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, in response to “It’s Hard in the Middle” by Christine Luna Munger.
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The “middle person” has often been given a bad rap in society: the one who has what another needs or wants, inflates its value, and then sells it to the customer for a substantial amount—far more than the item is worth. This is often done in the name of capitalism. “It’s just how the system works,” we are told.
Yet, lately, I have been reading about the third option, a middle stance that is neither capitalistic nor soft in its expression. It is Christian to its core. Notice that Jesus did not choose between the two greatest commandments—loving God and loving one’s neighbor. They are both expressions of Love and must work together to be meaningful. One alone is not sufficient.
Notice, too, that in viewing creation and, in particular, persons and all that is contained in creation from the perspective of these two commandments, there can be no dualistic lens: love is the only option that will fulfill both commands. Love becomes the third option that brings life, joy, and peace to a fractured world, society, family, or community of any sort.
And as Christine noted, “…the middle is hard: hard to be there, hard to get there, and hard to stay there.” There seems to be a requirement for maintaining the middle place in my struggles today: Listen with the heart, be slow to offer solutions, walk alongside another rather than ahead of, and pray, pray, pray for guidance and an increase in Love.
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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