Awakening to Wholeness is a series of prompts, reflections, and teachings about how holding the tension of opposites can help us to heal division and experience wholeness. If you feel moved to share your own reflections, we invite you to email us with the subject line “Wisdom of Opposites” or tag us on social media with #EHoPWisdomOfOpposites.
This is a guest post by EHoP community member Dianne Schlichting.
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Recently, my husband and I spent time “getting everything together” for our kids to handle our estate, will, and end-of-life matters. So, what am I waiting for? I jokingly respond, “Death!”
But then, as we at EHoP are focusing on the tension between opposites, I acknowledge with wholehearted acclaim: “No, not only death, but Life lived fully each and every day.”
St. Benedict, in his Rule, admonishes his monks to “Keep death ever before your eyes” (Ch. 4), but his reasoning is that with such a mindset, we will be engaged in better using the Instruments of Good Works—we will be more fully alive as we love God and our neighbor each and every day.
Death and life are two events we will all experience. I see them as creating tension insofar as we have within us a deep longing to see and know God, the Unknown One, while at the same time valuing and treasuring this beautiful life we are living. Learning to “let go” and live in the present moment seems to be the way for me to try to balance the pull between what are perceived opposites.
When we were married, the banner (banners were popular back then!) that we created read: …ALIVE Together For LIFE! This continues to be a guiding principal as we awaken each morning, wondering what challenges the new day will offer.
Join the conversation! If you feel moved to share your reflections—either in response to one of our posts, or on the topic of the wisdom of opposites more broadly—we invite you to email us with the subject line “Wisdom of Opposites” or tag us on social media with #EHoPWisdomOfOpposites.
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Dianne Schlichting
Dianne is a member of EHoP; she and her husband John value the opportunity to share contemplative prayer and outreach with others who make the House of Prayer their spiritual home. Dianne is a wife, mother, and grandmother who loves spending time in nature, especially canoeing with John.
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