13. STRENGTHENING OUR SPIRITUAL IMMUNE SYSTEM

The following was given as a Workshop at the International Council of Community Churches in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 23, 2010, © The Society of Christ’s Priesthood.

Welcoming Introduction

Good morning everyone. We are gathered here in this circle as a symbol of who we are and what we are really all about in relationship with one another. “God is Love”. (1 Jn. 4:8) We are called to be comfortable in Love’s Presence. What better gift than when someone feels totally safe in our presence without any feeling of intimidation. When we choose to embrace inner peace we say to God, “In Your Presence I am totally O.K!” A familiar description of where God dwells in relationship to us is, up there in Heaven. In this workshop we will be referring to God as our Source and God’s Position to us in daily life as Indwelling within each of our spirits. But, before we begin let’s take some moments to forget all things except that God is Love; and, that Love is our Inner Peace Source and Foundation for a healthy and strong spiritual immune system.

Centering Meditation

Present within each of us is our Source ever calling us to see more than our earthly senses can perceive. Here, there are no past regrets nor future concerns. Here, all turmoil in our minds and hearts of this world is quieted. Each time we consciously enter within this eternal Welcome Center our spirits are given opportunity to soar to the heights and depths of our Indwelling Love Source. Here, this life’s experienced broken ‘parts’ have already been re-created; life’s hopeless situations have already been redeemed; and life’s perceived un-holy moments have already been sanctified. Here, our whole being is bathed with wellness. ‘It is indeed good to be here.’ (Mark 9:5)

In this eternally accessible and stable Presence of our Indwelling Trinitarian Source is our Identity; is our Peace. ‘Heaven is within us.’ (Luke 17:21) Here we are forever held with an unspeakable supportive gentleness. From here, whenever we choose, nothing of this world can interrupt this Love-Peace infusion into our every thought, word, and deed. So, we ask Love’s Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, to awaken our inner awareness of The Spirit’s sole mission of Peace in our lives. Our part is simply to keep remembering that our Love Source is within us as our Peace. (Mi. 5:4) Amen!

Now, we will consider the importance of a healthy spiritual immune system.

Immune System Health

For our bodies a healthy immune system guards us against disease and helps us heal from shocks that might be physically harmful to us. As a two-time breast cancer survivor
I am personally familiar with how cancer cells in one’s body can threaten to take over if its growth is not stopped by nutrition, treatment, and removal. Likewise, our faith needs to have a healthy immune system to protect against the unexpected destruction of our “spiritual cells,” and to replace damaged cells with healthy ones. Greed-control-fear are the three primary destructive ‘cancers’ that ever seek to invade our spirits and weaken our spiritual immune systems. Freedom-Unity-Integrity are the white blood cells of a strong spiritual immune system, which, respectively, impede the growth of, as well as destroy these primary spiritual cancerous cells. As we learn about and share the unlimited applications of this Call for Freedom-Unity-Integrity in every aspect of our daily lives, our spiritual immune system will be strengthened accordingly.

This workshop develops the key role that the universal Call for Freedom-Unity-Integrity plays in healing and strengthening our spiritual immune systems for inner peace.
Viewing life through this threefold Call, no matter our personal Belief System, offers another perspective into our relationship with our Source and with one another. (Eph. 2:14). To this end it is important to first define what it means to be, ‘not of this world’.

Not Of This World

I began by asking us to forget all things except that God is Love. This means that we are to, ‘be in this world but not of it.’ (John 17:15-16) . . . To not be ‘of this world’ simply means that we daily strive to walk in and with our Indwelling Source, by embracing the universal threefold Call to all Peoples. This Call for Freedom-Unity-Integrity is programmed into our humanity’s very core as a spiritual ‘DNA’ coding that connects us all. This code touches the heart of life’s meaning and purpose for our creation. It affirms everyone’s created equality; and is the common denominator for every Belief System and Governance by which all differences can be transcended. By replacing the destructive tendencies of greed-control-fear respectively with the life-giving qualities of Freedom’s generosity, Unity’s availability, and Integrity’s openness, this code-of-life ultimately, leads us to our inner Peace Center. However, spiritual nutrition is needed to support application of this universal Call in the nitty gritty of daily events.

Daily Spiritual Nutrition

As our bodies cannot be sustained without a variety of healthy foods each day; so, too, our spirits need to be daily fed. For our body’s immune system organically grown foods naturally detoxify, feed and strengthen on the cellular level. Our spiritual immune systems need the ‘organic’ basic three ‘food groups’ of Freedom-Unity-Integrity. ‘Superficiality’ is our spirit’s ‘Junk food’ that clogs, starves, and ultimately poisons and compromises our spiritual immune system accordingly. We can read inspirational meditative books, even the Bible, and still not feed our spirits. Effective spiritual reading for strengthening our spiritual immune systems requires a conscious, open, listening connection to and with our Indwelling Source.

The term, ‘reading’ also has a broader meaning of, ‘seeing’. One can also ‘read’ the spiritual message in a sunset; in a misunderstanding; in a friend’s care-filled outreach; in a seed sprouting; and even in a diagnosis of cancer. The whole of this life on earth is our Source’s Book-of-Life to us. This Life-filled Book is eternally filled with all of the spiritual information that we will ever need to ‘read’ as we approach everyone, every event, and every thing in time. As a foundation for inner peace, ‘attitude’ has everything to do with our ability to assimilate this spiritual information.
An Attitude of Gentleness or Attack

The most important way for preparing our minds and hearts to travel deep into our Indwelling Peace Source is to take notice of our ‘attitude-of-being’ from the moment we awaken until we retire. Do we find ourselves more often on the attack regarding things, situations and persons? Or, do we have an over-all attitude of peace-filled gentleness? Every attacking reaction weakens our spiritual immune system; and, every gentle response strengthens it. “A servant of The Lord is gentle to all.” (2 Ti 2:24)

An attitude of attack stems from nursing grievances. A healthy and strong spiritual immune system implies that we maintain a grievance-free ‘attitude-of-being’ which is the meaning of to, for-give, or to give before. Be always prepared ‘beforehand’ to respond with an understanding mind and compassionate heart for the present moment. Love is always ahead of a potential fault in another. In our Love Source, forgiveness is not needed or even known; since, the need to forgive implies that one has a grievance against another in the first place. Love and grievance are contradictory, thus cannot co-exist. Jesus, our Love Source made Flesh, teaches this important lesson through a simple question and response: “Does anyone condemn you? Neither do I.” (Jn. 8:10-11) Taking offense is the seed of grievance. “Love does not take offense.” (1 Cor. 13:5)

To develop a gentle attitude-of-being does not imply that we negate any of the wide variety of feelings our Creator gave to us to use to express ourselves in any given situation. Our task is simply to bring our feelings into a Peace-filled alignment with the situation at hand. Even tough love can be administered without anger. It is important not to equate gentleness with anger repression. Genuine gentleness proceeds directly from our conscious union with our Indwelling Love/Peace Source, ‘which guards our hearts and minds’. (Phil. 4:7) This union, in turn, enables us to ‘let go’ of all else.

Spiritual Foundation for Inner Peace: ‘Letting Go’

The ability to ‘let go’ is the bottom-line requirement for successfully incorporating Freedom-Unity-Integrity into each life situation. To experience the Presence of our Peace Source and, consequentially, experience inner peace, we constantly need to work on ‘letting go’. This is a ‘self’ discipline best begun in earliest childhood through adults not allowing us to get everything we want whenever we want it. When we are habitually ready and able to, ‘let go’, no matter the situation, we have touched the depth of what it means to be spiritually freed, united, and integrated. Freedom enables us to ‘let go’ of greed; Unity enables us to ‘let go’ of control; and, Integrity enables us to ‘let go’ of fear.

Separation From Our SOURCE

We forever ‘live, move and have our being’ within our Indwelling Source. (Acts 7:28) For each earth moment in time we allow our thoughts to, either, dwell in the past or in the future, we have chosen to separate ourselves from conscious presence to our Indwelling Source. The reason for this is because our Source is only in the, Now. Past and future do not exist in our Source; thus, they both are an allusion. The chief consequence of choosing to dwell in the illusory, non-existent past or future is loss of inner peace. Our free will decision to mentally/emotionally leave our inner Peace Source connection can quickly result in chaotic thoughts and feelings. This attitude in turn weakens our spiritual immune system which has been pre-programmed to healthfully cope with our body’s perceived stresses of this world of space and time.

The key bottom line action for our maintaining an alignment of our thoughts and feelings with our Peace Source is to remember who we are and where/how we are in existence. At the very least, living present to Presence (capital P) is far more interesting than living overwhelmed by guilt (past) or terrified of what might be (future). But, at the most, ‘eye has not seen nor ear heard’ what our Source, Which is Love/Peace, has in store for us this Moment, in the Now (1 Cor. 2:9). We need only to remember to re-Center. If we hyphenate the term ‘remember’ after the first two letters of ‘re’, it now reads, ‘re-member’, or to bring back together. We have now moved from the familiar concept of the term remember which is to recall to one of bringing all aspects of our thoughts and feelings into alignment with our One Peace Source . . . It’s like being glued back together when we feel that this life has pulled us apart!

Perceptual Change

Freedom-Unity-integrity is the key ‘enabler’ for transforming or replacing our transitory, earth-directed perceptions with eternally fulfilling, Source-inspired perception. It can at times be a challenge to recognize and distinguish in ourselves between perceiving daily life superficially and ‘seeing’ in and through our Indwelling Source.

We cannot force change of perception upon ourselves nor upon others. This undoing of earth-imprisoned thinking and feeling can only come gently through a gradual growing awareness of our Love/Peace Source. As children this initial awareness comes through the persons in our lives who are genuinely connected with our One Source. Their connection with our Indwelling Source is seen in their own habitual loving outreach to others with a peace-filled spirit. So, parents/guardians, themselves, need to have a strong spiritual base that they can, in turn, teach their children first by example how to acquire a freed-united-integrated mind and heart in relationship with others. Our Love Source has a Dream for us all to be able to have a change of perception through Freedom-Unity-Integrity.

‘God Has A Dream’

First awareness for me, of God having one ‘Dream’ for all Peoples, began when a very devout married woman with children came to the door of the Carmelite Monastery where I was a cloistered Nun. She expressed her desire for holiness as was the call to the nuns who, traditionally, were put on a higher spiritual plain. I questioned putting one group of persons above or below another as being far from God’s Heart! After all, wasn’t being at-one with God’s Will for each of us the key to our holiness; and not our vocation choice or state in life? So, from that point on I searched for the deepest meaning and purpose of Scripture’s instruction to us to, ‘make vows to the Lord your God.’ (Ps. 76:11; Jn. 17:16-17)

Soon it became clear that, indeed, everyone is called to become a consecrated spiritual person wholly dedicated to our Trinitarian Source in Whose Image and Likeness of Love/Peace we are made. And, that the essential meaning of a consecrated life is for us to willingly choose to live out this Call for Freedom-Unity-Integrity in our relationships and works. This Call is a Covenant of Peace with us. (Lev. 11:44; Gen. 1:26; Is. 54 And, from the standpoint of our Indwelling Source, this Covenant with us will never be shaken. However, from our standpoint when we choose to not embrace this universal Call for Freedom-Unity-Integrity, it is we, who shake the effectiveness of this Peace Covenant in our own lives.

After I heard Dr. Martin Luther King’s prophetic, ‘I have a dream’ speech, I realized that the universal threefold Call is an eternal expression of our Love Source’s Dream for all Peoples. This Dream, Love’s goal, is Peace; and, the Threefold Call is the means to achieve this goal. The seed for the development of supportive Community as a vehicle for sharing this threefold universal Call was planted in my heart. However in order to share this Call for Freedom-Unity-Integrity among all of the World’s Peoples, we need to first understand it ourselves and be striving to live it.

A Consecrated Life

In traditional religious life persons make vows of poverty-chastity-obedience. Their practical meaning is exclusive denial of specific personal things, marriage, and one’s will. In a soundbite we could say, ‘no thing; no sex; and no will’! But, the deepest spiritual meaning of the vow of poverty is, ‘poverty of spirit’; of chastity is, ‘singleness of heart’; and of obedience is, ‘hunger and thirst for holiness. (Matt 5:3, 8, 6): The universal inclusive application for all Peoples of traditional vows can be likened to spiritual doors:

‘Poverty of spirit’ opens the door to Freedom by selfless giving. Freedom in turn beckons us to go beyond self seeking to spiritual Wealth. Freedom of spirit enables us to, ‘let go and let God,’ through being content ‘with or without’ in recognition that everything in and of this world is passing. (Phil. 4:12; 1 Cor. 7:31)

‘Singleness of heart’ opens the door to Unity by being all embracing. Unity in turn beckons us to go beyond self centeredness to spiritual Communion. Unity of spirit enables us to love our neighbor as ourselves in our Love Source, and, enables us to be ever ready to even lay down our lives for another(s). (Matt. 22:39; Jn. 15:13)

‘Hunger & thirst for holiness’ opens the door to Integrity by wholeness/holiness. Integrity in turn beckons us to go beyond self will to spiritual Fulfillment. Integrity of spirit enables us to listen to our Source Voice in all aspects of daily life, and to hear The Source Word by reflective prayerful presence. (Mt. 17:05; Col. 4:02)

Through our consecration response to the Call for Freedom-Unity-Integrity, these three opened spiritual doors then reveal to us the fullness of our Source’s Peace Covenant.

Our SOURCE as Trinity; Their Call as Threefold

Over the years, I began to see Each Creating-Redeeming-Sanctifying Cyclical Movement of our Indwelling Trinitarian Source as specializing in one of the three aspects of Their Call to us for Freedom-Unity-Integrity. In Scripture:

For Freedom, our Source Creator as Birther of Eternal Light calls to us: “Let My people go!” (Gen. 1:3; Ex. 5:01);

For Unity, our Source Redeemer as Incarnator of Eternal Love calls to us: “Be one as We are One.” (Jn. 1:4, 14; 17:11, 26); and,

For Integrity, our Source Sanctifier as Mover of Eternal Life calls to us: “Be holy; Be whole.” (Job. 33:4; Lev. 19:2; Matt. 5:48).

Freedom enables us to recognize our Creator as our Wisdom Source; Unity enables us to recognize our Redeemer as our Directional Source (the Way); and Integrity enables us to recognize our Sanctifier as our Fulfillment Source.

Freedom is a life-giving gift through our Creating Source (Father); Unity is a transforming gift through our Redeeming Source (Son); and Integrity is a purifying gift through our Sanctifying Source (Holy Spirit).

Freedom is expressed as selfless presence; Unity is expressed as supportive presence; and Integrity is expressed as prophetic presence.

The intrinsic fruit of Freedom is stewardship for the dedicated conscientious use of all spiritual and material resources; the fruit of Unity is compassion for the committed supportive care of all Peoples and Creatures; and the fruit of Integrity is balance for the developmental growth of personal and communal fulfillment.

As our union continues to deepen within our Trinitarian Source, we become more transparent for The SPIRIT’S Presence and work through us. Our personal Blessings also increase a ‘hundredfold. (Mark 4:20) In the Eternal Cyclical Movements of our Creating-Redeeming-Sanctifying Source, we see an unbroken Circle having no beginning nor ending. As we habitually serve with “poverty-of-spirit”; love with “singleness-of-heart”; and listen with “hunger-for-holiness”, we even begin to lose sight of the threefold Call ‘doors’. When we know that we are One-In-SOURCE, there is no earthly reason to leave this Circle; so, these ‘doors’ are no longer even much noticed. ‘Blest’ are we who have put aside greed-control-fear that these doors of Freedom-Unity-Integrity have been opened for us to enter.” (Matt. 5:9) “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard what our Love/Peace Source has in store for us!” (1 Cor. 2:9)

Understanding Relationship

Through this universal threefold Call our relationship with one another within our Source in every-day life is clear: Freedom inspires us to ‘live justly’; Unity inspires us to ‘love tenderly’; and Integrity inspires us to ‘walk humbly’ with our Indwelling Source. (Deut. 10:12) Our every movement-of-being is called through Freedom-Unity-Integrity to be a reflection of our Love/Peace Source in Which we are sustained. This eternal connectedness is through our spirits which always have been in the Mind/Heart of our Source and will continue to be after the temporary custodianship of this physical vessel is completed. For, I believe that we are not our physical bodies which are given us in ‘time’ that we may freely serve; unitedly love; and integratively listen toward a life and world in Peace.

At the moment I realized how significantly my life effects everyone else’s life, the words attributed to Jesus in Scripture took on new depth of meaning: ‘Whatever you do to others you do to Me.’ (Matt. 25:40 I believe that we are all Members of the One Body in our One Source, which embraces all persons of every Belief System. I also believe that all Peoples on this earth are called to strive together to consciously enter into this Eternal Cyclical Love/Peace Movement with our Source through Freedom-Unity-Integrity. So, I began to look for even the smallest of ways by which I could incorporate Freedom-Unity-Integrity in every encounter and situation.

Once I was given an understanding of the eternal importance of our response to our Love Source’s universal Call to us, I have felt a personal responsibility to learn more and to find ways to share this Call with others. Hope fills my heart that all Peoples will one day recognize the universality of this Call for Freedom-Unity-Integrity; understand the need for all to embrace it; and, see it realized. Consequentially, attack in all forms would cease, as, gratitude replaces grievance. (Heb. 12:28) An era of peace can be ushered in. It is ultimately we, together, who choose war or who choose peace. (2 Cor. 10:13)

We are called to be in relationship with one another in our Indwelling Source through a threefold Creating Freedom; Redeeming Unity; and, Sanctifying Integrity. It is this eternal relationship with one another that is the ultimate, ‘goal of our souls’, for personal and communal up-building. There is hope in my heart that others in every state in life will be lead to offer assistance in translating this universal Call into everyone’s language and culture; for every Belief System and Governance; for every economic level of existence; for every state in life; for every service type rendered, secular and ministerial; and for every age and stage of our lives.

It’s O.K. to Not be ‘Perfect’

Be not discouraged. No one this ‘side’ of Heaven can be perfectly gentle in all circumstances and ‘feeling’ grateful every moment of every day! In our human concept of ‘perfection, no one can perfectly incarnate our Love/Peace Source in every thought-word-action. However, The Spirit of our Source is always perfectly Present in us influencing every aspect of our lives. Our role is to simply ‘let go’. Exchange our attempts to control for transparency that The Spirit of our Love/Peace Source can freely work through our presence, communications and interactive relationships with one another. Remember our Source’s Promise to ‘bring good out of everything’ for those who genuinely are striving to embrace this universal Call for Freedom-Unity-Integrity. (Romans 8:28)

Relationship Application

Practical application of the threefold Call for Freedom-Unity-Integrity is learned with one another in each circumstance. Daily, The Spirit of our Indwelling Love/Peace Source inspires an ever deepening understanding of the meaning of each of the three essential aspects of this universal Call as we need. With our final breath we will then know that the depth and breadth of the spiritual and practical applications of Freedom-Unity-Integrity is truly endless. The relationship we have with our Indwelling Source while in this life reflects through our relationships with one another in community as we embrace Freedom-Unity-Integrity. Embracing this threefold Call is an expansive experience. It becomes more desirable each time the fruit of peace is experienced through the development of the spirit of gentleness in each new circumstance.

Ultimately, this threefold Call is an eternal failsafe for our internal spiritual wars.
After the following concluding summary thoughts and prayer you are invited to stay a while to join in a discussion of practical and spiritual applications of Freedom-Unity-Integrity in our individual lives and in community.

Summary Thoughts

Essential to our individual and communal spiritual health are three fundamental ‘antioxidants’, i.e., Freedom-Unity-Integrity. We have been given the gift of Freedom from this world’s cares to choose Unity with one another from within our Indwelling Love/Peace Source for a life of Integrity, for wholeness and holiness with a gentle spirit. These three fundamental immune strengthening factors is a universal Call for everyone to embrace throughout the world. To the degree that every aspect of our humanness becomes aligned with our Indwelling Source of this universal Call will we, accordingly, experience peace in our thoughts, words and actions. To this end, we are encouraged to help one another to remember that we are not our bodies; that the perceptions of our five senses can either lead us into awareness of our Indwelling Source or imprison us in the passing illusions of this world. Thus, we are called to a personal and communal ‘pass-over’ from greed-control-fear through Freedom-Unity-Integrity to, ‘living justly, loving tenderly, and walking humbly’ with one another in our Trinitarian Source. (Deut. 10:12) This is our response of consecration to Love’s Covenant of Peace with us. (Is. 54:10) As we ‘let go’ of each new grievance, with a grateful heart we can know that our, “God is Love.”

Concluding Prayer

Blessed Trinity, You have called each of us into this ICCC Community to realize Your Dream in our lives for inner and world-wide Peace. You have given us the Way to this Peace by strengthening our spiritual immune systems through, Freedom-Unity-Integrity. (Phil. 4:13) You also call each of us, individually and communally, to share with others this universal threefold Code-of-Life, that through your Covenant of Peace with us Justice for all Peoples can be known. In You, our Trinitarian, Indwelling Source Community, Your Dream of Peace for us is already fulfilled. We need only to choose to be consciously at-one with and in You as our Peace Source. Amen!

ICCC WORKSHOP DISCUSSION SHEETS

Strengthening Our Spiritual Immune System

Introduction

This part of the workshop will now be the fun part! You perhaps thought that I was going to do all of the work! But, we have some discussion questions to hopefully spark dialogue.

a. At what point in your life did you recognize your own inner peace Source?
b. What have you done to strengthen or be more in touch with it?
c. Do you live in the present-the past-the future? How do you succeed in transitioning in between these?
d. Do you describe your own spirit as one with Freedom, Unity and Integrity? Or are there other adjectives more appropriate?
e. Are you satisfied with God's choice of a life's role for you? How have you embraced it? For inner peace have you needed to make some perceptual changes to accept God’s Plan for you?
f. Do you feel that there are moments when your actions affect other lives?

Next we have some specific discernment questions to help us recognize grievance and gratitude in our daily lives:

a. Can I recognize a grievance when one presents itself to me?
b. What physiological signs are manifested when I am in the presence of a grievance? c. How do I generally relate to others at home, at work?
d. Do I consistently receive reactions or responses from others to my words and
actions?

Viewed from a past/future perspective of this world, we have available an endless source of reasons for living in a state of grievance. But, we also have available an eternal Source of reasons for living in a state of gratitude. It is our choice.

a. Since our attitude-of-being is a matter of free choice how do we want to go through our day feeling?
b. Is it possible to be so entrenched in a daily grievance-driven state that one doesn’t even recognize the signs of this destructive attitude? Does everyone else see our entrenchment?

The following are general sign posts of when we are in a grievance or gratitude attitude.

Grievance Reactions (manifested through a bad-for-me rejection attitude)

We can choose to negatively view the experience of this moment as, ‘bad for me’, which results in experienced turmoil . . . an over-all fear-filled, chaotic reaction of mind-heart-body-spirit likened to being tossed around in this life’s storms, outside of our Inner Peace Source Center. Living regretful of the past or anxious about the future imprisons us in this dysfunctional world through greed-control-fear reactions toward one another.

End ‘fruit’: chaotic thoughts and feelings of fear and attack recognized through a retaliatory spirit; feels like, ‘yuck’. Our physical and spiritual immune systems will resent us, accordingly.

*Encourage folks to give some personal examples of common grievance reactions.

Gratitude Responses (manifested through a good-for-me acceptance attitude)

We can choose to positively view the experience of this moment as, ‘good for me’, which results in experienced calm . . . an over-all integral, balanced response of mind-heart body-spirit likened to remaining in the ‘calm eye’ of life’s storms, our Indwelling Peace Source Center. Living gratefully in the timeless moment of the Now in which we can be aware of our LOVE-PEACE SOURCE Eternal Presence releases us from this dysfunctional world through free-united-integrated responses with one another.

End ‘fruit’: ordered thoughts and feelings of love and peace recognized through a gentle spirit, feels like, ‘awe’. Our physical and spiritual immune systems will love us, accordingly.

*Encourage folks to give some personal examples of common gratitude responses.

Importance of Translation

It is vital that we translate Freedom-Unity-Integrity into everyone’s language and understanding, for an example, the following is our Chiropractor’s application of the threefold Call in his health service: To move (Freedom); To stretch (Unity); To strengthen (Integrity). The healing of Chiropractic care comes through the ‘releasing’ or moving of jammed joints; the stretching out of restricted muscles; and the building up of bone and muscle tissue by strengthening exercise. Spiritual applications: free our minds of greedy thoughts by moving away from attachments; unite our hearts against controlling words by stretching past self to others; and integrate our spirits to reject fearful actions by strengthening healthy resolves.

Perhaps a child’s translation might simply be: to share (Freedom); to care (Unity); and to listen (Integrity)

a. How might Freedom-Unity-Integrity be ‘translated’ for a Mother or Father; for a doctor; for a skilled laborer; for a lawyer; for a minister; for each Belief System and its leaders; for every government form and its officials, etc.?
b. Does anyone have thoughts of application of Freedom-Unity-Integrity to your own particular service roles or state in life?
c. How can each of our special gifts be used to take the concept of this universal threefold Call for Freedom-Unity-Integrity around the globe: Are you a musician, a song writer; can you rap? Are you in marketing? Are there opportunities to incorporate the threefold Call into your marketing advertising? Are you a teacher; a counselor? Are you a principal or on the school Board? What opportunities have you in the service of education to present this threefold Call for offsetting our human tendencies to gravitate toward greed-control-fear, which is the bully’s attitude and goal from earliest childhood through all the stages of our adulthood?

Recognizing Greed-Control-Fear,
(The antithesis of Freedom-Unity-Integrity)

Greed directs us to hold on tight to the ‘stuff’ of this life in both material elements as well as the human-made aspects of each of our Belief Systems. Freedom enables us to let go of all inordinate desiring. Freedom is reflected in our expansive, self-less service with one another.

*What stuff do we find our happiness depends upon? Are we joy-filled or resentful givers of our material goods and abilities?

Control directs us to hold on tight to the ‘way’ we think and feel about how others ‘should’ be thinking, feeling, and acting. Unity enables us to let go of all inordinate relational attachments. Unity is reflective in our inviting, compassionate love for one another.

*What way do we think and feel others should be and do? Are we understanding of or biased (prejudiced) of the diversity and differences among all God’s Peoples?

Fear directs us to hold on tight to the passing concepts of what this world considers to be ‘securities’. Integrity enables us to let go of all inordinate spiritual falsehoods. Integrity is reflective in our broadening, open listening to one another.

*What passing securities of this world do we lean on? Are we clinging to our own wills or do we seek to learn and grow by listening to others?

Cyclical inter-relational movements of Freedom-Unity-Integrity

An example of how each one of the three aspects of the universal threefold Call effects the other two:

*Freedom for growth without greed  enables Unity;
*Unity for understanding without control  enables Integrity;
*Integrity for receptivity without fear  enables Freedom . . .

*What practical examples can we give to show how intimately words and acts of Freedom-Unity-Integrity inter-relate with or effect each other?