Undividing Ourselves, Episode 430
We tend to divide our experience into two parts, which we usually name ‘good’ and ‘bad’. And we do so for good reason - to belong in our family systems and communities, to keep a particular image or identity going, because we are afraid of what and what we will be if we let love, or joy, or anger, or longing touch us. But the cost is high - in realness, in capacity to bringing our gifts to the world, in our fully taking up the possibilities of this one precious life. So how might we welcome and reinclude that which has been split off? And how might we do so in a way that is life-giving, mature, and responsive to our cares, concerns and commitments?
This week's Turning Towards Life hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.
Our source for this week:
Undividing Ourselves
We all tend to divide experience into two parts, usually the good and the bad. But there may be all kinds of suspicious things going on in this splitting. We may simply have never considered the value in certain things we reject. Or by branding certain experiences as negative, we may be protecting ourselves from some unknown fears. We are all filled with biases and ideas that have snuck into us without our knowing it. Much soul can be lost in such splitting, so that care of the soul can go a long way simply by recovering some of this material that has been cut off.
From ‘Care of the Soul’ by Thomas More
Photo by Mario Gogh on Unsplash