Living Life to Its Fullest Part 4
December 16, 2024
Living Life to Its Fullest Part 4
When it comes to the soul, we are amazingly the same. The basic soul needs are universal, even though the way people live their outer lives is very different from one another. Siddhartha Mukherjee is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (2011). An oncologist, he chronicled the many things people want to say to others when they are terminally ill. Four of these requests were the most prominent in everyone he met during their transition.
The requests are:
I want to tell you that I love you.
I want to tell you that I forgive you.
Would you tell me that you love me?
Would you give me your forgiveness?
Mukherjee said, “People who know they’re dying often express some variation of one of those four themes — indicating that they waited until it was late to show their appreciation for others or right their interpersonal wrongs.”
In the study of the Enneagram and Consciousness, we look at these four expressions from the standpoint of the soul—the first and second are forms of giving love. The third and fourth are ways to receive love. When we want to live life to its fullest, we do not wait to make these requests—we do it now and every day to all those in our lives.
These four expressions put us directly in touch with our soul because they come from our depths. The ego may try to block their expression because these requests require humility, vulnerability, and neediness. But the soul cares little about maintaining a proud invulnerable image of having it all together. So, to express these in our lives on a daily basis, we go to our soul point where our essence brings us to the fullness of our lives.
Spiritual practice: To whom do you need to express these four requests? Express them today in person, by phone, by email, or in a letter. After you do this, scan your heart to learn if you have reached a new and deeper fullness.
Self-inquiry: What part of you would block or postpone the expression of these four requests?
Dear God,
Grant me the freedom to express my love for others and my need for love from them. Amen
