It may interest the reader to note that Esslemont's use above of the idea of ``criticality'' predates the rise of the field of critical phenomena in the academic study of statistical physics. His use of the word ``complex'' similarly prefigures the widespread use of terms like ``complexity'' and ``complex systems.'' If the simple physics of the pendulum inspired the contemporary democratic culture of bipolar partisan politics, then perhaps it is not inconceivable that the new physics of complex systems and cooperative and critical phenomena will herald a new political culture. Is there not a better model to follow than the pendulum? Indeed, such a model does exist.
There is one complex system that
is mentioned by both Gandhi as well as in the Bahá'í
writings
that can serve as a better model--or paradigm--for politics: the
organism of the human body![[footnote]](img43.png){kind=small}
.
According to this model, the body of humankind is a single organism,
much like the physical human body. This analogy captures the
fundamental principle of the oneness of humankind (as applied to
politics and economics), but it also projects a spiritual dimension
that is altogether absent for the pendulum: the human body is a
``temple'' where mind meets matter, heaven illumines earth, and spirit
enters flesh. This model is compatible with both the organic as well
as the spiritual characteristics of humankind. The adoption of this
model of politics, and of human affairs in general, will at once
create the conditions needed to resolve outstanding social, economic,
and political problems for which no solution can be found in the old
party-political framework.