My dear friends...

For the largest portion of the Earth's inhabitants the word abundance , as most people now use it, has little meaning.

More meaningful to them is the word survival . Yet, no human being should have to worry about day-to-day survival. That should be guaranteed, as should the basic human dignity of sufficient food, clothing and shelter.

Why we, as humans, do not share more freely of all that we have (a tiny percentage of the world's people holds a massive percentage of the world's wealth and resources) is no mystery. It is not because we are bad or selfish people. It is because most of us believe in Lack. That is, we believe--even those of us with a great deal (perhaps, especially those with a great deal) believe--that, if we are not watchful, there may not be "enough to go around." This leads to a not unimportant question. When is "enough" enough?

For people whose chief reward in life, whose highest satisfaction and grandest experience is derived from their quality of being, whatever they now have is enough. That is the lesson that some spiritual Masters who give up everything, living lives of renunciation, are seeking to teach. They do not seek to demonstrate that renunciation is necessary to achieve true happiness. They seek to show that material possessions are not necessary.

What I have learned about life is that when we live wholly, we live holy. I have been searching for ways to live my life as a whole person, as an integrated being, for 25 years. Holistic living means being aware that I am part of a Whole System, a Whole Idea, a Whole Reality, and that everything I think, say and do affects that reality; indeed, at some level, creates it. I can no longer pretend that one thing has nothing to do with another. That smoking, for instance, or consuming red meat at every meal, has nothing to do with my health. That the quality of the air around me, for example, has nothing to do with the quality of my life. That how I think and speak and act has nothing to do with how I experience my future. That the way in which I interact with my environment has nothing to do with how long I will be allowed, and able, to do so.

That is how I lived before I understood what holistic meant. I did not understand what sociologists call Whole Systems Theory. I did not comprehend the implications of the fact that I was a cog in a very big wheel. In this, I dare say that I was not unlike many people--perhaps, most people.

Even today, the increase in our general level of awareness notwithstanding, there appears to be a huge disconnect for many people between in-the-moment choices, decisions and actions, and down-the-road effects. Yet living holistically is about taking into account all of our down-the-road effects. It is about becoming One with our God, with our environment, with our fellow travelers on this extraordinary journey, and with our very selves.

So many of us are not integrated. That is, we are dis integrated. Falling apart. Falling to pieces. And so is the world in which we are living our disintegrated lives. Yet now, at last, many of us are at least becoming aware of our condition. And many of us are opting out, choosing again, and recreating ourselves anew in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever we held about Who We Are. There are many resources now available to help us with these challenges as we undertake the process of re-building our collective reality in the 21st Century.

Those who wish to explore new relationship paradigms more deeply may find of particular interest, two books that I experienced to be both helpful and exciting. They are: The Future of Love , by Daphne Rose Kingma, and ENCHANTED LOVE: The Mystical Powers of Intimate Relationships , by Marianne Williamson. Both speak eloquently of the possibilities of relationship, the wonder of open-hearted love, and the glory of embracing spirit-to-spirit, as well as body-to-body. Marianne's latest work is especially breathtaking, its sweep at times approaching poetry.

Of course, improved relationships with others depends upon an improved relationship with ourselves. We are invited now to "come from" a new state of being, a new clarity about who we are and who we choose to be, and a new determination to demonstrate that in the world. When a high state of beingness is turned into doingness in the physical world, struggle disappears from our lives. We have integrated our inner and outer selves, and not only do we have better romantic relationships, we have better everything. 

...blesséd be.

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