"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
Those are the famous words of John Donne.
In terms of the question of "the wholeness of things," this passage raises in my mind a question: in what ways are we talking about the nature of reality and in what ways about how we "should" relate to reality, and what is the relationship between that "is" and that "ought"?
To put it another way: is it really "true" that when the bell tolls, it tolls for me, or is that just a commendable way for me to "feel" about the tolling of the bell for someone else?
And to the extent that we are talking about our feelings of involvement and connection, about whether we choose to feel a wholeness and connection with our fellow human beings, what status should we give that way of being in terms of our understanding of the nature of things, and of the meaning of "Seeing Things Whole"?
