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 “The Constancy of Being At Home in Opposites” by Christine Luna Munger.
We welcome contributions from all members of our community! To learn more, see the bottom of this page.
“I’m Silently Correcting Your Grammar” is etched onto a coffee cup given me by one of my daughters. While she meant it as a humorous, clever saying for a former English teacher, it has occurred to me that she has consciously or subconsciously pointed out one of the triggers in my life that I have to fight rather often: the habit to judge others based upon their use of language.
That may seem like an odd tension of opposites, but often what we deal with in our lives is as uncomplicated but as real as judging others by a standard we have set for ourselves. I smile as I write this; I realized quite recently that I am mostly OK with statements like, “Him and I went to the mall together” or “The amount of people at the meeting was good.” I love the speakers, and that love makes all the difference in how I react.
On a more serious note, becoming at ease with tensions is difficult. For me, to buy or not to buy is a tension I fight. Do I really need another ______? To save or not to save material things, especially stuff that takes up space and has only a modicum of sentimentality attached to it. To call a friend or not to call; to purchase that candy bar or pass it up.
Granted, these are not monumental choices, nor are they deep tensions; yet, they are the stuff of daily life, of daily actions, of daily opportunities to stop, think, choose—and know why one action is preferable at this time to another.
As a materialistic nation, to have or not to have is a privileged choice that can cause tension, inner struggle, and a call for discernment in the lives of those who wish to become more awakened into wholeness.
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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