A Systemic History of the Middle Way: Its Biological, Psycho-developmental, and Cultural Conditions (Volume III)

by Robert M. Ellis

Systemic history is an approach to explaining the past, that tries to maximize our understanding of context. Unlike most history, it does not do this by just narrating a chain of causal relationships for a given group through time. Instead, it shows how simpler systems become more complex over time through the interaction of reinforcing and balancing feedback loops. Systemic history offers the best way of understanding the processes that shape the Middle Way, because the Middle Way involves improving responses to complexity, rather than falling back on shortcut simplifications (absolutizations).



This book examines the history of the Middle Way in four inter-related as the biological development of organisms in relation to reinforcing or balancing feedback loops, as the psychological development of individual humans during a lifetime, as a succession of reinforcing and balancing feedback tendencies in human culture through history, and as a successive development of integrative practice. This shows how the Middle Way is a path distinctive to the human response to complexity, but nevertheless one rooted in the wider processes of all life. In the process it provides a detailed exploration of the relationship between the Middle Way and systems theory, biology, developmental psychology, and world history.

240 pages, Hardcover

Published June 15, 2024

About the author

Robert M Ellis is the author of more than 20 books on Middle Way Philosophy, which is a practical philosophy focused on making the most of our experience in all our judgements. Initially inspired by the Buddha's Middle Way and Buddhist practice, he completed a Ph.D. on the Middle Way in 2001 that marked the beginning of his work exploring the universal Middle Way in relation to Western philosophy, psychology, systems, embodiment, and a range of other disciplines. He is now on the second wave of development of Middle Way Philosophy, in a new series being published by Equinox, beginning with 'Absolutization' (2022) and 'The Five Principles of the Middle Way'. (2023) He has also published books about the Middle Way in relation to Buddhism, Christianity, and Jungian archetypes, as well as the introductory book 'Migglism' (2014), the short argument 'Buddhism and God' (2021), parable fiction, and poetry. He now lives in Wales, where he runs a retreat centre and is cultivating a forest garden.