Palmer and the Mobius Strip

Yesterday, in class, Jackie asked for the quotes I read from Palmer's A Hidden Wholeness, related to the Mobius strip activity. Here they are...

“We arrive in this world undivided, integral, whole. But sooner or later, we erect a wall between our inner and outer lives, trying to protect what is within us or to deceive the people around us. Only when the pain of our dividedness becomes more than we can bear do most of us embark on an inner journey toward living ‘divided no more.’

“When we arrive in this world, there is no separation at all between our inner and outer life. This is why most of us love to be around infants and young children: what we see is what we get. Whatever is inside an infant comes immediately to the outside, both figuratively and literally!...In the presence of a newly minted human being, I am reminded of what wholeness looks like. And I am sometimes moved to wonder, Whatever became of me?

“The mechanics of the Mobius strip are mysterious, but its message is clear: whatever is inside us continually flows outward to help form, or deform, the world—and whatever is outside us continually flows inward to help form, or deform, our lives. The Mobius strip is like life itself: here, ultimately, there is only one reality.” (p. 39)

From: Palmer, P. (2004). A hidden wholeness, The journey toward an undivided life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers.