What is Radical Wholeness?

Radical Wholeness is a liberated state of emotional and spiritual well-being that goes beyond the ego. It's an undivided life filled with peace, passion, purpose, power and presence. It’s a fully integrated way of living with mind, heart, will and soul all working in concert with Spirit for a higher purpose that serves life. It’s an inner state of being where no part of you is in conflict with any other part of you or the world. It's an inner union of Spirit and soul, masculine and feminine, and individual uniqueness with Universal Oneness. It is a way of living where you are fully alive and present to the real world.

Radical Wholeness is about moving beyond the ego's need to either suppress or impress and towards the soul (or essence) simple desire to connect and express. It's an experience and awareness, deep in your bones, that you are both deeply at peace and radically alive. You have both an expanded and intimate relationship with the Universe as well as a deep and sensual relationship with Life. You are fulfilling your unique purpose in life while knowing that their is nothing that you are required to do in order to be Whole. You have a felt sense of both depth (soul or essence) and expansion (spirit or authentic expression) You notice an ever deepening connection with your soul and expansion of your spirit - the BLISS of your own BEING.

Each of us possesses a CORE WOUND that is calling to be healed and a CORE PURPOSE that is calling to be fulfilled.  Living a life of Radical Wholeness begins with healing the past and learning to express our authentic gifts for a unique purpose in the present.

My personal experience of beginning to live this life of Radical Wholeness is more peace, passion, purpose, power and presence accompanied by moments of extreme bliss with along with a slightly broken heart from all the suffering and separation in the world.

Six Main Principles of Radical Wholeness

1. Feel it all as deeply and fully as you are able.

When we can feel our feelings of sadness without the sadness overwhelming us, our heart opens to a greater, deeper and more expanded joy. When we can fully experience our fear without the fear overtaking us, we connect with a greater, deeper and more expanded since of peace. When we can learn to acknowledge and consciously express our anger without the anger being destructive or overtaking us we experience a greater, deeper and more expanded since of our authentic power.

2. Question everything with a sincere heart through the lens of strength and love, particularly the beliefs that you've accepted about yourself, others and the world until you get to love.

Our thoughts are not a reliable source for interpreting what is true - about ourselves, others or reality. However, our ability to question everything, all the way to love, is our minds most valuable resource on your path towards Radical Wholeness.

3. Resist nothing.

“What ever we resist persists. Yet whatever we have the courage to fully face, feel and embrace becomes grace!

When we can find a way to stop resisting and fully accept even the most unacceptable parts of ourselves, our "inner critic" and mind chatter becomes dramatically quieter. We then begin to find ourselves miraculously able to not only accept ourselves and others more fully but to see, sense and feel the Divinity in ourselves, others and even what we once perceived as the most unacceptable aspects of life. This is the essence of the Radical Wholeness Process.

4. Embrace the reality of uncertainty.

The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus stated “there is nothing permanent but change.” Whenever we argue with reality, reality always wins. Reality is our ultimate Guru. When we able to honestly observe and accept the reality that there is nothing permanent but change, we can begin to accept the impermanence of all life and be creatively and fully alive in the present.

When we fully embrace the reality of uncertainty from the depth of our being, our attention naturally turns toward the preciousness of all of life. Our heart is set on fire to express our unique individual gifts in the world for a purpose that we feel is a mighty one and is in service to life and the conscious evolution of our planet. In living this way, there are no ordinary moments!

5. Move beyond the limits of your ego to know the limitlessness of your Essence.

Know that in our true nature-our deepest self we are more than our separate ego. In our Essence, we each are a uniquely authentic part of the whole-the whole of existence, not separate from but connected to every part and particle that has ever existed and ever will.

6. Express your gifts in an authentic way for a unique purpose that contributes to the healing and conscious evolution of our planet.

Life has entrusted each of us with a unique set of strengths and gifts. It is our soul purpose to be good stewards of the gifts that we've been given. How? By combing these gifts with our life circumstances, including all our victories and defeats, pain and challenges overcome to discover a unique life story with contribution to make and purpose to fulfill. If we don't discover it and express it in this lifetime, the world will never have it. 
 
Living Radically Whole provides a deep since of freedom and fulfillment that naturally gives rise to a life defined by peace, passion, purpose, power and presence, what we call the 5P's.

Saying ”yes” to all of Life, meeting it fully and authentically while accepting it's duality of; light and dark, good and bad and things going the way that I like and not going the ways that I like. In the most practical terms from a Radical Wholeness perspective, Radical acceptance means accepting everything without judgment or blame, resisting nothing, attempting as best as we can to live in an undefended way, and managing our contractions. What does managing our contractions mean? It means first; paying attention to the felt sense in your body whenever you find yourself resisting something and second; regularly checking in with yourself to sense if you can detect any of those feelings of resistance This will help you get familiar with what resistance feels like. Once you detect resistance you recognize it as a contraction and, if you choose, you can fallow the steps of Radical Embrace that will be discussed in a moment.

When we choose to fully embrace the both the “ups” and “downs” of life, we honor and give reverence to Life. (All resistance is an innocent, yet fundamentally a rejection of Life) Life expresses her gratitude for accepting her fully without blame, judgment or bargaining (when I do, then I'll be happy/successful/secure) with BLISS.

Our human experience of life will always include a balance of perceived “positive” and “negative,” (emotional expansions and emotional contractions) and Therefore the more we are able to say YES to all of Life including our contractions (negatively perceived emotions), allowing them to teach us and to deepen us, while resisting Life less and less, the more that we find ourselves naturally and often spontaneously available to the deep feeling of BLISS within our own being.

“The more we feel, the more we love. And the more we love, the more love becomes us” -Raphael Cushnir

Radical Embrace

The courage and willingness to embrace and feel Life fully; to relate to all of our emotions including the uncomfortable ones (emotional contractions). In the same way that a compassionate parent holds small children, with love and acceptance, letting them know that they are safe.

We can be the kind of parents that we most wanted to have or to be, to our own feelings, celebrating our “wins” while providing compassion, encouragement and finding the lesson in our “loses. Unfelt feelings never die or go away. Paradoxically, unfelt and un- integrated feelings are the source of our deepest pain and feelings of separateness. Feeling is healing. What we resist persists.

When a feeling arises that takes us out of our center, we ask ourselves three questions:

1. What is happening with me right now (without any story or analysis)

2. Can I be with this completely?

3. Am I willing to be with this fully, completely and for as long as it takes, right now?

If so, after taking some time, perhaps five minutes or so of being with the feeling without blame or judgment, ask the feeling that you are sitting with to fully express itself while you listen, feel and be as present as you can to this expression of this feeling. How do you know when you've set with my feeling for long enough? You check in with yourself and notice that you are feeling more expanded than contracted and moving towards your natural state of BLISS.

Radical Responsibility

The ability to respond, creatively, resourcefully and whole to any situation that life gives us. The old paradigm for responsibly was rooted in “the god of fear” and implies, to some degree, being the victim of an obligation.

How many times did we hear, particularly as children, “It's your responsibility.” How often do we as adults say and/or hear, “I just have to many responsibilities” So, when many of us (including me) hear the word "responsibility," our first reaction is experienced as a contraction in our bodies. The message of the god of love is that we have the power and ability to choose how we respond to any situation life gives us.

Results equal intentions (conscious or unconscious) The results that we witness reflect and tell us what our true intentions are. In other words…notice the results in your Life or reality of a current situation. Then, begin inquiring into the question; “what was my unconscious intention that helped to create this situation.

Every time that we feel a” charge” about someone or their behavior, this is always a signal that there is a disowned part of ourselves that we have resisted acknowledging in ourselves and feel the feelings associated with recognizing and accepting this part of ourselves. This is our “shadow” and like the Phantom of the Opera; it will not go un noticed!.

Conscious Drama

If we do not consciously create and choose our drama for ourselves, our programmed need for drama will unconsciously choose us

Can you recall a time when things were going really well? Your work and/or your primary relationship was “smooth sailing,” yet you noticed a funny feeling, perhaps subtle, that felt like something was missing or you were maybe a little bored. The drama was missing

Many of us had childhoods that were filled with “drama.” Our home environment may have included fighting, yelling, abuse, addictions, money problems, serious accidents or sickness, or perhaps frequently moving residences. Even though we probably experienced these things as negative and possibly traumatic, wishing and praying that they would never happen again, they were also stimulating and produced a fight or flight survival response within us along with a hyper state of awareness. Interestingly, our nervous system relates to fear and excitement in the manner. It doesn't know the difference!

So, as we grow towards greater wholeness and gain the ability to choose to act more and more often from our “higher selves”, it is highly responsible of us to be aware of our conscious or unconscious need for drama, that is very much alive within our “lower selves”

If we grew up in a home with “unconscious drama” we will tend to recreate it in our adult lives. There is an unconscious need for stimulation that is “hard wired” from our early childhood experiences that hungers to be meet. We have a choice to meet that need through “conscious drama”. This could be anything that gives that has an element of the unpredictable and provides a feeling of adventure, excitement or being a little “on the edge.”

We chose our drama consciously so that our drama doesn't choose us

Radical Authenticity

Every thought and feeling that we may have at anytime wants to and deserves to be acknowledged with compassion and curiosity, not necessarily out loud but to ourselves: the inner Mother and Father within us. Being willing to put every part of our lives on a billboard for everyone to see.

Parts of ourselves: We recognize that there are “different parts” within each of us. We give each part a voice to be acknowledged without judgment, even if the different “parts” contradict each other.

Anything expressed from love is LOVE. Anything withheld from fear is FEAR, and is ultimately destructive.

Radical Gratitude

The willingness to choose to see the miracle of Life and our participation in it a privilege and adventure. Einstein said, “Nothing in the universe is a miracle…or everything is. I choose the latter.”

In the spirit of and in honor of Albert Einstein, how can we recognize the MIRACLE in every moment of our lives?

Human beings cannot be in a state of appreciation and a state of depression, sadness or anger or “contracted” emotion at the same moment in time. So, Say “Thank you” often, show sincere appreciation wherever you can and feel genuine gratitude for what we have.

KOAN……Is it better to want what you have or have what you want?

It is wiser to want what you have then to have what you want. If you have what you want but don't want what you have you are not whole. If you want (honor, value, appreciate, take care of and enhance) what you have then you are Whole. Fierce and Radical Wholeness looks for the perfection that lies beyond our ego's conditioning in each person, place, event or thing.

Radical Transcendence

Trance-endence…We gradually end the trance of repeating our unhealthy childhood patterns by recognizing the “pay offs” that we get from to indulging in those patterns. We begin to see how continuing these early-formed patterns help us in avoiding responsibility for the power and freedom that we have as adults.

We become true children of the Father of the Universe-and Mother of Life.

We have come to clearly recognize the gifts within our woundedness and USE our past as teachers, resources and inspirations so that our past doesn't USE us.

Radical Purpose

Each of us has a unique and sacred purpose…something that can only be contributed to the world, in our unique way by us. If we don' share it, the world will never have it.

Our Soul's Purpose is discovered in the internal landscape within of our individual Souls where our unique gifts and passions intersect with the needs of the world and somehow resonate with our individual life challenges.

Radical Presence

Being in a state of appreciation for what is so and what is being asked of us by Life, without any personal agenda or “in order to”, while consciously noticing and giving up any need to feel: safe, understood, right, powerful, in control, loved, appreciated, wise, insightful or spiritual.

Radical Faith

Loving Life more than fearing death, while always remaining aware of the reality of death (at least in this physical form) just over our shoulder, always staring and always there to remind us to live this day as if it were our last.

The deeper our authentic faith, the less we need belief systems to lean on and inform us about what is right and wrong and how we should be or not be in order to feel safe. The more we grasp on to a particular ideal the less faith that we actually have. Moreover, the more intimately connected to life that we feel, the more trust that we have and therefore the less that we live in a state of fear. Our fundamental “need to believe" is rooted in our unwillingness to “Be With” our uncertainty. Yet, Life is uncertain. The one thing that is certain is uncertainty! One of the fundamental principles of quantum physics is Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.

There is nothing permanent but change.

Heraclitus

Radical Faith arises spontaneously and organically as a radiant essence inside us. This essence knows its intimate connection with life and the cosmos and becomes our reality when we have the courage to meet life fully and feel the truth of our uncertainty as well as our possibility. We then begin to dance with Life in love rather than march through life in fear.

There is wisdom to what I refer to as “conscious ignorance.” Conscious ignorance recognizes an ever-evolving god and universe. Although informed by the wisdom of the ages as well as the latest scientific knowledge, the attitude of conscious ignorance also recognizes the contamination of our recorded history by the personal and power based “agendas”. We declare nothing as truth without it being validated by our own personal experience. Fierce and Radical Faith is taking the risk of living from the depth of one's own being and experience of Life, trusting first and foremost the inner wisdom that resides deep within our own individual Souls.

"To know is ignorant. Not to know is the beginning of wisdom."

J. Krishnamurti, Indian Sage and Philosopher

Guest House

This being human is a guesthouse.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, meanness
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight. 
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
 Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
—Rumi

 

Faith

I said to my soul be still
And let it be the stillness of god
Wait without hope
For hope would be for the wrong thing
Wait without love
Because love would be of the wrong thing
There is still love and hope and faith
But the faith is in the waiting
Wait without thought
For you are not ready for thought
And the darkness shall become the light
And the stillness, the dancing.
—T.S. Elliot