One of the roots of the word ‘can’ is ‘know,’ and another is ‘power.’ Power from knowing. Because this flow is delicate, it’s easy to disrupt. Spiritually inclined people sometimes regard contemplation as a world-changing panacea; activists sometimes see direct action in the same light.

The ancient Gnostics, who went much deeper than heresy or dualism, called the first error ‘psychism’ and the second ‘hyleticism.’ Psychism is contemplation uncoupled from direct action; hyleticism is fixing, solving, and doing without reflection. Both are forms of only partially realized ‘gnosis,’ a form of concentrated consciousness we would think of today as holistic.

When institutions and empires collapse, something new emerges from the cracks. A ‘Yes, We Can’ gnosis of emerging possibilities could keep action linked with deep reflection on what is finally forcing its way to the collective surface. As with shoots breaking through soil, evolutionary bursts and leaps call for responses from the total personality, active and reflective and imaginative.

Craig Chalquist, PhD
Core Faculty Member
School of Holistic Studies
John F. Kennedy University