A Move Towards Wholeness

The meaning of Salaam (which is both a Muslim greeting, and a name of God in the Muslim tradition) is integration and wholeness.

The Salaam Matrix is a holistic map of the scope of human activities–from the inner (spiritual) to the outer (personal-familial, socioeconomic, ecological-political). This is a useful schema as this not only takes a bird’s eye view of the life of a person, group, or society, but it brings together that which were previously parts. It brings the family in focus as well as the economy; it shows that a political person or group is moved by their beliefs (spiritual zone) and votes in alignment with those beliefs (religious, secular, or otherwise).

Salaam Matrix puts the ecology on the same map as homemaking, and economic or educational decisions close to both politics and the belief system of a people. In this way, the Matrix weaves a web of relations, of cause & effect, and of the flow of information, capital, energy (attention) and investments. This not only integrates the various parts of a person and a society but also makes many hidden aspects or blind spots evident. It points to the elephants in the civilization’s room in a straightforward fashion in a manner that has long been skirted by modern systems and tools.

It is this integral view of the life of a person, group or society that grants sense and cohesion to observations made through this model, and to the conclusions and practice based on that observation. Without this sense and cohesion, we have a collection of fragmented paths, beliefs, policies and decisions that may lead to frequent clashes or leaving lacunas unattended.

The integral view obtained from the Matrix also allows for speed, coordination, and concurrent development and performance of decisions and policies — be those personal or political — along with other potentials secured by this tool. The map yields the realization that these life zones are necessary, simultaneously-occurring aspects of being alive and functional as an active, participative citizen of the world. We leave no part and aspect behind; we live a complex, detailed and full-circle life in one lifetime and move closer to the realization of human aspirations and potentials through a full-spectrum view of being human.

The Antidote to Fragmentation

The importance of this cannot be underestimated in an age marred by fragmentation and the collapse of institutions that kept humanity together for better or for worse. 9It is possible that the imposed structures were not meant to be cruel but became so as humans’ inner ability to organize organically was outsourced to autocrats, bureaucracies and institutions. The cure is to move autonomy, sense, and accountability inwards and make the humans responsible and engaged as a steppingstone to the much-sought freedom.)

The cost of being fractured, and of leaving the parts and aspects of psyche and society (two sides of the same coin) are vast.

Who Can Make Use of Integral Thinking?

In terms of the application of the model, this is useful for policymakers, impact investors, teachers and other practitioners and users who benefit from obtaining a more complete view of human life. Thus they are likely to incorporate these life aspects in their undertaking. This allows for a healthier, no-parts-left-behind approach to progress, wellness, welfare and development. Not only is this of utilitarian value, but it also brings joy and completion to human life which, we assert, is the goal of all enterprise and without which, our endeavor in Industry or Polity is rendered futile.