3. The goal of "wholeness" for a finite being is elusive and perhaps unattainable, partly because the finite being experiences everything as fragmented by space and time and partly because finitude means being inescapably related to other finite beings. The goal, perhaps, should not be wholeness, but rather the discovery of a center and the learning to rest in it, so that the disparate elements of our lives can come into relationship with one another.
The center cannot be chosen arbitrarily. If it is, the soul will find no rest in it, for the fragments will not meet. It cannot even be known in advance. Although we may profit from the advice or example of those who appear to have found such a resting point, we will not find it for ourselves except in the process of seeking it. For that matter, given our finitude and the consequent separation of each from the other, we are more or less certain to have misunderstood much of what our models have tried to tell us. They provide starting places, not final answers. "Seek and ye shall find." There will be no finding without the search.