"How do you make six halves out of one
whole? Well?" And so, similar questions plague us.
Entelechy* keeps us at thinking about it. (Yes,
it's a Greek complexity.) According to some, the degree of entelechy (an innate
drive) determines a person's potential, or not. We are of a mind not to yield,
not to give up, always to progress, or not. (And no, perseverance here is not
'obsessive-compulsiveness'; it is more about determination and endurance.) Most
of us, it is deemed, simply accept the acculturation and habits of our
forefathers (or mothers). We are not innately driven toward more insight.
Rather, we give more energy to acquisition. Awards, trophies, products, and
even Enlightenment is seen as an attainment. More is better! And the more
readily we give our energy toward any given product the more readily we may be
seen as one who 'makes the most' of himself. (Herself too). Thing is, entelechy
has more to it than that. It is an integrative-force. (Some have called it a soul-force.) And controversial as it
is, it enlivens our life, all our lives, known or not.
Metaphorically, we may be adjudged to be a
Volkswagen, Porsche, Chevy, or perhaps a Pontiac. (Rolls Royces, we learn, may
not be all they're cut up to be). Thing is, some say one can only hope to be
the very best vehicle within which the stuff of ourselves is made. (And here
the analogy falters, seriously: A real Volkswagen cannot wish itself into being a Jaguar.) Then too, vehicles eventually die. They
go to scrap heaps and mayhap get amalgamated, refined, and may even reappear on
the roads in altogether a different form. Some older vehicles are nourished and
protected and safe-guarded and valued. But most have a predictable life-span. Yet most, even as old rust-heaps, remain recognizable. Humans too can alter
shape, change engines, disregard traffic regulations, and are not confined to
being one brand over the course of their lifetime. At least, certainly not all
humans.
Outliers are defined as those who noticeably
differ from the norm. Take Paul McCartney. At 73 he gave a concert that went
seamlessly for over two and a half hours last night [April 19th]. The Vancouver Rogers Arena
crowd of a staggering 16,000 people was thrilled. Tonight he does the same. He
has what the New Yorker calls, 'resilience'. ** It is that quality that allows
some individuals more easily to surmount their difficulties. And they do these
things not so much with the help from friends and family, and even others, but
with the inner fortitude of survival stamped so deeply within that it is as
though they retain all the competitiveness of the atavistic sperm of their origins;
they will make it! The best they can be! (**A link to the 'resilience' article
is below.)
But here's where the 'kind of car we are'
analogy really breaks down. It's not just survival, but familial bonding,
egocentricity, socialisms, ambitions, and globalism that drives some of us
toward higher and higher predominant proclivities. In other words, we tend
toward operating generally from one of those hierarchical paradigms (let alone
predominantly acting from a paradigm of Integrative Enlightenment). And so, if
we keep with the concept that we're bicycles or scooters or motorbikes, let
alone lorries, or taxis, or buses, we can easily be dismissive at seeing
another in what we see as their 'active construct'. We may assert inherent
limitations on their innate potential. Sadly, so may we also limit ourselves!
We give up on our interests, waste our passions, or distract ourselves with the
side-streets and window-shoppings of life. How to go from being "just a
Mini" to becoming a Maserati? ("And why bother?" the bell-curve
begs.)
We are divisible, top from bottom, left from
right, front from back; that's six halves of one whole. (And so on.) But there's more. We're
so multi-faceted as to be an amalgamation of very many experiences and insights
and potentialities. Our inner resilience, our determination to do for ourselves
yet more than that which has been done unto us, or for us, is the very stuff of
a limitless entelechy. It is the inner
stuff that invigorates us when we're tested, rather than it enervating our
sense of individuality; that's entelechy. (And if you've read this far, you're
more than half interested! Ha!)
* Entelechy: Linda Silverman's Counseling The Gifted & Talented, pp. 44-46
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