Living with different natures and designs can be a very good thing; if done in a spirit of  co-operation and harmony. Co-operation means accepting and supporting our partners different needs as well as our own. Harmony is created by living and working toward a common goal. When there is co-operation and harmony, we can make use of our differences to strengthen and support each other. My lack of skill in one area is compensated by someone who has that skill. My nature as a human being enables me to do things that plants and animals aren’t capable of, and vice versa.

To live in balance and harmony (wholistically) we human beings and human beings in training (hbit’s) must act according to our own human nature. What is that nature?

We are multi-dimensional, co-operative, compassionate, patient, forgiving, playful, sexual, intuitive, curious, intellectual, emotional, and capable of a wide variety of physical actions. Human beings don’t kill unless for food or self-defense, don’t manipulate or abuse other beings, and don’t take more than they need and the environment can sustain.

Rocks seldom dance; but humans do. Humans can’t sit in one spot for centuries, but rocks can. Vive la difference!

Life is vibration or movement.

Everything that vibrates is alive, even if we can’t see their movements with our physical eyes.

Rocks, chairs, plants, food, everything is moving and alive!

All movement or vibration results from first receiving energy and then transferring it on to other living things.

Energy is constantly moving through the universe to where it is needed.

Life Energy always seeks to create energetic Balance and Harmony wherever it goes

All forms of life have their own specific design and purpose.

We are designed by our Creator to be multi-dimensional beings.

Our original nature is spiritual.

Our physical life on Earth is a temporary but important part of our complete life path.

On Earth we are required to stay connected with our spiritual home and still be fully active in the material world of work, business, money, etc.

A fully developed human being has a clever mind and compassionate heart. S/he is comfortable in the worlds of science, religion, and spirituality and respects the contributions that each make. S/he is a guardian of all life forms on Earth and tries to create balance and harmony in all relationships in which s/he is involved.

All actions in the universe are the result of relationships.

Nothing exists or acts on its own.

All living beings affect and are affected by all other living beings.

We live in an interconnected universe in which we are all responsible to and for each other.

There is no “them” and “us”.

The quality of our life is measured by the quality of our relationships

Section A Personal Benefits:
Healthy spiritual practices provide personal benefits. They help us:
- connect with something greater than our physical selves and this material world
- quiet overactive thoughts and feelings and experience periods of inner calm
- observe and change unhealthy beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours
- receive guidance and direction in our daily life

Section B Positive Effects on Our Community:
Healthy spiritual practices have a positive effect on our community. They help us:
- express feelings of love and compassion for all forms of life in our community
- treat all forms of life in our community with kindness, dignity and respect
- co-operate with all living things rather than compete with them
- see the unity of all living things and eliminate “us” versus “them” thinking

Section C Empowerment: The Key Component
Healthy spiritual practices empower us, they don’t enslave us:
They provide us with a direct personal connection with the Universal Life Force which we sometimes call God or the Creator, without the need of a human intermediary, “spirit guide”, or group “process”. If, after adopting a spiritual practice, we start to have less personal freedom and choices in our life than before, something is not right!

Section D Distractions and Dangers:
Be watchful for and consider avoiding spiritual practices that:
- rely on “props” such as costumes, symbols, crystals, emotional music, etc.
- are led by teachers or gurus who do more than motivate and encourage
- use mental or emotional “techniques” to gain power and advantage over others
- focus on the “spirits” of material objects, plants, animals, and human beings
- ask for large financial commitments for more than facility or general expenses

Section E A Simple Test
One way of finding out if our current spiritual practice is right for us is after giving our practice enough time to have an “effect” on us, we can ask ourself if we are now treating ourself and others in a more loving, kind, and gentle way then before we began this practice. Gaining new insights and wisdom are wonderful benefits of being on a spiritual path, but its ultimate value can be seen in the love and kindness we are able to show in our daily actions. If our practice is making us more clever than kind, something is wrong! In the end it’s always about love.

As an example; wholistic agriculture is a conscious way of growing food that recognizes the needs of plants, soil, micro-organisms, animals, and humans and ensures that all the participants in this planned relationship are each getting their needs met (in balance) while contributing to the well being of their partners (in harmony).

Wholism is the body of knowledge that describes the principles and practices (the why and how) that create balanced and harmonious relationships. It’s wisdom is based on a model of how our universe operates that has been created over millions of years by religious prophets, great scientists, and the collective wisdom of sensitive, observant people. At it’s core wholism is about the movement of energy, the co-operative relationships that enable energy to move to where it is needed, and the two universal principles operating behind all actions; balance and harmony.

FYI: the opposite of wholistic is a relationship based on materialism, competitiveness, and egoism, the three human plagues now destroying the harmony of individuals and communities throughout the world.

Within every action in life, from the simplest to the most complex, there’s a energetic balance point that can be found. Our understanding of our self and the world begins to change when we start to see our life in terms of flowing or blocked energy, energetic needs, and balance points. Here are three vital balance points to look for in our life:

1. Balancing All the Parts of Our Being

Within our own being we have everything we need to become aware of what’s happening within and around us each day. We have our body’s visual, sound, taste, smell, pressure, and temperature senses that provide us with raw information. Our brain and spirit interpret this information and produce thoughts, beliefs, emotions, intuitive understanding, and more. Each of our assistants provide us with one piece of the puzzle based on its own nature and design. A wholistic understanding of our world requires a complete mix of physical sensations that are transformed into a wide range of rational thoughts, specific feelings, intuitive understandings, and spiritual insights. When we rely only on one or two of these resources as our main sources of information we can get into trouble. That trouble takes the form of an unbalanced and distorted picture of what life on Earth is actually like.

Imagine working in a garden on a warm, sunny, day with sound as our only sensory input. No bright colours, or wonderful smells, or the feel of the rich earth in our hands. What an incomplete experience it would be! Not only would we lose many flavors and experiences but we would not be able to recognize the needs of the plants we’re working with. Or imagine forming loving relationships with our family members, life partner, and friends through the use of our rational thoughts alone. No feelings of admiration and affection, no enjoyment and connection through hugs, just logical reasons for forming or dissolving the relationship. What if we tried to run a computer business by relying on our emotions alone; could it be successful? Extreme examples, perhaps, but you might be surprised to learn how many of us go through our lives limiting our life experiences by using only a small part of our complete package of personal resources.

When we make use of all parts of our being we get a complete picture of what life is like at any given moment, not only for ourselves but, equally important, for our relationship partners. Using all our personal resources requires the regular practice of self observation and self awareness; the “being” part of the doing-being spectrum. We need to observe the different energies we are receiving, how we are interpreting them, and how they are being transmitted to others. If this sounds like we have to be observers of our own life, then you have understood my meaning. We must supervise all parts of who we are, making sure that they are all regularly “checking in” with us and providing us with a complete picture of life.

With careful self observation and awareness we can identify when one of our assistants is either under active or overactive and then take actions to correct this unbalanced state. Taking action is the “doing” part of the doing-being spectrum. We can consciously decide to adopt some form of meditation to quiet our overactive thoughts, make use of massage and gardening to stimulate our underused sense of touch, work in a food bank to stimulate our feelings of compassion, start an exercise or dance program to strengthen underused muscles, get involved in politics to transform our philosophical ideals into concrete actions, etc. Whatever is under or over active needs to be worked on!

Today our societies promote the dominant use of our visual sense and rational thinking as our two primary feedback and interpretive mechanisms. This approach has led to an unbalanced world of advancing science and deteriorating relationships. Rational thinking is a wonderful tool for “doing” things but needs the help of our “being” and feeling resources to help us remain in harmony with our self and others.

The balance point is the full and active involvement of all parts of our being, each in an appropriate way, in order to become people who are both clever and kind. May you find that balance point in your life.

2. Balancing Our Needs and the Needs of Others

Wholism encourages us to stop relating to other living beings in terms of “them” and “us” and recognize that we are all interconnected and dependent on each other for our wellbeing. Therefore co-operation must be a guiding principle in all our daily interactions with others.

Co-operation means going about the daily business of getting our own needs met while simultaneously being aware and supporting others in obtaining what they need. It is a state of being that requires the self awareness to identify our own energetic state at a given moment and the willingness to show love, compassion, and sensitivity in assisting others. Living with self awareness, love, compassion, and a willingness to help others are the actions of a spiritually mature person.

Co-operation is a vital part of creating a life of balance and harmony. It’s not only the human thing to do but it makes common sense since we are all totally dependent on each other for our wellbeing and survival. There is however one important condition required before we can fully co-operate with others; we must have our own house in order first. A mother cannot nurse her child if she doesn’t take care of herself by eating and drinking adequately. A socially aware business cannot make charitable donations until it has made a profit to distribute. A therapist can’t continue to work with troubled people without taking time for regular periods of recreation and re-energizing. A municipality can’t create parks, libraries, sports facilities, etc. unless it generates sufficient resources in the form of taxes, volunteer labour, etc.

The balance point is ensuring our own needs are met and, from that healthy state, helping others meet their needs. May you find that balance point in your life.

3. Balancing Our Doing and Being

We are on Earth in physical bodies in order to form satisfying and beneficial relationships with plants, animals, material objects and other humans beings. To form these relationships we need to act; to do things. We need to physically move around, meet other living beings, make plans, discuss things, read, study, develop new skills, eat, drink, exercise, etc. Without this active involvement in the world we are limited in the number of relationships we can form. Forming a rich variety of relationships is the doing part of our life and requires activities and actions.

This rich variety of relationships provides us with the raw experiences we need to learn what it means to be human, what our needs are, and how we can be of service to others. I use the term “raw” because our experiences have to be “processed” in order for us to derive meaning, understanding, and wisdom from them. Processing means becoming aware of what is really going on in our relationships, i.e. the types of energies being exchanged, how these energies are effecting us, and how our energies are effecting our relationship partners. If this all sounds like a lot of work, you’re right! Working on ourselves can be hard work and creates more complexity and choices than simply moving through the world without self awareness. The good news is that once processing becomes a daily habit, it gets easier to do as the months and years pass and provides us with the ability to really choose our actions instead of just reacting to the energies and agendas of others.

Processing can either take place while a relationship is actually happening or at a later time. It is vital for our growth as human beings to stop our normal doing at regular intervals and give ourselves the time to process what has and is happening in our life. We can have quiet periods at the beginning or end of each day, go on multi-day retreats, use hourly “check ins” to sense what’s happening within our body, etc. Getting meaning, understanding, and wisdom from our relationships is the being part of our life.

The balance point in the doing-being spectrum is an active involvement in the world accompanied by self observation and regular periods of quiet reflection. Some specific examples of the doing-being theme are:

• balancing work, family, and community responsibilities with our need for personal re-creation and reflection
• balancing the guidance of a spiritual practice with the application of scientific principles and practices
• balancing the active use of our will with the submission of our will to a higher power

May you find all of these balance points in your life.

Conclusion
The universe, as I understand it, has been designed to give every one of us the opportunity to experience a life of balance and harmony. All systems and all relationships are constantly working toward this goal. As human beings we all have this same wonderful opportunity as long as we act according to our true human nature and work with the natural flow of energy, not against it. It’s so simple and yet so challenging at times!

It’ s especially difficult these days because of the widespread presence of three human plagues, materialism, competitiveness, and egoism, that are damaging individuals and communities around the world. If we happen to become infected with any of these diseases our behaviour will certainly lose its human quality and our unbalanced state will block the healthy flow of energy between ourselves and all living beings around us.

If our life is not in balance and harmony at the moment we need to look at how the universe operates and use three of its guiding principles; awareness, compassion, and co-operation. We can start by practicing self-observation and become more aware of what’s really going on inside and around us. We can then use our will and the Creator’s help to train our heart and mind to show compassion for our self and all living things. Finally we can develop the habit of co-operating, not competing, with all the living beings we encounter in our daily life. Through the complete use of all parts of our being, balancing our doing and being, and working to satisfy our partners needs as well as our own, we can and will create a life of balance and harmony. That’s just how the universe wants it!

May what we want and what the Creator knows we need both be the same. Michael Greenstein, wholistic educator

Many of us are trying to eat right, exercise regularly, and think positive thoughts but we still don’t feel complete or whole. We seem to say and do all the right things but there is still something missing!

That missing something could be a rich variety of spiritual experiences that come through a healthy spiritual practice.

Wholistic living is about using all parts of who we are; body, mind, and spirit. Without the spiritual part our life can feel empty, meaningless, and incomplete . No amount of clever thoughts and material success can replace the meaningful impact of an active spiritual life.

What is a spiritual practice? It’s something that gives us inner peace, self awareness, and guidance in a way that our ordinary thinking, feeling, and physical actions alone can’t provide.

What the best spiritual practice to follow? Can’t and won’t say. That’s depends on our own individual path in life and is a personal matter between each of us and our Creator.

The only thing I can say with some certainty is friends; if we ain’t got soul … we ain’t whole! Michael

So why are some people spelling wholism without the “w”, i.e. “holism”. Here are some possible reasons:

1. they’re new and don’t have a deep understanding of what wholism is about

2. they saw others spelling it that way and sheepishly went along (that’s baa’d)

3. they did some research and found that the “holism” spelling is more “popular”.

4. they couldn’t care less about wholistic living, they’re just selling their product or service and their attention is on their sales pitch, not the trivial details.

While this whole spelling business might seem trivial to you, consider this. Most of us like to deal with people who know what they’re doing, like what they’re doing, and appreciate the real value in what they’re doing.

I would suggest to you those who can’t even get the spelling right may not be the ideal people to provide high quality wholistic services. Look for those who are truly wholehearted about what they’re doing. To all those involved in the wholistic movement mainly for material gain I ask you to consider what the hippies used to say, “don’t touch what you can’t feel”. Michael

In a materialistic society like ours every idea, person, animal, plant, and material object is treated as a potential commodity that can be bought and sold in the marketplace. Some of the worst examples of this are women’s bodies, pets and live animals, spiritual practices, plant and human dna, etc.

At some point a group of us have to start resisting this materialistic approach and say “enough, there are certain things in life that should not be for sale in the marketplace!”

I believe wholism is one of them. It’s principles and practices present a powerful model for 21^st century living that encourages co-operation with and respect for all forms of life. Let’s not lessen it’s impact by transforming it into just another marketing gimmick for selling soap! Michael