The Energy Resistance Principle (ERP), proposed by Picard and Murugan (2025), formalized biological adaptation as a power-law relation between energetic load and system performance, interpreting health and disease through the lens of resistance. While seminal, this model conflates state and rate variables, omits dynamic feedback processes, and treats living systems as static dissipative structures rather than oscillatory resonators.
We therefore introduce the Energy Coherence Principle (ECP), an upgraded formulation grounded in the physics of impedance, reactance, and phase synchronization. The ECP reframes biological and psychological regulation not as energy loss but as energy-meaning alignment:
where Ψ is potential (state), Φ is flow (rate), Z is complex impedance capturing resistive and reactive components, θ is phase lag, and η is coherence efficiency. Systems maintain vitality by minimizing |Z| and θ — optimizing both structure and timing.
This universal framework unites physics, physiology, and sociology under a single law of regenerative design. By distinguishing resistance from impedance, and by introducing the concepts of storage, resonance, and phase alignment, ECP provides a cross-domain grammar for flow optimization — from mitochondrial OXPHOS and neural synchronization to institutional governance and planetary cycles. Empirical pathways for validation are outlined, integrating biophysical phase-coherence measures (Δψ–NADH coupling), cognitive flow metrics (EEG CFC indices), and societal feedback modeling (policy latency, trust synchrony).
Ultimately, the ECP positions coherence — not resistance — as the foundational invariant of living systems, offering a theoretical and practical bridge from cellular energetics to civilizational renewal.
