LESSON 3: DEVELOPING THE WHOLE PERSON

(Holistic Development and Its Various Aspect)

OBJECTIVES:

♦ Discuss the relationship
among physiological, cognitive,
psychological, spiritual and
social development in
developing the whole person.
♦ Differentiate Holism and
Gestalt theory.
♦ Appreciate the relationship
among the various aspects of
holistic development.
Man as a multifaceted being, is essentially a whole person at first
breath of life. In the course of time, we begin to see life as becoming
complex, if not hard. Our growing number of activities starts to divide our
attention and fragment our life like a pizza cut into pieces. Ideally, each
part of our life deserves equal share of our attention. But experience would
show that certain areas of life take the bigger share of the whole.
Consequently, this fragmented way of looking at things may lead
us to a divided self-wherein we tend to treat each component separately. If
a certain part of the body aches, we treat it with medicine. If we are sad or
hurting, we find ways to release emotions by way of crying or maybe
screaming. If we are losing hope, we pray ot seek guidance from others.

Such ways often work. But there are also cases when those experiences are related. As such, we need to
look into the totality of our experience and attend to the interconnectedness of the different sides of ourselves.
There are times when body pain is brought about by emotional stress. For example, you may feel heaviness n
your chest when emotionally hurt or exhausted. Have you ever felt cramps in your stomach when feeling jittery,
anxious or nervous? Some people even lose appetite or lose weight when faced with a lot of problem. Our
bodily experience reflects other sides of ourselves. How we think affects how we feel. And what we feel may
affect our body’s functioning. It may also turn around. If we are not physically well, or emotionally state may
also change. An illness can bring depression or change in behavior.

What Is Wholeness?

Wholeness, essentially, is an integral sense

of integration. The different aspects of the
individual-mental, emotional, physical, social and
spiritual-are in harmony or balanced. This harmony
or feeling of balance is important for self-esteem
and self-actualization. Wholeness is a
transcendental life goal. It is a lifelong pursuit.
Emeth and Greenhut (1991) wrote that we are all
pilgrims on a journey toward wholeness and
fullness of life. It is an ideal human goal given its
good implications to the total functioning of the
individual, as well as meaning to life.

Carl Jung (1875-1961) is one of the few classical thinkers and psychologist during his time who
seriously put forward the concept of wholeness in theory and practice. At that time, psychologists like Freud
were busy looking into instincts, while others were interested in understanding behaviors. For his part, Jung
recognized that man is essentially a whole being. Interestingly, he viewed life to have full of opposites-day and
night, happiness and sadness, birth and death etc. Looking at man, Jung significantly noticed the split in the
Self as well, and recognized the need to restore the fragmented pieces of Self in the hope of bringing out the
uniqueness of the individual. Man’s striving towards self-realization, awareness of one’s potentials and
recognition of personal uniqueness are ways to becoming whole. Simply put, wholeness is Jung’s definition of
psychological health and wellness. For Jung, wholeness is a unifying element of his psychology attained by way
of individuation process.

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 What is the so called individuation process? Singer (1972) detailed it in his book
Boundaries of the Soul;

…is a path to self-knowledge.

…moves along two tracks. The First is designed to help people recognize and fulfill their own unique
potentials. The second track requires differentiation from one’s environment.

…its ideal is the conscious realization and integration of all the possibilities contained within the
individual.

…allows people to find their own direction and live according to their own sense of purpose.

…offers a way toward restoring faith in themselves as they establish their own inner values.

What is Holistic Development?

The key phrase in this chapter that you have to pay attention to is whole person, emphasizing the
complete aspect of a person or his totality. In order to understand what it means to perceive a person as a whole
organism, we will discuss philosophical theories such as dualism and holism.

Mind and Body Dualism of Descartes

Rene Descartes, one of the modern philosophers of our time, influenced much of mankind’s thinking
with his theory of duality or understanding the nature of things in a simple, dual mode. Hence, you are familiar
with the separation of body and spirit in western religion, and of the mind and body in the study of human
sciences. People perceive things as dual in character.

More examples of these are the distinct male-female gender categorization or the yin and yang of eastern
thought, although western culture overemphasizes its either-or, black-white characteristics. This is contrary to
what eastern philosophers understand it to be- that there is dynamism between two forces in nature, and that
each force is present in each other and will never exists in its purest form. More examples can be thought to
illustrate this, such as good-bad, racial purity, life-death, and other points of view where things are taken in their
absolutes or extremes.

Holism and Gestalt

In 1926, General Jan C. Smuts a philosopher introduced the academic terminology for holism as “the
tendency in nature to form wholes which are greater than the sum of the parts through creative evolution.” This
is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “something that is made of many parts and yet is somehow more
than or different form the combination of its parts; broadly, the general quality of character of something.”

Earlier in 1890, a German philosopher and psychologist, Christian von Ehrehfels, and later on supported
by psychologists Max Wertheimer, Kurt Kuffka, and Wolfgang Kohler of the Berlin School, introduced the
concept of gestalt. This is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “something that is made of many parts
and yet is somehow more than or different from the combination of its parts; broadly, the general quality or
character of something”.

An example of holism and gestalt is evident in music. A symphony cannot be defined by one of its notes
alone. Even the clusters of sums of these different notes do not make up the whole symphony nor characterize
the whole symphony. The interaction and fusion of the different notes in a symphony produce something bigger
and greater than the notes themselves.

Another example is a car. A car is made up of hundreds of different parts. Separately, these parts do not
represent the car, but when put together and made to work with each other, these parts produce a new entity
entirely different from its parts.

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 The parallelism between a symphony, a car, and human in terms of being a unified entity follows the
principle of holism. In understanding humans, it is important to see the person in his entirely and not just
his parts.

THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF PERSON

When we consider a human person and what various aspects make up this complex
Organism, various aspects come to mind;

♦ PHYSIOLOGICAL or the physical attributes including the five physical senses.

♦ COGNITIVE or the intellectual functions of the mind: thinking, recognizing, reasoning, analyzing,
projecting, synthesizing, recalling and assessing.

♦ PSYCHOLOGICAL or how thinking, feeling and behaving interact and happen in a person.

♦ SOCIAL on the manner by which an individual interacts with other individuals or groups of
Individuals.

♦ SPIRITUAL or the attribute of a person’s consciousness and beliefs, including the values and virtues
that guide and put meaning into a person’s life.

♦ PHYSICAL points to the body and its functioning. This become the time when you become
conscious of your body and strive to be in good shape. Hence it is important that you
take good care of it and keep it well. Wellness should be a primary concern as you
grow, and as you head towards becoming the best that you can be.

When we look at a person and try to understand this individual, it is always good to consider these five
aspects and what it is about this person makes him or her unique from you and from others. Understanding a
person holistically means that one aspect cannot be seen in isolation from the whole person. For example, to
judge a person because of a behavior alone is not balanced. One must see how the interplay of all five aspects
occurs within an individual. This holistic approach in viewing a person is emphasized I education, medicine,
spiritual development, relationships, and in one person’s overall wellness.

A holistic perspective that sees man as a whole, unitary being agrees with the notion of equilibrium,
harmony or balance that man is striving to achieve. Probably, the concept closest to ordinary language is being
“complete and stable”. What will complete you? What will you fell stable?

At this time of your life, your studies hold great promise in realizing your dreams through the career
choice you make that aims for stability and achievement. To do so, it is imperative to strive developing the key
aspects of yourself; physical, cognitive, socio-emotional and spiritual. In the process, your thoughts, feelings
and behaviors should work together and reflect the changes that will mark your growth. In the end, the educated
mind should result to an ability to manage emotions and reflect good actions.

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 ACTIVITY 1: Instruction:
Self-Assessment Assess yourself honestly following the given set of questions.

1. PHYSICAL SELF. Describe your physical self 2. INTELLECTUAL SELF. Assess how will you
reason and solve problems, your capacity to learn
and create and have acquired wisdom and insights.

3. EMOTIOAL SELF. Write about the feelings that

you have, feelings that you tried to avoid and the feelings 4. NUTRITIONAL SELF. How do you
you especially enjoy. nourish yourself? What foods do you like and
dislike?

5. CONTEXTUAL SELF. Describe the kind of environment

you are currently living right now.
8. SPIRITUAL SELF. Describe the
feelings that you have for yourself and
organized religion, reaction about your
spiritual connections and development.
Think about your spiritual regimen and
routine.

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