Recommit to Virtue: Part 8 of 10 - Integrity or Greed

Gandhi’s seventh societal blunder is politics without principle.  Principle-based integrity is built on sincere accountability.  In the political arena, those who seek power too often engage in actions deemed unethical, deceitful, and based on personal greed.  Leaders act without principle and assume that the end good will redeem the method of execution.  Gandhi’s greatest contribution was his ability to fuse his spiritual values with practical politics.  His objective was to spiritualize the political through a focus on humankind. 



Recommit to Virtue: The Struggle Within

There is a story told of a Native American warrior in the sunset of his days, who is passing on life truths to his grandson.  He begins, “A fight is going on inside of me.  It’s a terrible fight between two mighty wolves: one with beautiful flowing black fur and the other radiant white.”  He explains, “The shadowy one is Evil.  He is vanity, wrath, envy, lust, cowardice, greed, gluttony, sloth, and fear.  The glowing one is Good. He is humility, courage, cleanliness, obedience, industry, integrity, wisdom, gratitude and peace.  Son, you have this same fight raging inside of you.  So does everyone who has ever occupied this ground.”  The boy looked confused, and after a moment, asked, “Which wolf will win, Grandfather?”  There is a story told of a Native American warrior in the sunset of his days, who is passing on life truths to his grandson.  He begins, “A fight is going on inside of me.  It’s a terrible fight between two mighty wolves: one with beautiful flowing black fur and the other radiant white.”  He explains, “The shadowy one is Evil.  He is vanity, wrath, envy, lust, cowardice, greed, gluttony, sloth, and fear.  The glowing one is Good. He is humility, courage, cleanliness, obedience, industry, integrity, wisdom, gratitude and peace.  Son, you have this same fight raging inside of you.  So does everyone who has ever occupied this ground.”  The boy looked confused, and after a moment, asked, “Which wolf will win, Grandfather?”  The old warrior counseled, “The one you feed, son.  The one you feed!”

The Challenge of Life

Born self-centered and self-absorbed, we all react either consciously or unconsciously, to the need for survival and the desire for personal gratification.  From our first breathe of life, impulses surface as environmental situations are presented to us that challenge our very existence.  Resilience to such challenges is the key.  This primal level of survival concerns itself with self preservation and stimulation. Left completely unchecked, most of us will become self-serving, gluttonous, and lazy. 

Courage to Change

Never in the history of the world has there been a greater time for people to embrace a life of virtue. A life based upon time-proven values can be easily overshadowed by the clamor and turbulence of schedules and deadlines, of economic worries and stress, and of environmental and equality issues.  Virtue-based training must be re-established within our hearts so that we are able to positively influence the rising generation, the children of the Millennial Generation, a generation who will lead us to greater peace. Peace begins one individual, one family, one community, and one nation at a time. We must commit to change;  change that will enable us to see ourselves as we really are, to love ourselves as we really are, to cherish our fellow travelers for who they truly are, and to embrace the peaceful life we deserve.