Regarding Wholeness
Frank G. Briganti, Ed.D.
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2003 PublishAmerica
ISBN: 1591292018

Design for a Deeper Life. A clear, energizing psychological & spiritual working model for those in search of a more meaningful life.

In developing his theme of wholeness, Frank G. Briganti draws on psychology, spirituality, & philosophy. He offers practical insights into the stuff of our reality: change, desire, dreams, time, dying, knowing, sex, social awareness, synchronicity & trust.

That having been said, Regarding Wholeness will send your mind off on quests for serenity, contentment & as much certainty as this mortal coil allows.

I wasn't at all sure I'd be able to do justice to Frank Briganti's way of looking at life. I'm not sure I actually have, however, along my path I have met many a man who thought he knew the way to heaven. This author is interested in showing us paths that will lead us through the trials & tribulations of this life, to a place wherein we find contentment & harmony, here on earth.

In the beginning, Frank Briganti writes about how many of us “experience life as a never-ending struggle to survive or to increase [our] comfort.” (Page 11). He continues to explain that “Life is designed to be whole and the urge to wholeness bubbles up from the depth of every individual.” (ibid)

Why go in search of wholeness? Because a “significantly more satisfying life develops to the degree that you live as a whole person ... makes a difference for the better in how you have fun and celebrate, experience art or music, earn and use money, deal with adversity and death, relate to people and raise a family, stay active in a political society, create, manage diversity, adapt to suburban or inner city or rural living, view the marginalized, react to success or failure, make judgments about environment and space, come to grips with good and evil, and embrace Ultimate Reality.” (pp 11-12)

So here I am, sitting in a lecture hall, unable to doodle because my hands are busy holding Frank Briganti's book. Given that it is all of 172 pages short, & I haven't the foggiest idea of what he is going to teach me, I wonder if I am going to learn some things I didn't already know.

First, let's find out what he says wholeness is. Ha! You think I'm going to tell you? No way, read the book. It is simply written & covers some immense concepts. Lovely stuff!

So, find out what wholeness is, how to move to it & what is the payoff. There has to be a payoff, or why write a book?

I found my school atlas the other day -- the one I had when I was all of 12 years old. On the flyleaf I had written in dip pen ink my names (two of which I had chosen because I wanted to take on the mantle of their intent), my home address, my town, my nation, my world & finally, my universe. Childish stuff, except Regarding Wholeness is all about that kind connectedness -- from me to thee & beyond; how to get back to it after having been pigeon-holed, dismembered & segmented by society.

I particularly relish his ideas about death & dying, & am rather glad I think along the same lines as he.

Frank Briganti's writing is charming, packing into every sentence the immensity of the universe, although Regarding Wholeness is brief without being obscure, intense without being dense. It is mind-to-mind resuscitation, offering Big Thoughts, easy-to-read signposts, & uncomplicated examples for getting you to think about your life; getting in touch with who you truly are; what your life really can be like, & how to let your spirit out of its box.

Does any of it make sense? Oh, yes!
(01/11/04)

Rebecca