of reality? Nope, say the physicists, turns out we can look inside atoms, find subatomic “particles”, but then we look further and “poof!”, they disappear.
Now the physicists tell us reality is fields of energy and particles are impermanent manifestations of ripples produced by the fields.
It turns out the essence of a plant isn’t in its cells, its DNA, or its particles. It’s in its whole being. Because reality is what emerges from the interactions, from the ripples, from the relationships between the “parts”, not the parts themselves.
It turns out that relationships are the basis of reality. We’ve been looking in the wrong direction. The universe isn’t made of solid objects. Living creatures are not “machine like” at all.
It’s energy all the way down. And understanding emerges from a consideration of whole beings and their interactions.
Heroes Not Zombies 
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