How can we return to a path toward spiritual wholeness?

Highlights from our meeting on 04/09/03

1. It seems we have moved so far in the direction of material priorities we have lost touch with our spiritual priorities.
2. But aren't we already whole just the way we are?
3. Who's to say we are not already whole?
4. Isn't it judgmental to say we are not already whole?
5. Isn't it equally judgmental to say it is judgmental to say we are not already whole?
6. To say we are all already whole is also a judgement.
7. It would seem that judgement is unavoidable.
8. Without judgement there can be no distinctions.
9. Without judgement one cannot distinguish between being whole and not being whole.
10. Without the distinction between "whole" and "not whole" the word "whole" loses all meaning.
11. Doesn't wholeness refer to a collection of parts that add up to more than the sum of the parts?
12. A set of jigsaw puzzle pieces that have been assembled, collectively posses a quality, an image, not present in a pile of unassembled puzzle pieces.
13. Yeah, and if you feed me through a giant meat grinder, you would still have all my parts, but I would strongly argue that there is something, some quality, that was there before that is not there afterwards.
14. Still, some would argue that the whole by necessity still exists in the collection of the parts, even unassembled.
15. Isn't that mistaking potential for actual?
16. Some potentials might not ever be reached.
17. If the pile of puzzle pieces were burned before they were assembled, their potential would not be realized.
18. But the whole image must have existed before the puzzle was cut up into pieces in the first place.
19. Likewise, the whole organism existed before being ground into parts in the meat grinder example.
20. Are there any examples of unassembled parts existing before the greater whole?
21. Yes, a simple iron bar is composed of many molecules with magnetic polarities oriented in random directions.
22. Such an iron bar exhibits no net magnetic polarity, because the individual polarities cancel each other out.
23. Rubbing the iron bar with a permanent magnetic will cause the molecules to align in such a way that the magnetic polarities line up.
24. The "magnetized" bar now exhibits a overall quality that it previously did not process.
25. Another, simpler example would be a pile of bricks that later become a building.
26. The difference between the pile of bricks and the building is the architectural blueprint.
27. The difference between before and after, then, is information.
28. Similarly, the difference between a clump of embryonic cells and a complex human being is the architectural information coded in our DNA.
29. Perhaps becoming whole, then, is a organic process whereby a pile of parts evolves or develops into a complex of parts in which qualities emerge or manifest that were not there before.
30. Perhaps the pile of parts does represent a kind of whole, but a different whole from the integrated whole that manifests over time.
31. It is the quality emerging which may be incomplete and longing for wholeness, like a partially assembled jigsaw puzzle picture longing for completeness.
32. So how does that relate to our spiritual wholeness?
33. What do we mean when we say we are not spiritually whole?
34. Perhaps it means being split or separated from some parts of ourselves.
35. We tend to disown parts of ourselves we don't like or think are not acceptable.
36. Doesn't Jung call these disowned parts of ourselves, our shadow?
37. So becoming whole might mean reconnecting with our shadow.
38. Some men are working on reconnecting with their feminine side.
39. One can also work on moving from being too much "in the head" to being more "in the heart".
40. But in moving from one part to another, aren't you still maintaining a split?
41. If one moves from valuing the head over the heart to valuing the heart over the head, is that moving to wholeness?
42. If one values one part over another, doesn't that perpetuate the split?
43. Perhaps becoming whole means finding a balance of all your parts so that all parts are equally valued.
44. To find a balance among all your parts, you must first recognize all your parts.
45. How can you see your blind spots?
46. Shifting one's focus away from material priorities might help.
47. We live in a materialistic culture.
48. Our culture has it's own disowned parts, a collective shadow.
49. A large portion of our collective shadow is housed in our prisons.
50. How does living in a schizophrenic culture affect an individuals path toward wholeness?
51. Being part of a greater whole often means specializing and integrating.
52. In our culture the trend is toward more and more specialization and interdependence.
53. This is like the process of early embryonic cells developing into more and more specialized cells which integrate into a complex human organism.
54. Is this pressure to specialize robbing us of our individual wholeness?
55. If we abdicate or disown responsibility outside our area of expertise, such as foreign affairs or tax reform, aren't we allowing a collective power act on our behalf in these areas, for better or for worse?
56. If we harbor negative feelings or intentions in the disowned areas, consciously or unconsciously, won't the collective power act on our behalf in a negative manner?
57. So connecting with and resolving in a positive manner our own individual split with our individual shadows might be the remedy for stopping the destructive behavior of the collective power.