ON INTEGRITY

Integrity is a shared process.

Integrity is interrelational.

Integrity is contextual.

Integrity is integrating.

Integrity is unscripted.

Integrity is a kind of super-attention.

Integrity is watching for the cracks in what you thought you knew.

Integrity is willingness to learn together.

~ Nora Bateson

Integrity is an important word and concept. It is critically important in spiritual and religious circles. Without integrity there can be no real spiritual growth in an individual or group. You can say that integrity is integral to attaining true fulfillment as a spiritual student.

The revelation that spiritual guru Deepak Chopra is mentioned multiple times in the email files linked to the Jeffrey Epstein case is, at a minimum, disturbing (LINK). A deeper dive into the situation, including how often so-called spiritual celebrities have difficulty maintaining integrity is here (LINK).

“My intent is to be generous of spirit and live with total integrity every day of my life.”
~ Deepak Chopra

“There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity.”
~ Tom Peters

I have often considered some spiritual celebrities as conduits to New Thought for many people. Author Wayne Dyer was such a way shower for me, leading me to being open enough to explore the Science of Mind in the 1980’s. I am grateful for that, and for much of the wisdom that Dyer shared over the years, even though he had his own lapses of integrity, including this (LINK).

One of the most disturbing factors of the crimes associated with Jeffrey Epstein and his wide circle of influential friends and clients is the extent to which such horrific behavior went on and was widely known (and therefore condoned). The victims numbered in the hundreds, and almost all were children at the time. The perpetrators number in the dozens, perhaps even the hundreds, and include world and business leaders. What all of this says about our society is worthy of deep reflection.

But our own house in spirituality and religion is far from perfect. The victims of failures of integrity by religious leaders number in the millions. This has been compounded by the repeated failure of those responsible to demand accountability by transgressors. And even when accountability has occurred, the results are often kept confidential allowing the perpetrators to relocate and offend again. Such violations of trust drive people from spiritual communities.

“As long as you have certain desires about how it ought to be you can’t see how it is.”
~ Ram Dass

We in spiritual communities and organizations have an interest in thinking of ourselves as good people, and we have an interest in being spiritual, which often means to be “nice,” no matter what. I have seen spiritual leaders who were toxic (LINK) protected by congregants, boards, and organizations. This was done for reasons including personal loyalty, a desire not to have a scandal revealed, or a sense that accusations must be proven beyond a doubt.

We in New Thought are nice people as a rule. We tend to think that we live in a friendly, even moral, universe and that people are basically good. We often pay a severe price for these beliefs.

“The opposite of reflexive niceness is integrity.”
~ James Hollis, Jungian analyst

Let’s look at these beliefs:

Our universe is not friendly or moral. It is evolutionary and amoral. We exist in our current forms because of violent collisions of planets, stars, and galaxies which allowed more complex elements to be formed and spread over wide distances. We exist in our current forms because of biological evolution, whose processes toward greater complexity and adaptation have resulted in the extinction of over 99% of all the species which have existed on earth. And we know that we are a transitional species, just as all others are; we will either evolve to more complex and well-adapted beings or become extinct as an evolutionary dead-end. Evolution is careless of the individual and of the species by nature.

Morality does not appear in our universe except as a human invention. Other species may and do cooperate, but they do so as a survival mechanism. Humans are capable of moral thought and actions, but it is something which must be learned and reinforced in the social structures around us. It too, is an evolutionary adaptation.

People have the capacity to be good and moral, but any number of things can limit that capacity, sometimes severely. We know scientifically that psychopaths have little or no ability for moral action or regret due to brain injuries, often occurring when in childhood. Research has shown that most psychopaths and sociopaths are incapable of regaining a sense of morality through any known treatments.

Of course, everyone who commits a violation of integrity does not have a physical condition limiting their capacity. In most cases, people simply decide to act out of integrity, usually by using rationalization. Everyone has done something out of integrity; most of us just about every day in some minor or significant way. It is important to remember that such actions are the result of a divided self, a self which is not integral.

Spiritual study and practices are in large part about realizing one’s wholeness, one’s integrity. To be in integrity means to be in your deepest truth. As that truth is realized more and more, it means to refuse to participate in behaviors which are out of integrity. It also means to speak out for integrity and justice and love in every community to which one belongs.

The Beloved Community does not tolerate behaviors which are out of integrity. Therefore, it requires people who are compassionate to fulfill their potential. We cannot be truly compassionate if we are out of integrity in our own lives; our communities cannot be compassionate if members are silent or complicit in behaviors which are out of integrity.

Our spiritual gurus know this yet often fail. We know this yet often fail. Our compassion is the only thing that can lead us to the realization of our true spiritual potential.

“Contradictions, whether personal or social, that could once remain hidden are coming unstoppably to light. It is getting harder to uphold a divided self….The trend toward transparency that is happening on the systems level is also happening in our personal relationships and within ourselves. Invisible inconsistencies, hiding, pretense, and self-deception show themselves as the light of attention turns inward….The exposure and clearing of hidden contradictions brings us to a higher degree of integrity, and frees up prodigious amounts of energy that had been consumed in the maintenance of illusions. What will our society be capable of, when we are no longer wallowing in pretense?”
~ Charles Eisenstein

Copyright 2025 – Jim Lockard

SOME THINGS I THINK I KNOW

“The latent divinity within us stirs our imagination and, because of Its insistent demand, impels and compels our growth. It is back of every invention; It proclaims Itself through every creative endeavor; It has produced sages, saints and saviors; and will, when permitted, create a new world in which war, poverty, sickness and famine will have disappeared.”
~ Ernest Holmes

“The Practical Application of the Science of Mind,” page 49.2

I found The Science of Mind, and therefore, New Thought, in 1989. I was instantly attracted to the ideas of the teaching and the community I found at the (then) Science of Mind Center in Fort Lauderdale. I began classes within three months of my first visit, became a practitioner 3 years later, and a minister 2 years after that, in 1995. I have worked and practiced the teaching ever since and I credit it with “saving” my life, if not my physical life, then my spiritual and psychological one.

“The end of the hero’s journey is not the aggrandizement of the hero. The ultimate aim of the quest is not ecstasy for oneself, but the wisdom and grace, and the power to serve others.”
~ Joseph Campbell

“The only wisdom we can hope to acquire is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.”
~ T.S. Eliot

So, here are some of the things I have learned in those 36 years. There are 2 endnotes along the way:

FOR ME

1. My center of power is within me, so no amount of trying to please an outside god, institution, or person will save me. Cause and effect is the primary, but not the only way that the universe operates. There is randomness and acausality which means I must live in the mystery more than I might prefer.
2. My thoughts become my beliefs, and my beliefs become the law of my life – my job is to discover my soul’s agenda[i] and align my thoughts with that as best I can.
3. Ernest Holmes recognized that our Reality is energy infused with intelligence. What he called “love” is that intelligence-infused energy, not an emotion. What he called “law” is the way that energy works across the domains of reality (physical, mental, cosmic, subatomic).
4. Spirit, the Creative Intelligence of the Universe, the Ultimate Mystery, operates by infusing its creation with intelligence and energy. My good is fully available to me when I am in alignment. Spirit does not manage my life in any way and does not know me individually, any more than I can know an individual cell in my body.
5. I am at my best when I have clear intentions in alignment with my soul’s agenda and I follow the path toward demonstration. Through spiritual practices, I can become aware of being out of alignment more quickly.
6. I need to be open to everything – the good, the bad, and the ugly – to have the degree of awareness necessary to extinguish my belief in limitation.
7. My life won’t be perfect in the sense that nothing will go “wrong.” My opportunities for growth come from my challenges.

“The great yogi, maybe he smokes a cigarette, or has a bad temper occasionally: something that keeps him human. And that little thing is very important. It’s like the salt in a stew. It grounds him. This is another way of saying that even a very great sage, a great Buddha will have in him a touch of regret that life is fleeting, because if he doesn’t have that touch of regret, he’s not human and he’s incapable of compassion towards people who regret very much that life is fleeting.”
~ Alan Watts
Uncarved Blocks, Bleached Silk (LINK)

“For a fully enlightened being, the difference between what is neurosis and what is wisdom is very hard to perceive, because somehow the energy underlying both of them is the same.”
~ Pema Chödrön

The Wisdom of No Escape

FOR THE MOVEMENT

1. Our movement began as a bridge from traditionalist-Blue religion to a modernist-Orange spirituality, according to the Spiral Dynamics Model[ii]. Since then, we in New Thought have evolved to a more postmodern-Green culture, and some of the theology and cultural approaches of the earlier movement are no longer appreciated or relevant.
2. The movement has essentially stopped growing for the past 40+ years due partly to this shift toward Green (LINK) and partly to the changing cultural evolutionary patterns of the society around us. Essentially, much of our theology and the programs and classes which supported growth at Orange do not appeal as much to those who have evolved into Green. The organization(s) and most spiritual communities have not adapted to these changes very well – congregations are shrinking and revenues falling as many seek to return to the way it was in the past.
3. What began as a very individualistic teaching (Orange) which drew thousands to a message of positive thinking for personal growth with strong teachers who ruled in an authoritarian way, has evolved into something else. While many celebrate the change to a more egalitarian, less rigorous approach, there is also a longing for the success of the earlier model. Essentially, there has been a failure to develop the wisdom to negotiate the transition from an “I” teaching to a “we” teaching, or a beneficial combination, as those centered at Orange generally feel unwelcome in a Green-centered community (LINK).
4. I think that the egalitarian nature of those centered at Green has led us to a place where our students have no clear, direct curriculum to mastery of the teaching. A wide array of classes with few requirements regarding readiness for certain content (who are we to judge whether a student is ready?) means that beginning students are in more advanced classes and more advanced students are in classes where beginners must be accommodated. There is little room for rigor or a clear path toward mastery. And the credentialing process is less rigorous as well.
5. There has also been a shift in who has come into leadership in the organizations. My knowledge of Centers for Spiritual Living is more current, but I see similar patterns in other NT organizations. Where the ministers of the larger churches, who were almost always centered at modernist-Orange, used to serve on the boards and councils, that is no longer the case. There are at least two reasons for this: one is that there are fewer large churches today; the second is that the evolution into Green brings a greater desire for consensus and egalitarian representation. Larger churches usually have leadership centered at Orange. They are used to making decisions quickly and decisively, which clashes with the dynamic in a Green leadership group where significant time for processing decisions and valuing input from all stakeholders is needed before making decisions, ideally by consensus. This is not to say that those in leadership are not good leaders; it is more about the values systems which arise as a result of cultural evolution and the inherent conflicts within those systems.

“How old are we? As a culture, as individuals? Not in years but wisdom. This question makes me whistle through my teeth, shift uneasily on my chair. Because I think I know. Deep down I know. Many of us never quite got over the hump of adolescence.”
~ Martin Shaw

THE FUTURE

1. We often discuss what will happen to the teachings – The Science of Mind, Unity, Divine Science, etc. – should our current forms of ministries and organizations cease to exist or become increasingly smaller. I have a sense that the teachings would continue to be discovered, albeit without so many places for instruction and community practice.
2. I see this as being in the hands of the newer generation of spiritual leadership, a group who I strongly admire. They are cocreating what is next. Perhaps as some evolve into integral-Yellow they will see the richness of talent and possibility across the other stages and create ministries which serve everyone.
3. I think that ANTN (LINK) is well positioned to grow as more ministries and individuals leave the traditional organizations. However, the reality is that almost all spiritual communities are either shrinking or in other forms of transition – moving online or toward unpaid ministry for two examples.
4. For me individually, the future holds the opportunity to continue to grow and deepen my practice, to connect with like-minded people where possible, and to live a life of great joy and contribution. If I am a sage at this point, that both cheers me and challenges me.
5. I also believe that our futures are mostly unknowable – lots of surprises are on our agendas. However, we can neither wait for such things to show up nor despair if they do not. Ours is to live our best lives in each moment, knowing that we have the benefit of great teachings to support and sustain us.

“To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Essay on Experience

Copyright 2025 – Jim Lockard

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[i] Soul’s Agenda: C.GH. Jung saw that the goal of life — individuation — is actually to ACQUIESCE to the Soul’s agenda and learn to trust it so completely as to give over control entirely.    Link: https://roadopener.medium.com/acquiesce-to-the-souls-agenda-a6731bac0188

[ii] Spiral Dynamics: Spiral Dynamics is a model about human thinking and development – it says that human intelligence is evolving and developing within the context of the world in which we live. Further, that this development is the key to how we perceive and interact with the world – we see the world as we are, not as it is. LINK: IS THE CHURCH MODEL GOING AWAY? PART 3 – SPIRAL DYNAMICS INTRO | New Thought Evolutionary

A MATURE SPIRITUALITY REQUIRES A MATURE PERSON, PART 2

“The sicknesses of the soul are mirrored in the disorders of a culture and vice versa. In turn, tracing symptoms is a path to the soul. The symptoms are the soul’s means of attempting to be heard. But all too often, whether it be the obtuse ego of an individual or the obtuse, egoistical guardians of the status quo will refuse to acknowledge the symptoms. The reigning power structure will attempt to deny, marginalize, and demonize the soul’s message…its plea for attention, its attempt to gain entry into the protected sanctums of power. Its entreaties are dismissed as merely the complains of misfits — or overreacted to as dangerously radical.”

~ Phil Rockstroh

I resonate with the quote above with one exception – the Soul is not sick; it is never sick – what is being described is the condition of being out of alignment with the Soul and its agenda. The Soul will not relent when we are out of alignment, it will continue to give rise to discomfort and symptoms. That is the essence of this series of posts – intentionally coming into alignment.

Spiritual maturity is an essential aspect of becoming fully human, of becoming the fulfillment of our potentials. It includes psychological maturity, as I wrote in Part 1 (LINK) of this series. As noted in the quote above, to become spiritually mature, we must counter many influences in our families, our institutions, and our cultures. The same dynamics (as within, so without) which express in individuals also express as families, communities, cultures, and societies. The expressions of racism, sexism, and self-loathing which permeate the unconscious of so many Americans are expressing as violence, harassment, political dysfunction, and the hoarding of guns (and many other things) in US society. The society will heal only when its members heal.

As individuals, we must allow our failings and our pain to guide us toward the emergence of the wisdom of the Soul. In this post, we deepen our focus on the ego and the Soul, the two poles of our consciousness, and how we must learn to listen to our Soul’s agenda and to train our ego to support empowerment over fear.

“Often our antagonistic attitude toward others rises from a need within our own minds to be relieved of our unconscious sense of self-condemnation, as though we have such a burden of guilt within our minds that we can hardly bear it. And so, we project it to others just for the relief it gives ourselves.”

~ Ernest Holmes

The statement as within, so without holds true in the ways that we express in our lives. If our being state is one of fear, our lives will take that form of expression. All the while, our Soul is trying to get through to us, refusing to let us feel contentment in an inferior way of expressing. When our consciousness is one of fear and limitation, our ego fights the emergence of our inner wisdom and seeks to rationalize our limitations. This often leads to the antagonistic attitude mentioned by Dr. Holmes, arising from a being state of self-condemnation, even self-loathing. If we are to realize our spiritual destiny, we must do the work of healing – bringing our being state into alignment with the agenda of our Soul. We must create a space of invitation to our Soul’s messaging, which is intuition, via our spiritual practices and setting of intentions.

“The test of a psychologically mature person, and therefore spiritually mature, will be found in his or her capacity to handle what one might call the Triple A’s: anxiety, ambiguity and ambivalence.”

~ James Hollis

A spiritually mature person accepts the uncertainties of life and rather than being thrown into fearful responses by them, she approaches them with curiosity and a sense of wonder. With spiritual maturity comes the capacity to accept the mysteries of life and not be overwhelmed by them. One learns to accept that loss, betrayal, illnesses, and fear are all parts of every life. One leaves criticism to others and naturally expresses compassion in all relationships – but that compassion never strays from what is true, never avoids confrontations when necessary for healing.

Anxiety is often the expression of an inner sense of insecurity and inadequacy. That inner sense comes from the ego’s view that our power as external to us. As we open to the Soul’s agenda for an authentic way of being, insecurity and inadequacy are no longer internalized as our truth. We recognize that our locus of power is within, realizing our own power and expressing from a sense of security. We are free to be curious about life and it’s many profound and challenging questions, because we come to know our own resiliency.

“A mature spirituality is critical for the second half of life because if we do not address these questions directly, chances are we will be living in subjugation to received values which delude, divert, or diminish us.”

~ James Hollis,

“Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life” (LINK)

It is usually at midlife that we often find ourselves ready to move beyond the seeking and striving of the first half of life. The questions of who we are and what is ours to do must be answered if the second half is to unfold as designed. Our interests begin to shift and we tend to grow less competitive and more open to explore the unfamiliar. Our ego will likely fight these shifts, and in too many cases it wins that battle, keeping us in a prison of fear and limitation. This can result in our clinging to the illusion of youth, physical beauty, and competitive success, or detaching from society, both of which guarantee a disappointing old age of bitterness and regret. Unless we find the right teacher and teaching and we begin to explore new possibilities by mid-life, that is all too likely to be our future. By opening to the Soul’s agenda, we relax into a new, empowering being state which is less insistent on activity and success as defined by others.

My own teachers on this journey have been many. Ernest Holmes, Joseph Campbell, Emma Curtis Hopkins, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Carl Jung, James Hollis, Robert A. Johnson, Robert Bly and others – none of whom I ever met (except Robert Bly, briefly), but who have nonetheless been major influences.

And I have had mentors along the way, relatives, teachers, friends, coaches, supervisors, ministers, wives, and children, who have helped me to look within and find more of what I am. Without these wayshowers, positive and negative, I would never have matured spiritually or psychologically as I have.

“We all under-estimate what we must give up in order to attain something. We all under-estimate what we will gain in attaining something of real value to our soul. We all over-value the safety and value of the status quo. These are habits of mind that we are all biased toward.”

~ John Campbell

Spiritual maturity means an inner transformation to a healthy psychological self-concept which brings the ego into alignment with the agenda of the Soul. Few attain this alignment because it requires dedication, discipline, self-love, love for others, resiliency, and courage. It is a lonely journey, because few others are willing take on the challenges necessary to travel the pathway to spiritual maturity, but mostly because it is something that you ultimately must do yourself. This is the meaning of references like “Many are called but few are chosen” (actually few are self-choosing), and “Do not cast your pearls before swine” in the Holy Bible. While spiritual maturity is already given to all as a divine potential, few will take on the task of bringing it from the realm of potential into actualization. Few will follow the double-helix pathway of psychology, or “Working with the Law,” and mysticism, or “Courting the Beloved” which leads to the alignment of the Universal with our individualized Soul, our Mind, our ego, and our expression of life.

As we do our work of self-discovery and self-revelation, we hold to the truth that Love is our guiding energy and we will always have all that we need.

“Love is a sacred reserve of energy; it is like the blood of spiritual evolution.”

~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

In Part 3, we will explore ways to approach the pathway of spiritual maturity. As always, your comments are welcomed.

Copyright 2021 – Jim Lockard