Executive Summary

The white paper advances a paradigmatic shift from resistance-based to coherence-based understanding of life and systems.

Critique of ERP:
Picard and Murugan’s Energy Resistance Principle successfully quantifies adaptation costs but neglects oscillatory dynamics and feedback timing. By equating biological resistance with electrical resistance, it obscures the active role of phase-coupled storage and release — the essence of living regulation.
The Energy Coherence Principle:
ECP generalizes ERP using the physics of complex impedance. Life functions through coupled oscillations, where efficiency depends on phase coherence rather than on steady-state resistance. This shift restores the dynamic and relational nature of living energy systems.
Mathematical Foundation:
Here, Ψ is energetic potential, Φ is realized flow, Z is composite impedance (ℜ + jX), and θ is phase difference between cause and effect. Coherence (η) quantifies alignment between potential and flow — a universal metric of vitality, efficiency, and meaning.
Cross-Domain Translation:
- Physics: energy transfer optimized by impedance matching.
- Biology: mitochondrial, neural, and vascular synchronization.
- Psychology: flow states as phase coherence of motivation and attention.
- Society: governance and economics as feedback impedance networks.
- Ecology: sustainability as resonance between human activity and planetary rhythms.
Applied Framework:
- Medicine: coherence-based diagnostics and therapies (HRV, fascia-biofield coupling).
- Education: rhythmic pedagogy tuned to learner resonance frequencies.
- Governance: reducing bureaucratic reactance and policy lag.
- Planetary Design: aligning energy and material cycles with biospheric regeneration.
Measurement & Validation:
Empirical coherence metrics — η = cos θ — can be operationalized through biophysical (EEG, O₂ respirometry), social (trust and delay indices), and ecological (carbon-cycle phase analysis) data.
Philosophical and Ethical Implication:
Coherence becomes the fundamental ethical criterion: systems are good to the extent that they enable energy and meaning to circulate freely in resonance with life. The ECP thus reframes healing, learning, governance, and sustainability as acts of re-coherence.
Conclusion:
The ECP unifies biophysics, semiotics, and governance under one regenerative law:

All living systems evolve by minimizing impedance and increasing coherence across scales.
This principle provides both a scientific foundation and a moral compass for the transition from resistance economies to regenerative civilizations.