 This paper proposes a free energy principle that explains how biological systems can resist disorder. It relies on circular causality, similar to synergetics and the slaving principle, as well as nonlinear Fokker-Plank equations. By separating external and internal states, this approach reduces the problem to finding a deterministic dynamics for the internal states that ensures the system visits a limited number of external states. This principle is then shown to be equivalent to the information bottleneck method, which has been used to understand the functional architecture of the brain. Additionally, the generality of variational free energy minimization and corresponding information theoretic formulations could have implications in molecular or evolutionary biology. This article was authored by First and Karl.