Integrity

[Lisa Walford]

Passover acknowledges that we all have the opportunity to liberate ourselves from the tyranny of oppression.. well, not everyone, unfortunately. We do live in troubled times. Yet the self-imposed oppression of mental rumination, judgement, clinging, resentment, fear, doubt perhaps! 

In the Yoga Sutras, doubt is the first obstacle on the path. and yet the Buddha also asked that his disciples not blindly follow him but to rub his words and ideas with their experience. So doubt can be helpful when it is in service of the good, of truth, of attempting to identify where tyranny lies. It may be in your workspace, or perhaps in your childhood. 

While we turn the mirror on our own actions and thoughts, we are also called to help lift those who are physically and economically oppressed out of their suffering. In the Passover ritual, the Pharoah was the tyrant and the Jewish people fled.  In Easter, perhaps the image and ritual of Christ resurrecting is liberation through sacrifice, through hard work, through service.    

Yoga is a path of liberation. In this verse from the Tao Te Ching, we receive suggestions for how action and reflection enable us to remain fresh like a child, open minded and heartful. The verse acknowledges that life will be filled with waves that crash, rip tides of events, gentle times and more. We can and will  at times be dragged under, and yet we rise again, humbled. I love the last stanzas, the path of Integrity. 

May your spring break, Passover, Easter, weekend be a gentile one. and know that every time you bring peace into your heart, you help those who you cannot personally reach by bringing more light into the world. One breath, moment, day, person at a time. 

Translation by Guy Leekley, Verse 10 

When nourishing both mind and body,

Can you keep them joined in unity?

While drawing within

And following the inner breath,

Can you retain the flexibility of a child?

 

Turning inward to your deep, still center

Can you fill it with the purest light?

 

While showing respect and compassion for others,

Can you resist interfering?

As conditions of life expand and then contract again

Can you remain grounded in your source?

 

Can this clear-eyed openness

To the ebb and flow

Be maintained without stress?

 

Protecting and nourishing,

Creating without clinging,

Acting without presuming,

Guiding without controlling

This is true integrity.