Modern patterns of chronic disease, burnout, polarization, ecological degradation, and institutional instability share a common regulatory origin: the breakdown of coherence across biological, relational, and cultural systems. Coherence refers to the alignment of rhythms and regulatory processes operating at different temporal scales, from mitochondrial metabolism to social coordination.
This paper introduces the Coherence Cascade, a framework describing how cellular energy state (mitoception) shapes immune tone (immunoception), subjective bodily awareness (interoception), perception of external safety (neuroception), and the emergence of behavior and identity. We demonstrate how these individual-level regulatory dynamics scale into patterns of family life, community interaction, governance, and economic structure. Dysregulation at any level propagates across the system, producing defensive, reactive, and extractive modes of living.
We propose Coherence Infrastructure as a basis for regenerative cultural design. This includes built environments that reduce chronic autonomic activation, collective rhythmic practices that stabilize interoception and social engagement, governance processes that prioritize deliberative pacing over reactivity, and economic systems aligned with ecological regeneration. Practical implementation strategies and evaluation indicators are provided for public health, education, workplaces, urban planning, and justice systems.
Coherence Infrastructure offers a cross-disciplinary and actionable framework for designing societies capable of ongoing repair, adaptation, and resilience in a rapidly changing world.
