Harmony From a Hierarchy of Wholes

“The harmonious cooperation of all beings arose, not from the orders of a superior authority external to themselves, but from the fact that they were all parts in a hierarchy of wholes forming a cosmic pattern, and what they obeyed were the internal dictates of their own natures. Modern science and the philosophy of organism, with its integrative levels, have come back to this wisdom, fortified by new understanding of cosmic, biological, and social evolution.”   

–Joseph Needham (English Biochemist, Embryologist, and Historian of Science who wrote and edited Science and Civilization in China, 1900-1995)   

“Science and Civilisation in China. Volume 1: Introductory Orientations” (Joseph Needham)