"In ordinary life, we are not aware of this unity of all things, but divide the world into separate objects and events. This division is, of course, useful and necessary to cope with our everyday environment, but it is not a fundamental feature of reality. It is an abstraction devised by our discriminating and categorizing intellect. To believe that our abstract concepts of separate 'things' and 'events' are realities of nature is an illusion." -The Tao of Physics, 10th Chapter
'The whole' is this very concept of oneness with all that is; an interwoven relationship with everything in existence. Acknowledging this oneness helps us understand how any 'part' can affect the 'whole.' In Kalos, we look for the cause of an imbalance on mental, physical and spiritual levels, which make up the 'whole' of our being. We often would like to think of our 'mental selves' as separate from our physical or spiritual selves, but this is not the case. When taking the whole into account, we can treat the imbalance of the whole as one issue, instead of isolating it's parts and treating them independently. Treating isolated parts independently is a misguided approach because rather than treating the person, they are only treating the perceived isolated issues. For example, if someone is receiving radiation or chemotherapy for cancer, they are treating the isolated issue of cancer within a person. Treating the cancer as separate from the rest of the body is often unproductive or only temporarily helpful. Attempting to rid the person of cancer is good, but the cancer is only a symptom of a much larger issue, what caused the cancer. Chemotherapy, radiation, and other cancer elimination methods can be successful ways of treating cancer, but if we do not also treat what caused the cancer, it's likely the cancer will return. Alternatively, we can treat the person with cancer as a 'whole,' and the cancer being only a 'part.' Considering cancer as a 'part' allows us to think of cancer as a result of the person's experience-or better, cancer as a cry for help-their bodies attempt to communicate imbalance. When we look at the cancer this way, the cancer no longer becomes the main threat, the person's reason for having cancer is the main threat. Cancer, being a chronic disease, usually stems from emotional or spiritual stress and trauma, or exposure to harmful environments. So while treating the symptom, the physical cancer, the larger concern is how to treat the cause. The person with cancer is in need of investigation, and any necessary treatment, on all mental, spiritual, and physical levels. To find where the imbalance is rooted and to heal it with assurance that it will not return, we must be committed to learning about ourselves and creating balance within the 'whole' body.
By looking within ourselves, investigating the 'whole,' to find the cause of a certain illness or imbalance, we are accepting responsibility for our personal growth and empowering ourselves to heal through the belief that we are capable of it. If we choose to believe the root of an issue is outside of ourselves, then we will search outside ourselves for a cure-this search removes us from our issue completely and the blame game begins. Blaming our issue on something out of our control will only alienate us from hope and healing. Blame makes us a victim, and for healing to take place we need to be pro-active, so lets try to look at things differently, if just for the sake of our survival.