The journey to wholeness is a new direction for many of us to consider. When I launched the Life Puzzle model as a framework for wholeness back in the mid 1990s, I did so with the awareness that most of us grew up without ever being shown wholeness as an option for designing one’s life. One of the first tools I developed was the Wholeness Continuum. It’s a tool that helps a person see where they are on the pathway to wholeness. And for most, seeing this Continuum is their first view that wholeness is even something to aspire to. But once shown, most people get excited about this potential!
One day while discussing this in a Life Puzzle group, we were exploring the Wholeness Continuum relative to the 0-5 reactive, unconscious vs. the 6-10, proactive, conscious. I was saying that 80% of us lean towards the 0-5 side of the Wholeness Continuum in part because we grow up in a world that tends to be reactive, encourages us to do what other people do and and tends to punish us if we challenge the status quo. Wholeness however is all about challenging the status quo and transforming old patterns into new pathways that will enable us to become more proactive than reactive. Only about 20% of people are ready to take on that challenge and so as a world we remain 0-5, reactive/unconscious of wholeness.
I think for many people when they realize that yes, they do operate their lives on the 0-5 reactive side, it can be upsetting. But I always point out to them that all the systems they grew up in—schools, businesses, families and even religious institutions tend to reinforce this reactive, unconscious pattern. Wholeness is about recognizing this and beginning to question these systems and seeing where they could change. Yes, systems can and do change and that’s where we are right now—beginning to evolve our systems in ways that will help us shift to the 6-10 proactive, conscious side of the Continuum and build our wholeness.
Somehow our conversation popped to exploring religion and one person commented that even something as simple as the Ten Commandments could be a place to start this transition. The fact that the Ten Commandments have been around for at least 2500 years, we discussed how they too might need to evolve. As one member said—if you look at them, eight of the Ten Commandments come from the more reactive/negative and just two come from the more proactive/positive side. That led us to ask ourselves “Well, what if we rewrote the Ten Commandments from this new view of encouraging the proactive/positive behaviors instead of the reactive/negative side?” One member decided to take this on as a project and bring it back to the group.
This is what she came up with:
- You are my God and only one (or thing) for life. (I am the Lord your God and you shall not have strange gods before me)
- Please respect My Name forever (You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain)
- Keep holy the Lord’s day and always*
- Honor your mother and your father *
- Respect the life of everyone and everything that God loves. (Thou shall not kill)
- Remember your vows of faithfulness to your spouse forever. (You shall not commit adultery)
- What belongs to someone else is not yours and thank God for what you already have. (You shall not steal)
- Respect your neighbor in every way especially at all times be it their house, apartment, city, country, state, etc. (You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor)
- Exchange for another spouse spells injustice for the one you already have. (You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife)
- 10.Be glad with the goods you already have instead of always dreaming for what others have. (You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods)
*these two come from the positive.
You can see how in their original form they are teaching us to approach life more from a negative, fear-based voice while what she re-wrote brings it from the positive, loved-based voice. If you think back on when you were a child and being exposed to the Ten Commandments—if you had seen the new version instead of the old—do you think it would have changed your approach to how you lived your life? If the Ten Commandments had always been written from this new view, would that have set a up the world long ago to be more proactive and conscious about the systems it created. Hypothetical question, obviously, but one worth thinking about!
Today many of the world’s religions have come to recognize that it is the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have done unto you, that is emerging as the update for the Ten Commandments. And certainly the Golden Rule far more reflects the 6-10, proactive, conscious way of living life. When you “do unto others”, it reinforces that as you recognize and build your own wholeness, it is what you want for others as well. In this way, we leave behind the old reactive patterns of fear of harming our fellow man by stealing, killing, or adultery and we replace with a new pattern of knowing that you and everyone you meet is on a journey to wholeness and as you build yours you can support others in theirs. A visible shift from 0-5 to 6-10.
The Ten Commandments continue to hold sway over our world. They are visible in courthouses, churches and even some businesses post them. All of this reflects that 80% of us are still living 0-5. The Golden Rule is well known but it is not as obvious and somewhat reflects the reality that only about 20% of us are living the 6-10.
And so today, take stock of which of these ideas reflect how you live and how you approach your own journey to wholeness. Can you use this as a way to become more conscious, proactive and whole?