Holistic Spirituality

Yesterday, over on my other blog,  Heart and Mind Together, I was musing about the nature of Unitarian communities. And when the link was posted on Facebook, someone asked me in what sense I was using the word "holistic" in relation to Unitarian communities.

I was blown away by the response from a friend of a friend, Stasa Morgan-Appel, who is a Priestess and Witch and Quaker, who commented that for her, "Holistic / wholistic spirituality is one where I can bring my whole self - body, mind, will, emotions, words, silences, knowledge, ignorance - where I don't have to check some part of myself, some part of my relationship with That Which Is, at the door."

I really don't think that this definition can be improved on. It also describes Unitarian communities at their best, at their most inclusive and welcoming. Being a community that believes in holistic spirituality should mean that we accept people exactly as they are, and don't try to fit them (or ask them to fit themselves) into any pre-existing mould. I wonder how often this happens, in practice, if the person walking through the door is "different" in some way, from the mainly white, mainly middle-class, mainly educated folk in the average Unitarian congregation? I wonder ...