Oasis Rising Center Audio and more... Weekly  Lesson  Talks Guided  Meditations Prayers and more ...

Come Celebrate Life with us!

Come Celebrate With Us every Sunday:

Meditation 10:45 am
Celebration at 11am

Join us:

Oasis Rising Center 8125 West Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89125

Enjoy another wonderful text by Rev. Phil Smedsted, minister Emeritus of Oasis Rising Center

Come and enjoy talks at our Sunday Services or get a midweek pickup on Wednesday at 6mp

 

Phil Smedstad's texts are one of the ways Oasis Rising Center supports members.

A Positive Path for Spiritual Living

Oasis Rising Center Spiritual Center
Oasis Rising Center 8125 West Sahara Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89125
(702) 804-8189
_______________________________________________

“Loving Yourself Through Integrity”              By Rev. Phillip Smedstad

Last week I concluded a series of lessons based on Jesus’ statement in Matt. 6:33:  “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well.”  I then repeated that the word we translate as “righteousness” could be better translated as “wholeness,” “all inclusiveness,” or “integrity.”
This Sunday, the focus was on the word “integrity.”  Integrity comes from the root word “integral.”  To be “in integrity” means “to have our whole self going in the same direction.”  To be OUT of integrity means, “to mount up and ride off in all directions.”

Integrity has the same root as the word “integer,” and an integer is a whole number.  So, to be in integrity means “to be whole.”

Integrity is a wonderful, powerful concept.  However, the challenge is to get past the ego thought that integrity is something we “should” practice, that it is a way to be a good person or to be virtuous.  Actually, integrity is a way to practice loving ourselves, and it is an aspect of personal transformation.

When we are in integrity, we’re able to bring our whole self to the present moment.  We have much more energy available to us.  Also, we feel innocent, and, since our outer world always reflects our inner world, we attract the people and events that innocent people attract.

One aspect of integrity is to “practice what we preach,” or to “walk our talk.”  As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “What you are thunders so loudly that I can’t hear a word you say to the contrary.”

Another aspect of it is to either keep all the agreements we make, or else to change them.  When we make agreements and then don’t keep them, we teach ourselves that we’re untrustworthy.  Then, because of the law of attraction, we attract untrustworthy people into our lives.

Those of us who believe we’re guilty (and that includes everyone who is out of integrity) create struggle in our lives.  Also, since guilt always demands punishment, we either unconsciously try to hurt ourselves or we get others to do it for us.

Of course, we can never actually BE guilty, but we can’t be out of integrity with our spiritual principles and at the same time feel innocent.  Also, when we don’t keep our agreements, it creates a false belief in us that we’re helpless and separate from God’s power of creation.

Some thirty years ago, I learned that I’m always teaching myself which beliefs are true for me by the actions I take.  Since learning that, I always try to do what I said I would do, or else change the agreement.  Our “word” is one of our most precious and valuable assets.

Of course, one of the most common ways to be out of integrity is to cheat on our taxes.  If you have ever lived in fear of an IRS audit, you know something of the inner cost of doing that.

On Sunday, I shared what I called two important things to know about the agreements we’ve made.  The first is that the government and its laws and regulations are our collective idea.  If we don’t like some of them, we can work to change them.

However, there are certain agreements we made (even if unconsciously) just by being here:

• By being born on earth, we made an agreement to abide by the law of gravity.
• By living in the United States, we made an agreement to abide by our collective laws.

The second important thing to know is that it doesn’t make any difference whether or not others find out that we don’t keep our agreements.  We, ourselves, know, and our outer life will always reflect that knowledge.

Also on Sunday, I shared with everyone a document from the six-month long course I first took and then taught in personal transformation.  The document is called “An Integrity Checklist.”  It’s subtitled “Bringing Your Whole Self Into the Present Moment.”

This checklist outlines ten areas which were assigned to us students to complete.  Here is the list:

• Deliver any undelivered communications regarding unspoken acknowledgments and broken agreements.
• Organize your personal files.
• Balance your checkbook.
• Pay your bills or make new arrangements with creditors.
• Organize your financial records.
• Pay any taxes due, or make arrangements to pay them.
• Handle any broken agreements with social institutions (traffic tickets, etc.)
• Return anything borrowed and no longer needed.
• Get back anything lent to another and now wanted.
• Make a plan to handle anything which abuses your spirit or body.

The less we are attached to our guilt, the easier it becomes to complete this list.  It truly is a way to love ourselves and to bring all of our energy into the present moment.

Far and away, the very largest aspect of integrity is to admit and surrender to our magnificence, our divinity.  No matter what our past tells us the following statements are true about all of us:

• We are so loveable that nothing we’ve ever done can make us UN-loveable.
• We are so full of love that our hearts are as big as that of Mother Teresa.
• We are so powerful that literally nothing happens TO us, only THROUGH us.
• We are so wise that we can always tune into our divine guidance.
• We are so “one with aliveness” that we can never actually die, even when our bodies do.

Let this week be devoted to “loving yourself through integrity.”  If there is anything to clean up, clean it up.  If you say you will do something, either do it or change the agreement.  Don’t just “blow it off.”  Your word is too important.  Most of all, surrender to your magnificence.  It’s the only way you will ever be truly at peace.