The Power of Wholeness: Voices of Wisdom
Article 2 of a 7 Part Series Authored by Mieke Byerley: Full work originally published on Biomimetic Clockworx.
This Labour of Love emerged as a consequence of the seeds planted in the original primary deliverable of a Teal for Startups’ White Paper initiative. It was formed by a Collaborative Community Question Harvesting exercise back in 2015. It was then carefully incubated by dedicated community members across Seven Work Streams, and is incrementally emerging in the form of Blog Series for the benefit of the Teal for Startup Community Members with the acknowledgment of the time and effort many have invested.
If you missed it, here is Article 1 of the 7 part The Power of Wholeness series
Across Disciplines
Aristotle states in Nicomachean Ethics that “at the right times, about the right things, towards the right people, for the right end, and in the right way, is the intermediate and best condition, and this is proper to virtue.” In Aristotle’s sense, virtue then is Excellence at being Human.
Albert Einstein wrote about how living without an expanded consciousness is like living in a prison. “A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space,” he wrote. “We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.”
Carl Jung, in his letter to Bill Wilson, states his opinion that “The only right and legitimate way to such an experience is that it happens to you in reality, and it can only happen to you when you walk on a path which leads you to a higher understanding. You might be led to that goal by an act of grace or through a personal and honest contact with friends, or through a higher education of the mind beyond the confines of mere rationalism.” This was written in relation to addiction where he states alcoholism is the equivalent to “the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness”.
Nelson Mandela mentions that “To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Here you can see that Freedom needs Wholeness to be True Freedom, and in this process they almost become synonymous.
Four of the greatest minds from differing disciplines and centuries voicing the importance of wholeness in their own unique way, and the dire consequence of the lack of it, on our individual, collective and wider ecosystem.
The goal of life is not to have our lives mean something to ourselves. The goal of life is to have our lives mean something to others” — Simon Sinek
Next Article 3 of the 7 part “The Power of Wholeness” series: Living Undivided
Resources
Each Article is accompanied with a curated selection of resources, provided to further stimulate conversation, formation, research and real life practical application for you and the community.
Inquiry Exercise
- How do I belong? To whom do I belong? To what do I belong?
- What personal experience or journey brought me into my current reality?
Examples
Recommended
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Thank You
Special thanks to Malek who is the co-initiator and founder of T4S and founder of FLOW, and Steph who is the founder of Ikigai and co-creator for T4S for taking the time to review the Full Series of articles. Also to all fellow collaborators of the Culture & Values Stream Team for all the support, feedback and reviews during the bulk of the writing.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
I would like to recognize that this work would never have materialized if it was not for the amazing contributions of the following communities doing amazing work in their own right. So it is with a very humble heart and a great sense of appreciation that I introduce them here below:
Teal for Startups Community: https://medium.com/teal-for-startups
Frederic Laloux, and the Reinventing Organizations Community: http://www.reinventingorganizations.com/
Otto Scharmer, and the U.Lab Community: https://www.presencing.com/
Marjolein and Lani, and the Map of Meaning CoP: http://www.holisticdevelopment.org.nz/
Tom Atlee and the Co-Intelligence Institute: http://www.co-intelligence.org/index.html
Parker J. Palmer and the Center for Courage & Renewal: http://www.couragerenewal.org/
