An Integrated Person has no Warring Parts

“An integrated man is one in whom there are no warring
parts; he is one integrated, fluid flow.”

—Osho

Excerpt Before Your Future

What would it look like to be totally fluid and integrated? Picture Amma, known as the “hugging saint,” embracing and offering solace and spiritual wisdom to people around the world twenty-plus hours a day for the last thirty-five years. Picture a woman whom people in India consider the incarnation of the divine mother, born in a small fishing village in South India with no formal education, simultaneously carrying the title of Chancellor of a university at the forefront of the latest scientific research and advancements in medicine, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Picture a woman immersed in solving the technological and spiritual problems that plague the world and send people in search of her embrace.

Enlightened minds are fluid like Amma’s, while the rest of us have a more unadaptable black-and-white view of the world. We divide people, places, and choices into good and bad, “with me” or “against me,” likes and dislikes, right and wrong. Most of us are attached to what is referred to as a type of “categorical simplicity,” be it in spirituality, materiality, yoga, global warming, technology, science, or any of the complex choices facing us in the world today.

The foundational principle of yogic knowledge is that everything in the universe works alongside its opposites. Each contrasts the other and needs our attention if we are to understand our very nuanced and multifaceted existence. Examples include Shiva and Shakti, day and night, hot and cold, good and evil, light and shadow, Sun and Moon, birth and dissolution—all must exist side by side and cannot be unconnected.

A Vedic astrologer counselor cannot be an idealist working from one end of any polarity. To understand the unique karmic ecosystem of each person, we need a deep understanding of all the houses, zodiac signs, and planets, as well as the ability to integrate their opposing forces, such as Jupiter’s expansive influence with Saturn’s contracting influence.

Vedic astrologers need an excellent Mercury in their horoscope to understand and assimilate these inherent polarities. The effective flow between the conflicting energies of the houses, signs, and planets requires both strength and fluidity, effort and surrender. The key is to avoid going to extremes with any house, sign, or planet. Of course, remaining still and completely balanced is not always an option either, as both sides will end up presenting themselves with the same magnitude, paralyzing our ability to make any major changes.

Astrologers often fail to consider this when interpreting horoscopes. For example, an equal number of planets in two opposing houses can cancel each other out, as neither side can express itself fully to create enough forward momentum. Sometimes a horoscope that looks impressive on the surface does not give the promised results because all the planets are concentrated in only one or two elemental houses and signs. The missing elements will prevent enough contrast in the consciousness to bring success and completion in life.

Learning to work with the polarities of life is like walking a tight rope. We don’t just arrive at integrating polarities and then sit back—it is a dynamic process that needs refreshing moment by moment. At the same time, we should be aware that we may be called upon at any time to move into an extreme position or even jump to the opposite, if the circumstances warrant it. If this occurs, we will need to restart the process of creating balance at a different level all over again, until the next time.

As Jung said, “All the greatest and most important problems of life are fundamentally insoluble. They must be so, for they express the necessary polarity inherent in every self-regulating system. They can never be solved, but only outgrown.” In that sense, we may gain inspiration or motivation when we are completely closed off to one side or the other, but we miss out on the richness of life.