Unifying my body, heart and soul while nothing seems to be working is a great task requiring discipline and fortitude. Surrendering to divine timing and cherishing whatever happens while not falling into the victim/perpetrator paradigm enhances my incorruptibility. My trials and tribulations grind away the rough edges of my divinity like sharpening stones…molding and honing with the subtlety of rough sandpaper every one of my beloved delusions I hold dear. When the edges are smoothed, I can begin to develop immunities to the proverbial fires of human suffering through the use of the forms of love, empathy and equanimity—and when all the forms combine to become my default loving response, I am still whole while I am in the midst of both observing and experiencing suffering.
Suffering forces the most stubborn aspects of my personality to examine my personal paradigms, stress responses and primary templates. Acts of cruelty may enrage or overwhelm me, but I understand stress responses and perceptions based on previous trauma become monkeys I must soothe with mindfulness. If I try to take control or succumb to the conclusion that chaos, self-sabotage or a punishing deity creates the suffering, I risk falling into the illusion that I am being victimized and accidently may become a perpetrator. When I justify hopelessness or believe in a divine right to demand retribution or retaliation, I know now I am recycling pain and suffering, which perpetuates my personal victim/perpetrator paradigm.
A critical step towards transcendence is accomplished when I recognize pain’s purpose and realize my response to suffering enhances my incorruptibility. Suffering shows me if I am disconnected from my soul and reveals my misguided notions about sovereignty. Making a deliberate choice to evolve from my default knee-jerk reactions and surrender to an unknown incorruptible solution requires all the strength and trust I can muster. Suffering is not my preferred state of being but I am beginning to recognize how pain shows me where my personal paradigms and primary templates still have a hold on me. Suffering is a powerful milestone because pain motivates me to merge my body and soul into the richness of the omniscient, where the collective pain and peace experienced by the totality of humanity exists in each moment. My challenge is to experience that peace without becoming corrupted by the illusion there is anything wrong to be righted.
When I choose to transcend the ancient good/evil dynamic of victims becoming persecutors and martyrs becoming terrorists, I enter the quiet in the eye of the chaos and acknowledge everything is already perfect. I build my awareness of the absolute perfection each time I experience even a momentary flash of the tranquility. Incorruptibility is designed to guide me and teach me how to surrender. Yes, I’m stubborn sometimes and know my suffering will intensify until my body, heart and mind unify with my soul to establish incorruptible responses. It takes all my courage to ask for appropriate assistance and access to the internal strength to accept guidance when I feel broken. Becoming one with the divine and developing a reciprocal relationship, even when I feel all that is divine has vanished, is tough, but this quintessential act of valor is essential to weather very storm on the horizon to become incorruptible.
The form of incorruptibility is a loyal companion and requires a similar mastery brilliantly demonstrated by the characters in Oz. After those characters endured the many trials and tribulations during their journey, they eventually realized that they already possessed the power, courage, heart and wisdom to overcome every obstacle during their ordeal without a wizard. Inspirational stories are similar to forms because they show me roadmaps on how to overcome obstacles down my own yellow brick road. No matter how strange or difficult my circumstances, if I retain my principles and values no matter what happens, I can return to Kansas, heaven, home, any time I choose.
Incorruptibility may appear passive to the uninformed, for it requires a significant amount of self-esteem to resist the popular eye-for-an-eye philosophies. Surrendering to the divine, if I have no answers or even when the answers I know to be true oppose the accepted dogma of my peers, requires a significant amount of courage. It takes an unwavering heart, which trusts the universe as a benign, loving place. The commitment to live impeccably, even while suffering, and when nothing I do works without understanding why, creates mastery.
I am an active participant in a divine plan I do not have to understand. I desire to express every form (cherish, grace and love in a balanced state of empathy and equanimity), no matter how much pain or suffering the form of illusion challenges my weaknesses, principles and values. I choose now to exit the cave of shadows, claim sovereignty and become incorruptible to every illusion thrown at me.
Embodying incorruptibility requires strength, willpower and an unshakable courage. My full intentionand soulful dedication is also required. During a tragedy of epic proportions where nothing is working, myprinciples and values become the indestructible foundation to feel whole. When I am feeling lost and alone, I can contemplate the following forms to remind myself about wholeness and use them as my yellow brick road to return home:
ILLUSION—Am I aware of my tenacious beliefs, the ones that sabotage my dreams?
LOVE—Can I transform my suffering into love, while remaining true to me?
CHERISH—Can I love others without expectation or manipulation while embracing whatever happens as perfection?
GRACE—Can I be an active participant in what is occurring while radiating divine love?
EQUANIMITY—When I am hurt, can I remain mindful, fair and balanced while maintaining the dignity of everyone, especially myself?
EMPATHY—Can I create emotional boundaries to discern my experience from the suffering of another?
INCORRUPTIBILITY—Are my principles, intentions and actions truly incorruptible, even when nothing seems to be working?
Incorruptible means I cannot be shaken…undeterred I will remain resolute and grateful for all the ugly and blissful experiences that lead me to merge and become one with each of these forms. I peacefully release my illusions and maintain principles no matter what happens in order to experience wholeness. If the world condemns me or I feel abandoned by the divine, I know that this is merely another illusion to overcome to weave my principles and values into the fabric of my being. Therefore I can remain courageous, discerning,steadfast, and incorruptible because I am acutely aware of my actions and reactions—I choose to experience the omega of suffering and become the alpha of tranquility.
A chapter of my book, The Promise of Wholeness is devoted to how to become incorruptible.