"The Total Package"

There used to be a time when time and resources were so scarce, that any one person, could only hope to be proficient at one thing -- even and especially at the expense of all other things.  In such a world, one might be a good breadwinner, but also be the worst person in the world -- to achieve that.  

The idea that any one person, could be all things, or as complete a person as they were capable of being, was such an alien concept, that anyone suggesting such a thing, was thought to be suffering from delusions of grandeur -- or at the least, be unaware of their shortcomings and inadequacies, and probably repressing and denying them -- to make themselves "look good."  A few thought it sufficient, just to look good, or to control the image others had of them -- even if it meant "false and deceptive advertising."

All that mattered, was getting the other(s), to buy what they were selling -- even if there was no actuality or substance behind it (the claims).  That was notably and distinctively, the 20th century mind(set) -- of everyone being less than a whole person in themselves, as the ultimate realization of society as an mass manufacture assembly line.  In such a society, each individual, could only do one thing -- repetitiously, and unvaryingly -- until they themselves broke down from that mechanical repetition.  Then younger, more nimble hands would replace them.

But what became of the old and weary?  More often than not, they just continued in their downward spiral of disintegration and deterioration -- but were compensated for their years of service with pensions sufficient to keep them alive.  But other than that, there were no guarantees of "happily forever after."  For that, each was left to their own designs -- and fates.

At that point, many begin to fail -- even when all things may be as equal as they will ever be.  That happens because life is more than just about "making money" -- but reveals itself as the sum and totality of the whole -- and not just one part, no matter how disproportionately expressed and developed relative to the whole.  It is the whole -- and balance, that gets them to where they want to go, and be.  Many realize that too late, while others never realize that at all -- and the is the reason for their underlying sense of incompleteness and incomprehension -- that makes life seem endlessly more difficult and hopeless -- even when they thought they were on the verge of utter triumph and vindication -- in the one sliver of their focus and preoccupation.  Meanwhile, the world was collapsing around them.

Then we read about such lives in their spectacular dissolution -- that invariably, most did not see coming -- because they too, were focused on only one parameter of their activities, and not the whole of that life.  When that is finally seen and understood, then it all makes sense -- and nothing else was possible. We cannot infer the whole from the part, but necessarily have to see the whole as the whole -- and not selectively repress and deny what we like, and see only what we want.

That has been a problem for as long as people have thought they knew something worth knowing -- and distinguished themselves above the others -- as God's chosen few.  Reality and actuality, has no such separations and fragmentations -- into those who know, and those who do not -- as many are wont to do.  That creates the difficulties of their lives -- the artificial and arbitrary divisions, making the transition from one to another, difficult and impossible.  Each individual, is the totality of the whole, as the indivisible -- of the good and bad, the knowledgeable from the ignorant -- and embracing that acknowledgement, is the comprehension of the whole -- and not the continued endless arguments of the parts -- thinking they are the solution to anything.

Thus it is said, "Those who know, do not talk; those who talk, do not know."