BEING ALONE TOGETHER PART 2
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From: Michael E.
Date: Friday, September 21, 2007, 6:51 PM
Subject: Being Alone Together Part 2
Reply to: 261079
ID: 258550

dearJonathan

Thank you for these informative, powerful quotes. I really feel they express also, the essence of integral healing. If the healeris at one with themselves and is also aware of the other within the context of the interiority and solitude of their Soul there is a degree of protection for the healer, as well as the empowerment, of the other.

So many healers and doctors become burnt out and drained there is a high incidence of stress disorders and depression in general practice-- -- more so in psychiatry.50% of general practitioners in Australia have been victims of threatened violence or physical violence.

The doctors, Ibelieve, become burnt out as they see, often the person before them as being an aspect of them and not of the other.

The emotional system of the human psyche works in undefined ways as the subconscious has no real understanding of the distinction between what is within and what is without.

To make the distinction within the silence of the soul, enables the healer to deal with their emotional body without being threatened, or even attacked by the emotional body of the needy, even desperate client and patient.

Namaste

Michael

Sep 21, 2007, Jonathan Stemer wrote ---

Here are the passages from, A Hidden Wholeness by Parker Palmer on " circles of trust, " and " being alone together."

" ...the circle itself is focused on inward and invisible powers. Its singular purpose is to support the inner journey of each person in the group, to make each soul feel safe enough to show up and speak its truth, to help each person listen to his or her inner teacher..." (A Hidden Wholeness, p. 54)

" In a circle of trust, we practice the paradox of ' being alone together,' of being present to one another as a ' community of solitudes.' Those phrases sound like contradictions because we think of solitude and community as either-or. But solitude and community, rightly understood, go together as both-and. To understand true self-which knows who we are in our inwardness and whose we are in the larger world-we need both the interior intimacy that comes with solitude and the otherness that comes with community." (A Hidden Wholeness, p. 54)

" If we are to hold solitude and community together as true paradox, we need to deepen our understanding of both poles. Solitude does not necessarily mean living apart from others; rather, it means never living apart from one's self. It is not about the absence of other people-it is about being fully present to ourselves, whether or not we are with others. Community does not necessarily mean living face-to-face with others; rather, it means never losing the awareness that we are connected to each other. It is not about the presence of other people-it is about being fully open to the reality of relationship, whether or not we are alone." (A Hidden Wholeness, p. 54)

" When we understand solitude and community in these ways, we also understand what it means to create a circle of trust-a space between us that is hospitable to the soul, a community of solitudes where we can be alone together. " ( A Hidden Wholeness, pp. 55-56)

Om Shanti,

Jonathan

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