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Integrity: Being Whole --Surviving 2012 (4)
Let me put that into plain words. The 2012 Transition is very much about increasing personal integrity, and with that quality you will find surviving 2012 much easier than without it. But what does it really mean? It's a word that's bandied about quite loosely these days, mostly by ad agencies and PR flunkies. Or it's taken to mean simple truthfulness. In fact, it is much more. It is a quality of divinity. Here we'll look at it as the Divine Quality that it is. There are 2 principle aspects to this essential quality:
This article will explore both facets, and how to increase them.
Living In Wholeness"In a time of universal deceit, truth-telling becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
Integrity means being whole. You are not divided within yourself. All the parts of you are in alignment: inside with outside, values with actions, heart with mind, thoughts with speech. In practice, it looks like this...
It seems simple enough. Of course, no one is perfectly integrated... not within a human body/mind at any rate. And here we trip across the primary difficulty -- how can we be whole, while being imperfect? Wholeness: Perfection and Imperfection
Integrity is really a state of Being, of presence in the present moment. And if we're trying to better ourselves, it's easy to slip out of that alignment and into "future tensing." We begin to think that we are not good enough, or at least not yet. As soon as we believe that we are flawed, however, we lose alignment with the Divine. Because even in our imperfections, we are perfect beings! Yes, we strive to be ever more integrated, ever more "perfect," ever more whole. But the time has come to recognise -- simultaneously and paradoxically -- that we are whole and perfect even in that quest for greater wholeness and perfection. In other words, you are called now to recognise your deeper perfection, beneath the illusion of imperfection. Increasing IntegritySo the first part of the program is to aim for ever-better expression of wholeness, as in the list above. The second part is to practice remembering your true perfection, even though on an earthly level you are imperfect.
Aligned With RealityIntegrity also means being aligned with reality. (FYI: this is also called sanity. What is reality? Reality has been very wisely defined as "That which never changes." Anything that changes can't be real, on a foundational level. Is a flower ultimately real, when it is a seed one day, a bud the next, and a withered stock in the end. Which expression of "flower" is real? Yes, we're talking here about ultimate reality. And in ultimate reality, only a few things -- or perhaps one -- are real. You could call them...
It means, to me, that which is beyond all the limitations of material existence, and which is the source, the wellspring of everything in material existence. And that is the ultimate in reality. Increasing Alignment With RealityIncreasing your alignment with ultimate or deep reality is a process of remembering. Specifically... Remembering to Remember
Swami Sivananda, the guru of one of my teachers, used to say that people aren't bad, they're just forgetful. They forget to remember what's true, what's real, what's important. They forget to remember Who they are. They forget to remember the Divine. So the last part of the program for increasing integrity is to remember to remember. How do you do that? There are infinite ways. Here are some that seem to work best...
Okay, you may have noticed a common theme. Regular meditation is, bar none, the best way to learn to remember your divinity. Every day, as you meditate, you enter into Ultimate Reality. After a while, it rubs off. You begin to see the Reality behind the veil of ordinary life.
Integrity and ReligionAllow me to take a moment to describe how this increasing integrity works in a common institution -- religion.
The 2012 Transition includes a transition from religions to spirituality. This is reflected in the quest for integrity. Religions, by definition, stand between you and the Divine. Ideally, they function as a bridge to divinity, but all too often they become the abyss that can't be crossed. This is what Jesus meant when he warned his followers to beware the priests, because they take the keys to Heaven and won't enter and won't let others enter either. How often do religions spout rhetoric of love and peace and generosity and service, yet their followers practice hate and judgement and greed and control? This is a lack of fundamental integrity, or wholeness, within those religions. And that is why they are losing power in this time of transition -- they are out of alignment with the new standard of Integrity. And they are out of alignment with reality. Any religion that insists on rules, a "one true path," and similar restrictions are focused on the world, not the Divine. The Divine has no rules. And no one way is right for everyone. This is one of the reasons I believe Wicca is the fastest growing religion in the West -- Wicca avoids the traps and trappings of religion.
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