Our Destiny of Wholeness
by David Richo
 Life has meaning to the extent that we are moving toward wholeness, our true purpose and destiny. More and more in the self-help movement, we are realizing that a truly healthy person is someone who is virtuous too. For instance, to have self-esteem is a psychological accomplishment. But without humility, a virtue that results from spiritual practice, it is simply decorative and not authentically and deeply instilled. Psychological work does not motivate us toward loving-kindness, toward a refusal to retaliate, or even toward integrity in our business dealings. For those virtues we need a spiritual consciousness that complements our psychological work.
On the other hand, spiritual practice does not help us process, grieve, and heal our childhood issues. For example, we can sit in meditation regularly and practice mindfulness, but we may still resent our parents for neglect or abuse, or even worse, act out on others as our parents acted toward us. A spiritually aware person is one who has learned to acknowledge and work with his or her unresolved issues, dark side, and inflated ego. Meditation is not sufficient to deal with all of this. Psychological tools provide state-of-the-art—and necessary—help.
Indeed, such integration assists us so much in the fulfillment of our life purpose: the enlightened moment of letting light through so that everyone can experience love through us. An unconditional and mindful yes to what is arouses us to activate and expand our threefold potential: personal, spiritual, and transpersonal. Thus, a whole person is one who works on psychological issues, engages in spiritual practice, and is imbued with a sense of oneness with the universe.
Psychologically
To say yes to our personal psychological development is to engage in the work it takes to build a healthier ego, that is, a healthier way of functioning in the world.
If we have not succumbed to a life of hate, despair, or spite, we have survived the buffets of childhood and adulthood quite victoriously so far. Psychological health is a combination of thought and action in the world that keeps us evolving. It is, first of all, the key to a self-esteem that brings both serenity and happiness. Second, psychological health means effective relationships in which it becomes possible to love without fear...
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Copyright Dave Richo, Ph.D. This article was
originally
published at our website, SoulfulLiving.com,
in Winter 2006,
as part of our "Life's Deeper Meaning" Issue.
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