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Towards Integrity

12 Saturday Nov 2022

Posted by AjmaniK in energy, life and living, nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

awareness, harmony, integrity, Tao Te Ching, zen

What would our life and living look like if we were to experience it with spontaneity and without any ideological filters? What would happen if we were to remove the dichotomy and the separation between the material and the physical? What if we were to live in harmony with the silence, the silent balance between the yin (the seed) and the yang (the spark)?

Some of these questions, and many more variations of the same, are posed in the Eastern classic, the Tao Te Ching. I pulled out my dog-eared and dog-nibbled copy of the translation by Ralph Alan Dale on Friday evening, as the rain that had been falling all day kept me indoors, in the company of multiple sessions of tea on the reading couch with the very puppy who had nibbles the bindings in her first year of life.

Earlier in the week, on Tuesday evening, I had taken my weekly walk in the reservation at the location where the East and West branches of the Rocky River meet at the base of a 350 million year old shale cliff. The lack of recent rain meant that I could walk halfway into the river on the shale beds by the shore, some of which are probably only a few million years old. I noticed immediately that the river bank had been cleared of a lot of older, dying brush and trees, and the shale beds were much more accessible and walkable. In the evening hour of sunset, I was grateful that I had half the river all to myself.

Kneeling on the layers of compacted shale to take some photos of the shale cliff in the distance, I noticed that some new layers of leaves from the trees on the river bank had started to cover the shale deposits I was kneeling on. It struck me that here, right before my autumn colored eyes, I was witnessing the seeds of a new layer of shale in their seeding. In that moment, with one knee on the river-bank, I realized that thousands of layers of existing shale were eventually going to accept, and then integrate this autumn’s offerings into their existence.

I imagine that that is how moving towards integrity, living with integrity actually manifests? One spontaneous experience at a time, one season at a time, one layer of Yin and Yang at a time, one layer of silence and song at a time, we chip away at the ideologies and dichotomies that keep us encrusted in dogma and duality.

In moving towards integrity, we may realize that we were always there, that we never left. One knee pressing new leaves into the layers of shale, one arm raised towards the sky, eyes flooded with golden sunlight, chanting our mother’s songs by the very river on whose shores the natives traveled for hundreds of years…

The spirit of life  
never dies.

It is the infinite gateway
to mysteries within mysteries.

It is the seed of yin,
the spark of yang.

Always elusive,
endlessly available.

- Tao Te Ching (verse 6)

Kumud

P. S. What are the moments in which you feel that you are moving towards integrity? What do those moments feel like? Do share with us in the comments and/or our weekly twitter chat, Sunday Nov 13 at 9amEST / 2pm GMT / 730pm India in #SpiritChat. Namaste – @AjmaniK

The golden sunlight that integrates everything in its path…
The 350 million year old shale cliffs that form one bank of the Rocky River… (November 2022)

Towards Spiritual Integrity

19 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by AjmaniK in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

integrity, spirichat, spirit, Tao Te Ching, wholeness

The subject of integrity is often discussed in the context of leadership as it is an important component of character development and personal growth. Here is a classic definition of integrity in the context of honesty and morality

Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness

In the physical, mental, psychological and spiritual context, integrity can also be defined as a state of being whole, being undivided. It is a unique word which (according to the thesaurus) implies a combination of honesty, honor, good character, principles, ethics, virtue, decency, fairness, sincerity, truthfulness and trustworthiness. Any and all of these words could form a basis of discussion in our weekly #SpiritChat ~ so, we choose integrity!

The concept of integrity – the Great Integrity, to be exact – forms the basis of the classic Tao Te Ching written by the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu (also called LaoTse). He proposes that we are all moving towards a return to the Great Integrity – a state of wholeness within ourselves, and a state where we are in wholeness and harmony with nature.

“To be in harmony is to live in the Great Integrity, the ultimate wisdom.” ~ Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu’s thesis is that we need to act and evolve towards Integrity by knowing its importance, how to achieve it, what its enemies are, and more. He exhorts us to achieve a state where we can balance the different aspects of our life to incorporate true Integrity in all our actions. According to Lao Tzu, the Great Integrity is the return to intuition and the merging of our Self and non-Self.

“We need to be good, to trust, because goodness and trust are in the very nature of the Great Integrity.” ~ Lao Tzu

In addition to the Tao Te Ching, ethics texts explain integrity as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions. We discussed Spirit-Based Action in our January 5th #SpiritChat. Integrity of thought, word and action can thus form the pathway towards the highest form of integrity ~ that of our spiritual core.

How do we know that we are behaving with integrity? What are the obstacles towards achieving spiritual integrity with nature? How do we incorporate integrity into our spiritual practice? I invite you to join us in #SpiritChat on Sunday January 20th at 9amET to discuss some of these questions, and put a spotlight on the role of integrity in our spiritual evolution.

In integrity with all who have read, and all who share in #SpiritChat ~

Kumud

P.S. January 21st 2013 marks Martin Luther King, Jr. day in the United States. What did he have to say about integrity and our actions? Please allow me to share –

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

Update: Here is the html/web Transcript for the chat, with links for responding on twitter, RTing etc. Shortened transcripts for Qs 1 to 8 only are also available. Thank you to all who shared with integrity.

 
Ready? Q1. Integrity. Where does it come from? What is/are its source(s)? #SpiritChat 

Q2. How does our value system, our beliefs, affect our sense of integrity? #SpiritChat 

Q3. Our desire to see integrity in others lead us to judgement, value/belief imposition. Agree/Disagree? #SpiritChat 

Q4. Once "lost", can personal integrity be rebuilt - within and without? If so, how? #SpiritChat 

Q5. Our vision and our dreams. Can spiritual integrity help us achieve them? How? #SpiritChat 

Q6. Integrity with nature. Are we moving towards this dream or away from it? #SpiritChat 

Q7. Jan 21. MLK Day. Day of service. What is the importance of integrity as we engage in service? #SpiritChat

Final Q8. What actions will you take to move towards greater spiritual integrity this week?  #SpiritChat 

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