Reflection on: A human being is a single being ...

An abstract from my
current coaching assignement. Under the guidance of Pat grove and
Rod Finnie

“A human being is a single being. Unique and unrepeatable.”

…. Pope John Paul II

Firstly, we would like you to explore it in the context of how you see yourself.

I am not single and I am.

I exist in relationship with others and that always has an impact on me. I am also a
product of a place and time.

I experience myself as a single entity and yet I am always considering myself in relation
to others.

I am unique in the sense that the I, I call me is an experience that is private to me and that
is unrepeatable and so are the possibilities that show up for me. However what does show
up for me, is always in the context of my culture both the larger culture and the micro
culture of the world I live in. In the sense of being for others.

Similarly I remind myself from time to time that I am a local showing up of the self
awareness of the universe and others like me are also a local showing up. So while I most
invariable always think of myself as a single being I consider that each of us is essentially
of the same stuff or the same self awareness but an individual expression of it.

While that gives each of us a sense of being, for moments I see that we are not single
beings but part of the essential oneness of the universe albeit a very special part i.e. self
awareness.
(And I am just what I am.)
What is my unique way of being in the world? It is to be found in the choices I make the
spaces I step into.

Secondly, we would like you to explore it in the context of those with whom you have
the most important relationships in life.

The exercise or question: If I were to look back over my life what would stand out as
important relates to the context. My uniqueness is also reflected in the relationships I
have created and continue to create from moment to moment.

I can think to strive for what I think I need to do and the danger is this means I miss the
essential quality of who I am and this is in the relationships I have with others and
myself, and the relationship with myself is always in the context of being with others and
therefore for others.

What emotional spaces did you find yourself in?

Uncertainty. Compassion. ‘Sadness’ – a sense of something missing or an

incompleteness. I think this relates to the idea we are always stepping into the future and
creating what is missing and are always incomplete. And is therefore quite normal to feel
this.

Were there any breakdowns that showed up for you? One breakdown was looking at
people and remembering they are expressions or a showing up of something. So while we
are all different I was reminded of the connection between us. On reflection I suspect that
most of nearly all the time do not consider this or create this breakdown for themselves.
What would our experiences be like if we did?

Another: Unrepeatable. “So what” Unrepeatable ‘makes’ me feel a bit ‘angry’ fired up. It
seems a unessacary bit tagged on for some reason. Yes it is unrepeatable. But Let that not
guide your or my actions, there is nothing special about that and noting therefore I must
do however there always a freedom to choose and once gone each moment is gone but
that does not matter because there is the next freedom to choose and in this sense the
unrepeatable is lost and was never really there. It has the potential to get in the way for
‘what could have been’ thinking rather than what might be next