Healing and Wholeness.

Healing and Wholeness by John A. Sanford

I REALLY need to tell you about this book.

I would say that it has changed my life, however the contents in the book changed my life before I even picked up the book from the free shelf at the library.  What this book has done is explain to me what I already know about my s
piritual growth in terms that are definable.

You see, although this book was written decades before Deepak Chopra became a household name, he describes almost everything I learned from Deepak's book: The Shadow Effect.

The main reason I am in love with this book is because it gives me the terminology to express the Shadow in terms that are definable.  Although I am grateful for the popularity of New Age philosophy and its loose terminology, the wording, unfortunately does not lend itself to be understood by extremely rational and sometimes skeptical minds (i.e. my husband).

Health and Wholeness explains spiritual development with psychology.  The author, John A. Sanford was a Jungian Psychologist as well as an Episcopal Priest.  His premise is that in order to be healthy, one must be whole (more specifically on the path to wholeness because one can never reach complete wholeness in a lifetime).  He also makes a great point, saying society cannot be the entity that determines if someone is healthy/whole, because society itself may be sick.  Therefore, statements like "He is well-adjusted." does not say anything about one's health.

Neither is "peace of mind" a measure of health.  The transition to wholeness requires discomfort and uneasiness.  And for spiritual healers, it requires extreme discomfort and unease - sometimes life-threateningly so.

Here are a few quotes from the book I'd like to share:

"The center of consciousness is the ego, the "I" part of us that does the willing, suffering, choosing in life; the part of us which we are most immediately aware". pg 5

"For psychological healing to occur there must be a relationship between the ego and the forces of the unconscious. This relationship is achieved primarily through becoming conscious of the contents of the unconscious." pg. 93

"Thus wholeness results in the reorganization of the personality on a higher, more developed level.  Since this kind of growth can never be achieved without the death of the old state of consciousness, there is inevitably, in every instance in which someone begins to become whole, a considerable measure of pain and suffering" pg.93

"We find ourselves rejecting the unconscious as the origin of dark things, especially if we possess a one-sided Christian consciousness that insists upon absolute goodness, and cannot tolerate the ambiguous and paradoxical side to wholeness" pg. 101

As you can see, this book is an absolute gem. I plan to read it a couple more times.   P.S. You can get it from Amazon for 1 penny (plus 3.99 shipping)!  <- I am not making any money off of this link. I just think it's great. <3.