The Elements of Our Wholeness
Consider for a moment what the natural world around you is made of.
Imagine or look at the sun, the sky, trees, a brook, or a rock. See them or hear them as vividly as you can.
The Earth, the Sun, and little bit of cosmic dust created a beautiful offspring we call life.
And through millions of years of evolution, we humans have emerged from our natural environment. It would make all the sense in the world to me, that our physical existence would in some form represent what we are part of; the nature around us.
Imagine that your body carries inside it the elements of nature: the earth, the air, the water, and the fire. The ancient Eastern cultures intuitively understood this. That’s how I too came to see nature’s counterparts inside human beings. The air is the representative of our mind and intellect, the water as our emotional and creative energy, the earth as our physical body, and the fire as our spiritual essence.
Imagine your thoughts floating in the sky of your mind right now as if they were resting on the clouds that are changing shapes and colours endlessly. Welcome the air element inside you. Although, my hunch is that you may feel at times a bit tormented by your thoughts. And tell me where I am wrong.
When was the last time you felt joy in your heart or felt frustration with a project or a person in your life? Did you notice how this experience might have left you either with either a huge smile on your face or tension inside your shoulders or abdomen?
As long as we have a human brain, we process emotions because we are biologically designed to do so. And our emotions are the human version of the water element since emotions have the ability to flow through us like water; and sometimes maybe even flood us. Remember what your last overwhelm felt like?
Now consider the fire element in nature. It’s powerful, no doubt about that. The fire, in its human form is what gives us the spark, the energy, the meaning in our life. It may be that burning feeling inside you that takes you into the realm of your wildest imagination and dreams, and has the power to guide you to build something much bigger than yourself.
When it comes to your physical body, it is well defined and the most solid of your elements. It represents the earth in us. It allows water to flow through, it absorbs the heat, and it connects to the sky. Our body allows our thoughts and feelings to meet deep inside our physical tissues. Did you ever notice how worrying may hurt inside your shoulders or your neck?
And what happens when you can observe your body, your emotions, your inner fire, and your thoughts? You simply become the space that holds everything around you and inside you. This is the element that brings us all to our true home; to peace and to feeling whole.
I truly believe that wholeness is one of the most incredible journeys we can choose to take in our life.
During the next two weeks, I will explore what fragmentation of our elements does, and how we can change the course back toward wholeness.
Click here to read last week's blog post "Why Neuroplasticity is Also a Wholeness Concept."