Let’s
pretend that humanity suddenly underwent a radical spiritual awakening and
that each person experienced, directly and intensely, the effects of their
words and actions on others. In this scenario there would be no escaping and
no denial of the consequences of thoughtless and unkind ways of being. How
would this immediate feedback change the course of history in our personal
lives as well as in the world?
As a psychic I have had the opportunity to communicate with beings that have
passed over. They have shared with me that there is a life review process
whereby a person experiences the consequences of their actions while on
earth. For example, if they were violent with others they would experience
that violence themselves. This sometimes painful life review is to help the
person understand the effects of karma and their impact on themselves and
others. Since “earth school” is an opportunity in learning to love
unconditionally, an individual is given the chance to review where they
chose to be judgmental, self-centered, or fear-based instead of loving.
People learn from both positive reinforcement and negative consequences. If
a person knew how much joy a caring act created, they would perform more
acts of kindness. On the other hand, if humans felt the pain wrought by
selfish and thoughtless actions, perhaps they’d be deterred from committing
these actions. Maybe world leaders, feeling fully the pain inflicted by
bombs and guns, would work more diligently for peace before declaring war.
I recently visited a friend who was exceedingly happy, saying that she was
being nurtured by a wonderful new man in her life. She then said, “Oh, but,
he’s married.” My mind raced as I reminded myself that integrity is always
“contextual”, meaning that what may be wrong in one instance may be right in
another. Judgment from a soul level does not exist, but pain on the human
level does. I remembered being on the other end of the stick and feeling
betrayed in love. I thought about how easily integrity is compromised by
strong desire. The mind can think of many reasons why it is OK just this
time to act out of alignment with the little voice within that guides us to
choose pure love above all else. I learned long ago that it is not the act
that matters as much as what the motivation is for the acts that we do.
Over the years I have been surprised to learn that even great spiritual
teachers had committed acts that might be considered “out of integrity”. I
imagine these beings having evolved beyond fragile human desires, yet I
realize that we are all walking a fine line between living a virtuous life
and a life of fulfilling our ego’s desires of lust, greed, or power.
This inner
voice of integrity is often ignored by getting caught up into group
consciousness. Thus, as a society we have pornography that exploits
children, corporate greed that robs us and politicians who betray the very
principles they stand for while the individuals being hurt are forgotten.
To heal ourselves and the world we must remember that we are whole,
complete, and perfect expressions of love and we do not need to compromise
our integrity to get love, power, money or sex. Let’s try to remember how
to love ourselves and others unconditionally, bountifully, and brimming with
integrity.