Holons

A holon is an entity that is both a self-contained whole and a functional part of some larger system, which is usually also a holon. The term was coined by Arthur Koestler in his book The Ghost in the Machine. One may argue that the entire universe is made up of nested holons, which form one or more holarchies. Here are two ways this can be described (which James Lovelock would argue should be unified, since he believes that "physics and biology are not separate but a single way of thought" ):

The Holarchy of Life

 * Physical and chemical levels
 * Fundamental particles, e.g. quarks
 * Protons, neutrons, and electrons
 * Atomic nuclei (protons and neutrons only)
 * Atoms and ions (an atom has equal numbers of protons and electrons; an ion doesn't)
 * Simple molecules, e.g. water, ATP, amino acids, DNA bases (adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine)
 * Cellular levels
 * Long-chain molecules, e.g. DNA strands and amino acid chains
 * Macromolecules, e.g. chromosomes and proteins
 * Organelles and cell walls
 * Cells, including single-celled organisms
 * Multicellular levels
 * Tissues (any structure made up of one kind of cell)
 * Organs
 * Organ systems
 * Multicellular organisms
 * Ecological levels
 * Family groups
 * Multi-family associations
 * Populations (all members of a given species within a local ecosystem)
 * Ecosystems (which include both the organisms in a region and the land and water they interact with)
 * Bioregions (geographically unified collections of ecosystems)
 * Gaia
 * Speculative superplanetary levels
 * The System Solar, Gregory Benford's term for a future superorganism spanning interplanetary space in his novel Beyond Infinity
 * Galaxia, Isaac Asimov's term for a future galactic superorganism with a hive mind in his novel Foundation's Edge
 * The Living Universe, a concept promoted by Pantheism
 * Fecund universes, Lee Smolin's hypothetical multiverse model in which a universe can give birth to other universes with similar physical laws, discussed in his book The Life of the Cosmos

The Holarchy of Mass

 * Physical and chemical levels
 * Fundamental particles
 * Protons, neutrons, and electrons
 * Atoms and ions
 * Metals and crystals
 * Simple molecules and alloys
 * Compounds (materials or fluid solutions made from more than one type of molecule)
 * Solid levels
 * Objects (any solid entity that moves as a coherent unit), e.g. sand grains, bricks, simple tools like wrenches, and tectonic plates
 * Mechanical systems (any collection of objects that can move relative to one another but are bound together), e.g. cars, buildings, and living beings
 * Aggregates (any collection of objects or mechanical systems that aren't physically bound together but tend to stay near each other), e.g. beaches, fields of flowers, landfills, and cities
 * Liquid levels
 * Water bodies, e.g. rivers, lakes, and the global ocean
 * Watersheds (any collection of all bodies of water that drain to a single outlet into the ocean)
 * Celestial-body levels
 * Sublayers, e.g. the igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock layers in Earth's crust, or the troposphere, stratosphere, ionosphere, and mesosphere in Earth's atmosphere
 * Layers, e.g. Earth's inner core, outer core, mantle, crust, hydrosphere, and atmosphere, or the Sun's core, radiative zone, convective zone, photosphere, and corona
 * Celestial bodies, e.g. planets, moons, stars, black holes, asteroids, comets, and artificial satellites and space probes
 * Orbital levels
 * Star systems (all bodies in orbit around a star, or around multiple stars that are in orbit around each other)
 * Star clusters
 * Nebulae and gas clouds (which may include star systems but are mainly made of atoms, molecules, and dust motes)
 * Galaxies
 * Galaxy groups, e.g. the Milky Way and all of its satellite galaxies, such as the Magellanic Clouds
 * Large-scale structural levels
 * Galactic clusters
 * Galactic superclusters (generally found at the points where four or more voids meet)
 * Galactic filaments (galaxies scattered along the edge where three or more voids meet)
 * Galactic walls (galaxies scattered thinly across the surface where two voids meet)
 * The Universe
 * Speculative levels
 * The Multiverse (a hypothetical higher-dimensional realm in which multiple four-dimensional universes exist)