Spiritual Integration
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Emotional integration is an important part of true spiritual integration. To pursue a spiritual life without including work on our emotional recovery can lead ultimately to forms of spiritual distortion and self abuse or spiritual abuse of others that we witness today and throughout history. Spiritual integration is a path of openness to the unfolding truth of being that is always greater than our minds’ or egos’ narrow labels and categories. It is an openness to the infinite dimensions of being that may express themselves practically in a life that is full, open, loving and generous. It is not about attachment to dogmas, but about an openness to mystery that may continually redefine our experience of what it means to be alive and to be a human being. It allows for an evolving sense of union with life and with each other that is an antidote to the rigidities, greed, hatreds, and prejudices that destroy our world.
Such spiritual integration is at the non-dogmatic heart of all the great spiritual traditions. It combines a deliberate cultivation of positive and life-nourishing impulses of thought and behavior with a contemplative awareness or devotional openness that transcends and imbues all our habits of thought and action with higher understanding and love.
Spiritual and emotional healing complement each other and have proven to have a profound impact on our energetic health and on the health of the body as well. Hence, our teaching and therapeutic work at The Whole Health Center, both one-on-one and in groups, reflects this spiritual context. It offers a strong foundation in the psychology of spiritual transformation – processes of meditation, visualization, and contemplative awareness; of self-observation, self-responsibility, and self-surrender – that are not divorced from the practical and emotional truths of everyday life.
We are also committed to promoting and supporting True Heart/True Mind, the residential spiritual retreat offered by Paul several times a year for the last forty years.
This intensive retreat process schools people deeply in the practices of contemplative awareness and authentic communication. It has long proved its capacity to promote self-realization and personal and spiritual growth, and is integral to the mission of The Whole Health Center.