Center for Spiritual Living St. George

Hello Beloveds!!

This March, we’re taking a look at the ideas of integrity as a spiritual concept. Before I began my path of spiritual study, I would have said that integrity is about being honest and trustworthy… a good person, an upright citizen. At while those things are all true ideas about integrity, I now understand it at deeper, more spiritually based level – one of wholeness. My prior understanding of integrity was all about how I related to other people, not myself. I’ve come to realize that integrity is an inside job; it’s about how I feel within myself and how I am keeping myself in alignment with the Truths that I hold dear. Early on in my spiritual study I read a passage from The Inward Journey by Howard Thurman (our Book-of-the-Month) that has become a standard by which I strive to live.

“In the quietness of this place, surrounded by the all-pervading Presence of God, my heart whispers: Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve, that in fair weather or in foul, in good times or in tempests, in the days when the darkness and the foe are nameless or unfamiliar, I may not forget that to which my life is committed. Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve.”

It is easy to have high ideals, to know spiritual truth, to have an understanding of what needs to be done in every situation. But it is far harder to stay the path, to do those things we know we should be doing. As we deepen in our spiritual understanding, we catch glimpses of these high ideals, the directions we must follow. But following this journey into its fruition takes a deep level of dedication and a high degree of integrity. One must stay true to oneself, for only by having this internal integrity may we be a beneficial presence to the rest of humankind.

Peace and richest blessings,

Rev. Laura